Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FINLEY, John
FINLEY, John. (Charlotte, NC, 1807-Dubuque, IA, Aug. 3, 1877). Physician. Finley's interest in the advancement of medical knowledge led to the founding of the FINLEY HOSPITAL. Finley came to Dubuque in 1836. He has been considered the city's first general surgeon and the second permanent physician in the county and State of Iowa. As a frontier doctor, Finley often traveled by horseback over fifty miles to other settlements. He served three years as a physician during the CIVIL WAR in the Union Army before returning to Dubuque to resume his practice.
Finley hoped that his collection of medical books would become the basis of a medical library, but all efforts to establish a medical school were unsuccessful. Finley's attempt to establish ALEXANDER COLLEGE, which he envisioned as the best college west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER, were slightly more successful, but that college too did not survive.
Finley, held in great respect by his colleagues and the community, was instrumental in the formation of the NORTHWEST MEDICAL SOCIETY on January 11, 1853. The Society, a group of eight physicians, originally met at the CITY HOTEL. Finley was also the senior member of Finley, Burton and Company (a white LEAD and paint factory) and held valuable holdings in banking and MINING. He served as a trustee of First Presbyterian Church (now WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH).
Finley died of a brain tumor at the age of seventy, leaving his entire estate to his wife, Helen. At her death, Helen Finley specified in her will that a hospital be constructed in her husband's memory.
