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Tope, John W., Dr.

Surgeon and founder of Oak Park Hospital.
Born November 10, 1845, Ohio; died June 18, 1910, Oak Park, Illinois.
Buried in Forest Park.

John W. Tope enlisted in the Union Army as a boy of just fifteen and fought in the battles of Antietam, Vicksburg and Atlanta. After the war, he decided on a medical career and was in the second intern class at Cook County Hospital in 1869. For more than thirty years he practiced medicine, and at one time he served as Superintendent of the Dunning Asylum, a public institution for the insane.

In 1904 Dr. Tope formed the Oak Park Hospital Association to build a hospital in Oak Park. Dr. Clarence Hemingway was also a member of the association. The proposed site north 'of Augusta Street was opposed by residents because of the perceived danger of infectious disease. The association disbanded, but Dr. Tope was determined there should be a hospital. He turned to the Catholic Sisters of Misericorde, who had established eight other hospitals. They agreed to build a ninety-bed hospital, just east of Harlem Avenue and south of Madison Street. The building was dedicated on April 4, 1907.

He was eulogized as a "man of plain speech; so frank as to be blunt and uncompromising; yet he had a very tender heart.... Dr. Topes sympathy was not that of the shallow sentimentalist; it was the sympathy, deep, Rill and sincere, of a strong man with a great heart."

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Numerous sources were used in the compilation of these entries including but not limited to:

• From "Nature's Choicest Spot" ... a Guide to Forest Home and Germany Waldheim Cemeteries prepared by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.

• Graveyards of Chicago by Matt Hucke and Ursula Bielski -- a book which describes many of the Chicago area cemeteries.