By an act approved March 14, 1878, Kentucky became the third state in the nation to establish a State Board of Health. The act also provided for the appointment of local boards of health and a superintendent of vital statistics. Despite low funding, the board made strides toward improving health conditions in the Commonwealth. The General Assembly strengthened the act in1908, creating the nation”s first county health departments.
Two pamphlets attest to the devastating yellow fever epidemic that struck Kentucky in 1878. The lithograph is from Dr. Dromgoole’s Yellow Fever Heroes, Honors, and Horrors Of 1878, published in Louisville in 1879. It included a list of over ten thousand victims and a martyr death roll of volunteer physicians and nurses. KHS Collections.
