Daniel Drake: Founding Physician with a Cutting Manner

One anecdote told of Daniel Drake tells how he once came face to face with a rival on Cincinnati’s narrow sidewalks: “I will not make way for a fool,” his foe announced.

Replied Drake, “I will,” and he promptly stepped aside.

Another anecdote tells of a medical practice partnership Drake formed with another local physician, Dr. Coleman Rogers. The partnership encountered so many difficulties that Rogers challenged Drake to a duel before the partnership dissolved.

In 1852, Drake, the physician who needled everyone, was so thoroughly agitated himself that you might say he fired himself during his fourth stint with the college. He then took to his sickbed and died.

Despite his pugnacious personality, it was widely recognized that Cincinnati’s growth and development had been his lifelong mission. When Cincinnati celebrated the 50th anniversary of the city’s founding in December 1838, it was Drake who was invited to give the main address. His oration outlining the city’s progress lasted some three-and-a-half hours.

Shortly after Drake’s death, a friend wrote of him: “It was ever Cincinnati that he loved – that was his home, and there he wished to die, and there be buried.”

That wish was fulfilled. Today, his grave can be found in Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery, just a short distance from where UC today rises on its Clifton Avenue ridge.