From collection Charles Coombs Collection
Dr. Carl Stevens residence cor Franklin & Court Sts
Dr. Carl Stevens residence at the corner of Franklin & Court Streets Dr. Carl H. Stevens: A Half Century as Licensed M.D. In July of 1913, Dr. Carl H. Stevens rode into Belfast in a used Model-T Ford and started a medical practice which has endured for half a century. Dr. Stevens was honored along with eight other Maine doctors who have been licensed M.D.s for 50 years, at a meeting of the Maine Medical Association in Rockland. Recalling his early days in Belfast, Dr. Stevens smiled wryly when he remembered that "the old Waldo County Hospital didn't even have a microscope. It had no x-ray machine or elevator. I brought my own microscope with me and later loaned the hospital a gas x-ray tube -and it never came back." Later an elevator was installed and a new-type x-ray machine purchased. The painfully slow growth of the hospital had begun and Dr. Stevens was destined to play a large role in fostering its growth to maturity. Having established himself as an exceptional surgeon, Dr. Stevens was induced to apply for admittance to the prestigious American College of Surgeons and see what he could do to get the hospital accredited by the A.C.S. That year he was elected a Fellow in the A.C.S. and within a short time the hospital was on the accredited list. Motioning at a voluminous stack of medical records kept on each patient, Dr. Stevens said, "To keep our accredited status, we must maintain complete records. I started it, and I don't want to be the guilty one not keeping records when they are inspected." Still in active practice at 75, Dr. Stevens gave little thought to retiring. "I feel like George Bernard Shaw did when asked when he would retire. He said, "When I stop breathing. Born Oct. 18, 1885 at Northport, Dr. Stevens attended Belfast High School for two years and transferred to Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield when his family moved to Newport. After working in a milk factory in Newport, he applied for and received a job as orderly in the Maine General Hospital in Portland. He and three friends, who were also working as orderlies, then applied for medical school at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. They were accepted in the summer of 1906. Dr. Stevens worked in a college laboratory to pay his way through school. He graduated with a degree in medicine in 1911, having lost a year of school because of illness. He stayed on at Bowdoin for a year as an instructor, while continuing his studies. In 1912 he married Eleanor Wescott, a registered nurse, and the next year the couple moved to Belfast. Dr. and Mrs. Stevens, who died in 1959, had two children. John Stevens was a chemical salesman in Wilmington, Del., and their daughter, Mrs. Alice M. Sutherland, lived in Massachusetts, where her husband worked for a national telephone company as a rates adjuster. Dr. Stevens had six grandchildren. His son had four children and his daughter had two. Dr. Stevens pursued his medical studies assiduously, attending post graduate schools in New York, Chicago and at the Mayo Clinic, where he recalls seeing 65 major operations performed in one week."Dr. William Mayo would perform three and four major operations in a morning," he said. "He really put in a day." In 1937 Dr. Stevens was elected to the New England Surgical Society, which at that time was limited to 125 members. As his reputation grew, Dr. Stevens was elected president of the Maine Medical Association and president of the Maine Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. He also joined the American Medical Association and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Society. Dr. Stevens practiced surgery for 37 years, retiring to general practice in 1950. He was the first doctor elected to the Belfast Rotary Club and later became its president. Remembering the days when he and other Belfast doctors fought illness in a meagerly equipped hospital, and depended on snowshoes to reach patients during the hard winter months, Dr. Stevens turned his thoughts to the present and the new Waldo County General Hospital. Proud of the new Hospital "I'm proud of the hospital and of the boys on the staff. There are some darn good ones." He said he hoped to see a two-year medical school established in Maine soon and more scholarships offered for young men entering medical school. In Maine, he said, there was, at that time, a great need for more doctors. The best way to get them, he said, is to offer training here- at least a start - from where they can go on to established medical schools. "If they could have a couple of years of medical training in a Maine school and did well, they would stand a better chance of going on," he said. PRIOR OWNERSHIP Previously, this house at the corner of Franklin and Court Streets in Belfast was the Benjamin Hazeltine summer house. One of Belfast's finest houses, the original Paul R. Hazeltine house was purchased by Benjamin Hazeltine in 1885 for $3,375. Paul Richard Hazeltine had no children and left, among other generous bequests, $20,000 for the founding and construction of the Belfast Free Library. Both Hazeltines were competent merchants and leading men in Belfast commercial circles. Though the gazebo shown in the photograph is no longer there, the wrought iron fence continues to grace this fine house. Benjamin P Hazeltine, a prominent citizen of Belfast, and a member of the firm Drew Hazeltine and Livingston of Jacksonville Florida was born in Belfast December 19, 1830 the son of Benjamin and Mary A.(Bellows) Hazeltine. The father came to Belfast from Warwick Massachusetts and was there engaged in a mercantile business. He and his wife became the parents of five children. In 1849, after receiving his education in Belfast, Benjamin P Hazeltine went to California on board the bark "William O. Alden," being one of the 40 owners of the vessel. On the voyage, which lasted from December 8 to May 6 of the following year, they stopped for a few days at Rio de Janeiro and also at the island of Juan Fernandez. After spending 10 years in Marysville California as a merchant, he removed to Esmeralda County Nevada where he was engaged in silver mining for another decade. Then he returned east. He has since made the trip to and from California several times via Cape Horn, the Isthmus of Panama, and by rail. For the last 18 years he has conducted a general merchandise store at Jacksonville Florida. He has also been largely interested in the marine railway. He has been connected for 15 years with the firm of Drew, Hazeltine & Livingston, who carry on a coasting trade between Maine and Florida, dealing especially in ice, hay, line, and using several vessels that were built in Belfast. On December 15, 1875, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr. Hazeltine married Miss Camilla a. White, daughter of James White, a native of Chester New Hampshire. Mr. and Mrs. Hazeltine have two sons Benjamin P and Reginald. Mr. Hazeltine is affiliated with the fraternity of Masons being a member of Valley Lodge 9 at Dayton, Nevada which he joined in 1865. His summer home at 1 Court St., Belfast was erected by his uncle Paul R. Hazeltine many years previously.
