Village Doctor’s Office

Medicine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries bore little resemblance to healthcare today. The tools and treatments were different, and the physicians themselves were often the only medical resource for miles in any direction. The Village Doctor’s Office captures this world with rare authenticity.

Originally located in Custer, Michigan, the office housed the practices of Dr. Duguid and Dr. Blanchette in the early 1900s. The medical artifacts on display represent not just these two physicians but many area doctors who served Mason County through the era; a broad portrait of healthcare on the Michigan frontier and in the early industrial period.

Surgical instruments, medications, diagnostic tools, and equipment that would seem alarming to modern eyes reveal how far medicine has traveled in a century — and how much courage it took, both to practice and to receive care, in those early years.

Adopted By

Chuck & Glenna Paukstis Fund