Dr. Rush McNair (1860-1944)

'Dean of Local Doctors'

One of several founders of Bronson and Borgess Hospitals, Dr. Rush McNair was a central figure in Kalamazoo’s medical community for more than four decades. His good fortune as a successful surgeon and doctor who connected with hundreds of local families led the Kalamazoo Gazette to summarize his impact:

“Beginning his practice here in 1887, all but the oldest of Kalamazoo County physicians were personally known to him and his career that covered more than a half century perhaps gave him a wider acquaintance with the families of this community than any other resident. It brought him richly in contact with all levels of Kalamazoo citizenry and his writing and extra-professional pursuits acquainted him further with a large reading public.”

–Kalamazoo Gazette, 16 October 1944

McNair was born on 1 July 1860 to Dr. Samuel and Ann Osborn McNair in Blackberry Station, Illinois. Born to a physician-father, the young McNair was named after Rush Medical College in Chicago. Rush attended the public schools near Evanston, Illinois, and later graduated from Northwestern University with his medical degree in 1887 (as class valedictorian). Shortly after earning his degree, McNair began practicing medicine in Kalamazoo with the help and support of his maternal uncle, Dr. Harris B. Osborn.

In 1889, McNair married Mary Ellen Everard, the daughter of John Henson Everard, an early Kalamazoo pioneer who manufactured harnesses. Nellie’s brother Herbert ran the H.H. Everard Company, and later joined Otto Ihling to form the Ihling Brothers Everard Company around 1879. The young couple lived at 117 E. South Street while he shared office space with his uncle at 122 E. Lovell. In 1892, McNair attached an office to the side of his residence. That same year, he served as the company president of the Kalamazoo Cycle Company. McNair recalled the importance of the bicycle as a transitional mode of mobile medical service in his memoir:

“In my excitement over the horse and buggy days, I had wholly forgotten the bicycle days. The bicycle gradually helped to ease the night work of the horses. In good weather it was often the preferable vehicle for city calls. I must have owned half a dozen bicycles. It was the bicycle which helped to bridge the decade from the horse to the automobile.”

Medical Memoirs of 50 Years in Kalamazoo, p.6

A member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, various medical associations, several fraternal orders and social clubs, McNair quickly became a well-regarded and trusted member of the local community. A longtime member of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, McNair served as president in 1926. He is considered the first physician in southwestern Michigan to perform an appendectomy in 1889, a dangerous procedure at that time. He was called upon to testify in six murder cases, with attorneys noting his skill for explaining medical information clearly. When not overseeing a medical emergency or tending to his day-to-day practice, McNair was a popular public speaker who discussed the newest medical theories and surgical practices to both public and professional audiences.

In 1937, upon the 50th anniversary of his practicing medicine and the Kalamazoo Gazette’s centennial, the newspaper asked McNair to share his memories in a series of articles. Detailing the lives and careers of local doctors became an invaluable resource to later historians interested in the local medical industry. The result of his work with the newspaper was a well-received book published a year later titled Medical Memoirs of 50 Years in Kalamazoo. The book has over 100 profiles of members of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, and includes McNair’s personal reminiscences and feelings about the many changes that occurred during his time as a doctor.

McNair died in October of 1944, and was buried in Mountain Home Cemetery.

The McNair House (211 E. Lovell)

Once, a stately presence at the corner of John Street (formerly Henrietta) and E. Lovell Street, Dr. McNair’s Lovell Street home was torn down in the fall of 1961. The home was built around 1900 and later became the business headquarters for Joldersma & Klein Funeral Home around 1923. By the late 1940s, the marketing staff for the nearby Upjohn Company occupied the doctor’s former residence. The eclectic house possessed design features that resisted a monolithic style. A neoclassical portico with two large columns on either side of the entrance centered the house, while rounded corners, an elegant cornice, and a hipped roof with dormer amplified the home’s unique appearance.

Toward the later part of his life, the doctor moved to the Winchell Neighborhood with his third wife Patti Ruffner, residing at 2102 Waite Avenue.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, October 2024