Elmira history: Taking Gleason’s Water Cure
Modern hydropathy — a system of treating illnesses using water — was developed in Austria in the 1820s, and by the 1840s, there were several “water cure” health resorts in Europe.
Treatments included cold-water therapy, walking, and eating simple "peasant" food. Doctors wrapped cold, wet sheets around wealthy European patients for several hours to cure them of their ailments.
Drs. Silas and Rachel Gleason opened Gleason’s Water Cure on East Hill on June 1, 1852. The main building had four stories with two wings. A smaller building was two stories. The facility accommodated 100 patients at a time.
According to the 1863 city directory: “The beautiful natural surroundings made it a desirable location for the invalid.” Their advertisement also mentioned that patients were to bring their own towels (a minimum of six would be needed).
The natural sulphur spring resort brought a new theory of healthcare to the United States. The strong-smelling water was pumped into the buildings with wooden pipes. The Gleasons practiced hydropathic medicine using water as a cure and a preventative.
The facility used water as a therapeutic agent and promoted temperance and women’s rights. Silas Gleason studied traditional medicine at Castleton Medical College and graduated in 1844. Rachel Gleason was one of the first women to receive a medical diploma in the United States.
Hydrotherapy was “gentle” as opposed to the more invasive medical treatments of the time. The Gleasons prescribed hot and cold-water baths, water sprays, electrical immersions in water to their patients. Hygiene, good eating, exercise and abstention from coffee, alcohol and smoking rounded out the Gleason treatment. In addition, an “aggressive course of water drinking” was expected.
The Gleasons’ patients wore “Bloomer costumes” – gowns with very wide sleeves and puffy loose-fitting pants. Rachel Gleason believed that tight women’s clothing caused most health problems. Women patients usually cut their hair short so it would dry quicker from the frequent baths.
In her “Letters to the People on Health and Happiness” Rachel described her treatment as “simple diet, pure air, hard beds, proper positions by night and day, and a regular, systematic training to invigorate the whole of the muscular system by appropriate exercise combined with the medical use of water as a tonic to the whole nervous and muscular system. In most cases, this would restore ‘perfect health.’”
The Gleasons were also able to spend more time with their patients as they were with them all day. The Gleasons believed that women physicians bonded better with women patients and that women patients also recuperated better in a female environment.
Rachel’s specialty was the diseases of women. She was Olivia Langdon Clemens’ physician and delivered all four Clemens children. Among Mrs. Gleason’s patients were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Emily Dickinson’s mother. All came to Elmira for treatments. Elmira was world-famous and highly acclaimed for its hospital.
The Water Cure was also moderately expensive making it appealing to higher-class families. In the 1860s, the Gleasons charged $7-$10 a week for live-in treatments. The Gleasons were there until 1868 when Silas’ health forced them to move to Florida.
After the Gleasons retired, other doctors followed in succession including Dr. Theron Augustus Wales and his wife Zippie Wales from 1873-1897, Dr. Edith Wheeler, Dr. Clarabelle Hutchinson, Dr. Fannie Brown, and finally, in 1927, Drs. John and Gertrude Doyle. Attending staff was predominantly female, as were the clientele.
The Water Cure lasted until 1902, although the building was used as a rest home until 1959.
The “Cures” at Elmira and nearby Dansville, New York, were headed by strong staffs and succeeded for many decades unlike four other cures in Massachusetts that failed.
Diane Janowski is the Elmira city historian. Her column appears monthly in the Star-Gazette.