Martha Longstreet was an American general practitioner and pediatrician from Saginaw, Michigan.
17 Facts About Martha Longstreet
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Martha Longstreet has been called a "second mother to untold hundreds of Saginaw children and their children's children".
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Martha Longstreet was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and moved to Unionville, Michigan, at a young age.
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Martha Longstreet had debilitating curvature of the spine; however, it did not stop her from pursuing medicine.
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Martha Longstreet began her medical studies in Saginaw, graduating in 1893 from the nurses' program at Bliss Deaconess Hospital, a Methodist hospital which later became part of Saginaw General Hospital.
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Martha Longstreet was among the 19 women in a class otherwise composed of 200 men.
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Martha Longstreet then went back to Saginaw and in her first year as a general practitioner, made house calls traveling by streetcar.
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Martha Longstreet then began to take a phaeton pulled by her horse, Maude, around town, and became the first woman in town with a car.
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In 1921, Martha Longstreet decided to focus her practice on pediatrics, receiving further education at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and Harvard University.
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Martha Longstreet preferred to refer to herself with the term children's doctor rather than pediatrician.
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Martha Longstreet volunteered at the Children's Home of Saginaw for many years.
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Martha Longstreet served on committees of the Saginaw County Medical Association, Michigan Medical Association, and American Medical Association.
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Martha Longstreet was a member of the board of directors of the Saginaw Welfare League and vice president of the First Ward Community Service.
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Martha Longstreet helped found several social organizations, including the Saginaw YWCA, a senior citizens' home and girls' home, and the local Council of Social Agencies.
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Martha Longstreet retired in 1949 at 78 years of age due to poor vision.
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Martha Longstreet was the first woman to be made an honorary director of the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce and was named its Outstanding Citizen of the Year.
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Martha Longstreet was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1984.