Dr. George W. Richards House

Dr. George W. Richards, who came to St. Charles in 1840 from New York, built this Greek Revival home in 1840.

Richards established the Franklin Medical College in 1842. It was the first medical school in the state of Illinois to hold classes. His association with the medical college and the incident known as "Richards' Riot" has made Dr. Richards one of the more memorable of St. Charles's historical residents.

As the story goes, a Franklin Medical College student, John Rood, in his desire to finish his last year of study, chose to take matters into his own hands. After hearing of the untimely death of young Marilla Kenyin in April 1849, Rood decided to exhume the body for his educational purposes. The grave robbing was soon discovered by the deceased woman's family and traced back to the Franklin Medical College. An angry mob of men decided to question Dr. Richards. Richards, who, at this point, did not know about the theft, denied any wrongdoing. Soon, Richards was informed of the truth behind the grave robbing accusations.

In hopes of resolving the situation peacefully, he requested that Mrs. Kinyon's body be hidden off the premises. The matter would not be settled peacefully. While searching for the remains of Mrs. Kenyon, the group of men found a male cadaver in Dr. Richards' barn; they again became enraged. In the following moments, gunshots killed Rood and wounded Dr. Richards. The bullet holes remained visible in the front door of the Richards House until the late 1980s, when the door was repaced. Mrs. Kinyon's body was recovered after the shooting and reburied in her Sycamore, Illinois, grave.

Following the incident, Dr. Richards fled St. Charles, eventually moving to Dubuque, Iowa. He died there in 1853 due in part to the wounds that he received during the riot.

Franklin Medical College closed after Richard's Riot.

Sources

■ Architectural Survey, St. Charles central district, St. Charles. St. Charles, Ill: St. Charles Historic Preservation Commission, 1995.

■ Clauter, Hazel. Our Community--St. Charles, IL: Units I-VI: Historical Information Compiled for Third Grade Teachers. 1990.

■ Nelson, Redner B. Franklin Institute: Illinois' First Medical School. Geneva, Ill: Grant House Press, 1991.

■ Sloan, LeRoy H. "And the Valley Awakened." 

■ Zeuch M.D., Lucius H. History of Medical Practice in Illinois, Vol. 1, Preceding 1850. Chicago: The Book Press, 1927.