John A. Hatchett

Class of
1933
John A. Hatchett

John A. Hatchett

"They learn a lot in school today that we country doctors had to learn by experience when I started out.”
Dr. John Hatchett

Biography

Dr. John Hatchett was born in Missouri and graduated from Missouri Medical School (now Washington University) in 1884. He practiced medicine in Missouri before moving to El Reno, Oklahoma, where at first most of his patients were “casualties in the many saloons – two or three calls every night,” in 1891. For the next dozen years he became one of the most familiar figures in the county, traveling many miles by horse or a team and buggy to help the sick. In 1902, Dr. Hatchett established the El Reno Sanitarium and Training School, the first hospital in El Reno and the first nurses’ training school in Oklahoma. In 1913, he became a professor of obstetrics at the University of Oklahoma Medical School and commuted from El Reno until 1920, when he moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to the school. Dr. Hatchett also served on the El Reno Board of Education (1892-1912) and became president of the Oklahoma County Medical Association in 1932.

Fun fact

Dr. John Hatchett’s earliest work in the medical field came as he raced on his Kentucky saddle horse, Dick, or with a team and buggy to patients’ homes, where he often operated on kitchen tables and was his own anesthetist.

Oklahoma connections

Hatchett came to El Reno, Oklahoma, as a physician in 1891.

Hometown

Oklahoma City

Profession

Physician

Presenter

Born

1853

Died

1940
No items found.
No items found.