Dr. Lee Monroe

Hometown, Gun Toting, Army Veteran, Icon – Dr. Lee Monroe, M.D.

By Kit Zinser

Built in 1916, the little office on the corner of N. Main and Zinser Place was very special.  Throughout the practice of the two Army friends, Dr. Zinser and Dr. Monroe created memories for four generations. The medical career of Dr. Lee Monroe revolved around office visits, home visits (both at his home at 119 W. Holland and at your home as necessary), and sometimes at Proctor Hospital.

The office had three rooms with one narrow area in the back for mixing medicines on the spot for patients.  One room was the office, then the waiting room with a long wooden bench and a rocking chair or two.  The exam room had a great iron register in the floor which heated the whole building.  Nothing but a screen to change behind and then up you went on the lovely walnut exam table, complete with the requisite stirrups for more thorough investigation.  Setting broken limbs, simple surgeries, or stitches for a cut lip took place in the exam room.  One entrance was for patients; the other, off the porch, was for the doctor.  Often, when you walked in to be seen (no appointments were necessary), Dr. Monroe would be sitting in the waiting room reading the Wall Street Journal or cleaning an antique rifle.   He was nattily attired in a white shirt, tie, and gabardine dress pants. Gold rimmed glasses perched precariously on his nose, he asked, “What can I do for you today?”  One patient recalls Dr. Monroe proudly showing off his Smith & Wesson 44-caliber revolver, which he carried in his medicine bag.  A young mother remembered that after he treated her children, she asked what she owed him.  He replied that he had to check his books.  She responded with: “You don’t have any books, do you?”  He just smiled.  Bills were never an issue, much less payment.  If you brought in a couple of dollars to put on your account, you were marked as Paid in Full.

You didn’t see a pair of rubber gloves, just freshly washed hands.  A match sterilized injections or, perhaps, alcohol if it was handy.  No nurse necessary. Dr. Monroe manned the phone, handled walk-in patients, and dispensed medicine on the spot.  His advice was familiar and sound: rest, plenty of fluids, a cool sponge bath, and aspirin.  A good soup provided comfort and warmth.

Lee Monroe was born in 1885 in Eureka, Missouri, to L.E. and Mary Brown Monroe.  He married Vere Paul in 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. He and Vere had one son, Lee, Jr.  He attended Washington University in St. Louis, graduating with his medical degree in 1907. He worked at City Hospital in St. Louis for a couple of years, then served as Chief Surgeon for the Missouri and Pacific Railroad from 1910 to 1912.  Before entering WWI, he worked at the St. Joseph Lead Company in Bonne Terre. He was a member of Sigma Nu and Phi Beta Kappa.  Entering the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a 1st Lieutenant in 1917, he served for two years.  This is where he became acquainted and developed a solid friendship with Dr. Harley A. Zinser from Washington, IL.  When Doc Zinser was debilitated with failing eyesight, he reached out to Dr. Monroe.  Lee Monroe brought his wife and young son to Washington and took over the practice in the building next to the Zinser home. His service to the community lasted forty-plus years.  He was honored as Washingtonian of the Year in 1962.   His son, Lee, Jr., donated his rolltop desk to the Washington Historical Society, which is on display today at its location on Washington Square.

His story is what the practice of medicine should emulate.  A job well done, Dr. Monroe.