"She didn't like the hoopla... She was more concerned about her patients."

Written By

Bob Genisot

August 17th 2023

If there’s one thing that we do well in Northern Wisconsin, it’s make big things.

Like, REALLY big.

So big, in fact, they are the largest of their type in the world.

You can stop by Hayward to see the world’s largest musky. The small town of Laona is home to the world’s largest soup kettle. And, for the last seventy years, just one block west of Highway 51 in Woodruff, onlookers can gaze upon the world’s largest penny.

The penny commemorates the large hospital fundraising drive that took place back in the early 1950s in the area and serves as a memorial for one of the true heroes of healthcare in the entire country – Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb.

If there was one thing that Northern Wisconsin did not do well back in the early 1900s, it was healthcare. Despite the bustling mining and logging industries, as well as burgeoning tourism, the Woodruff area was without a hospital. The physician that served residents in the area for many years was Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb. Dr. Kate, as she was affectionately known, was called into medicine by virtue of a number of tragic events that had taken place in her life. She practiced briefly in upstate New York before moving to the north woods of Wisconsin in the hopes that her husband’s chronic lung condition would improve. After a decade’s long hiatus from medical practice, spurred on by the death of her newborn son, Dr. Kate was called upon to assist another local physician, and thus returned to her life’s work.

Dr. Kate frequently made house calls, spending, on average, about three hours a day on the road between patient visits. She once journeyed nearly 400 miles in one day to visit patients in Tomahawk, Rhinelander and Ironwood, Michigan. There are legendary stories of her adventures to help those in need, and tales of walking more than two miles on snowshoes in sub-zero temperatures when even the snowplow couldn’t get through. This is how she earned the nickname “The Angel on Snowshoes”. Her Model T Ford was even outfitted with skis!

In that same year, the children in Mr. Otto Burich’s geometry class at the Arbor Vitae-Woodruff High School (many of whom had been delivered by Dr. Kate!) were studying the concept of a “million.” One of the students suggested they collect a million pennies to give to the hospital fund drive, and the idea was fully embraced by the community. Hundreds of letters were sent out as pennies poured in from across the country and around the world. The giant penny that stands today commemorates when the class reached its goal on April 15, 1953. The money raised was contributed to the hospital fund, and construction was resumed.

Dr. Kate even appeared on the popular TV show “This is Your Life” in March of 1954. At the end of the show, host Ralph Edwards made an appeal to the audience to send pennies to the fundraising effort and another $105,000 was collected. This was enough to complete the hospital, put on additional rooms, and equip the facility with the most up-to-date equipment available.

It is estimated that more than 130,000 people received care in the old Lakeland Memorial Hospital. In 1977, the original hospital was converted to a rehabilitation center and later to a nursing home. Though the original building no longer stands, the community pride, which was the driving force behind the project still remains. The Woodruff-area is now a premier healthcare destination, featuring some of the finest facilities and physicians in the entire region. Dr. Kate’s legacy lives on.

It has been well documented that throughout her career, Dr. Kate delivered some 3000 babies, and never lost a mother. Clearly, Dr. Kate cared deeply about the health of her beloved patients, and that same spirit continues to be exemplified in the community she called home.

Sources:

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/6703

https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/2022/07/worlds-largest-penny-world-record-set-in-woodruff-wisconsin-422220

https://pbswisconsineducation.org/bio/kate-pelham-newcomb/

https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_235.html

https://statetrunktour.com/poi/worlds-largest-muskie-2/

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/milwaukee-journal-sentinel/20211226/282471417187541

https://drkatemuseum.org/lakeland-memorial-hospital