Today in Wheeling History: February 3--Dr. William S. Fulton, future founder of the Wheeling Clinic and Hall of Fame physician, is born in St. Clairsville, Ohio (1873).
Dr. William Stuart Fulton (1873–1938) reshaped medical care in Wheeling through vision, risk, and relentless work. Born February 3, 1873, in St. Clairsville, Ohio, to Walker and Ellen Fulton, he completed medical school at Ohio State University in 1899 before establishing his practice in Wheeling, where he would work for more than four decades. His greatest legacy is the Wheeling Clinic. In the early 1920s he personally purchased a 60-by-60-foot lot at Sixteenth and Eoff Streets and financed construction of the original “Old Building,” which opened July 1, 1924, at a cost of $180,412—funded entirely through his own loans and capital. Fulton recruited young specialists, encouraged research, and built a regional medical center unusual for a city Wheeling’s size. Clinic surgeons, including Fulton, traveled widely to perform major operations in surrounding communities after full days in Wheeling. He also served on the staffs of Wheeling Hospital, Ohio Valley General Hospital, and as a consulting physician to Reynolds Memorial Hospital, while holding leadership roles on the West Virginia Board of Health, the West Virginia Medical Association (president in 1937), and as a governor of the American College of Surgeons. Fulton married Martha McElhenny Clarke of a prominent Wheeling legal family; they had three children. He died in Wheeling on May 30, 1938, and is interred in Greenwood Cemetery.
Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/39ae8yff); Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/mrxftdwd)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Google Maps
Dr. William Stuart Fulton (1873–1938) reshaped medical care in Wheeling through vision, risk, and relentless work. Born February 3, 1873, in St. Clairsville, Ohio, to Walker and Ellen Fulton, he completed medical school at Ohio State University in 1899 before establishing his practice in Wheeling, where he would work for more than four decades. His greatest legacy is the Wheeling Clinic. In the early 1920s he personally purchased a 60-by-60-foot lot at Sixteenth and Eoff Streets and financed construction of the original “Old Building,” which opened July 1, 1924, at a cost of $180,412—funded entirely through his own loans and capital. Fulton recruited young specialists, encouraged research, and built a regional medical center unusual for a city Wheeling’s size. Clinic surgeons, including Fulton, traveled widely to perform major operations in surrounding communities after full days in Wheeling. He also served on the staffs of Wheeling Hospital, Ohio Valley General Hospital, and as a consulting physician to Reynolds Memorial Hospital, while holding leadership roles on the West Virginia Board of Health, the West Virginia Medical Association (president in 1937), and as a governor of the American College of Surgeons. Fulton married Martha McElhenny Clarke of a prominent Wheeling legal family; they had three children. He died in Wheeling on May 30, 1938, and is interred in Greenwood Cemetery.
Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/39ae8yff); Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/mrxftdwd)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Google Maps
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