LocalLit book review: ‘The Illustrated History of the Ottawa Tent Colony’

For many people the term “tuberculosis” sounds like an archaic disease from the past.

But the Centers for Disease Control said tuberculosis kills about 1.5 million people each year. The TB bacteria are spread through the air after a person with this bacterial infection coughs, speaks or even sings, the CDC said.

Joliet native Jim Ridings details how tuberculosis was treated locally at the turn of the 20th century in his latest book,“The Illustrated History of the Ottawa Tent Colony.”

Here is the book’s description on Amazon: “At the turn of the twentieth century, it was a belief that fresh air, rest and a nutritional diet was the best way to treat tuberculosis patients. Dr. J. W. Pettit implemented this therapy by establishing the Ottawa Tent Colony in 1904. Antibiotics had not been developed at that time, so the fresh air treatment was the only option. TB patients were kept in canvas tents or open wooden huts outdoors, in freezing winters and blazing hot summers. It might seem odd today, but it worked for those in the early stages of the disease. Here is the amazing story.”

Ridings’ book is heavy on research, but the reading isn’t heavy. Drawing on photographs, letters, newspapers and other publications from the medical community, postcards, advertisements and floor plans, Ridings provides an exhaustive look at the care of tuberculosis patients at a time before medical treatment was available. Ridings starts locally and then branches out into treatments for the bacterial infection in other places, and even shows the effect of politics on how that care was delivered.

While “fresh air” may also seem like an archaic treatment for illness, even an air-borne one, fresh air does provide room ventilation, a topic of discussion since the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, while a “tent colony” might feel like an inhumane way to treat patients, the accounts from Ridings’ book say just the opposite. And in a surprisingly amount of cases, the patients’ TB symptoms improved and the patients themselves gained weight, at least, according to the accounts.

For those who don’t know, the Edward Hospital part of Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has announced its intentions to merge with NorthShore University HealthSystem, began as Edward Sanatorium in 1907 and cared for TB patients.

I heartily recommend “The Illustrated History of the Ottawa Tent Colony” for anyone who loves history, especially anyone who loves the history of medicine. But don’t expect to read this book, or any book Ridings writes, in one sitting. Each page is dense with fascinating information. Read it slowly and take your time.

Buy “The Illustrated History of the Ottawa Tent Colony” on Amazon.

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