Page 402-404, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Butler County, Kansas by Vol. P. Mooney. Standard Publishing Company, Lawrence, Kan.: 1916. ill.; 894 pgs.


  HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY 402 cont'd

Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D., of El Dorado, is one of Butler county's leading physicians and surgeons. Dr. Dillenbeck was born near Governour, St. Lawrence county, New York, April 4, 1867, and is a son of Charles B. and Helen (Visscher) Dillenbeck; a sketch of Charles B. Dillenbeck appears in this volume. Dr. Dillenbeck attended the public schools in his native State, and in 1882 came to Butler county, Kans., with his parents and the family settled five miles west of El Dorado, where the father bought a ranch of 640 acres, known as the Dillenbeck ranch. The family remained on the ranch during the summer seasons and lived in El Dorado during the winter months, and Dr. Dillenbeck worked on the farm and attended school in El Dotado in winter.

When he was about seventeen years of age, Dr. Dillenbeck went to work in Dr. Bassett's drug store at El Dorado and for eleven years was employed in that store, although it changed hands four different times. When Dr. Dillenbeck entered Dr. Bassett's employ he received six dollars per month and at the end of eleven years, when he resigned, he was receiving $150 per month. While he was employed here he studied pharmacy and passed the State board, thus becoming a fullfledged pharmacist. About the time Dr. Dillenbeck resigned his position at the drug store, he bought a pony, which he shipped to the territory and took part in the race at the opening of the strip in 1893. After a wild and hazardous chase he was fortunate in getting a lot, one-half a block from the court house square at Perry, Okla. This was a valua-


  HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY 403

ble piece of property, even at that time, and he traded and bought and sold real estate in the new town of Perry for a time, and soon cleared $1,800. He took this money and entered the University Medical College at Kansas City, Kans., and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1896 with the degree of doctor of medicine. After graduating, Dr. Dillenbeck engaged in the practice of his profession at El Dorado. He had a large practice from the start and for twenty years he has been uniformly successful in the practice of his profession. He specializes in X-ray, electro-therapeutics and diseases of women. Dr. Dillenbeck is a close student of the science of his profession and has taken a great deal of post-graduate work in Chicago and Kansas City, and he is also a graduate of the College of Electro-Therapeutics of Indiananpolis,[sic] Ind.

During all these years that Dr. Dillenbeck has been engaged in practice in El Dorado, his offices have been located at the same place, 107 1/2-109 1/2 second floor, South Main Street, and here he has one of the largest and best equipped offices to be found in the State of Kansas. His suite consists of five rooms. .He has a complete X-ray outfit, which is equipped with one of the largest coils made, which gives the machine the greatest possible efficiency, and he has a full electrical equipment. He also has one of the best private libraries in Butler county.

While Dr. Dillenbeck was employed in the drug store in El Dorado, he received the appointment of hospital steward in the Second regiment of the Kansas National Guard, under Major-Surgeon Frank C. Armstrong, and held that position in the National Guard until he was graduated from medical college in 1896. At that time he was appointed lieutenant-surgeon of the Kansas National Guard by Governor Morrell, and in September, 1899, he was appointed captain-surgeon of the Kansas National Guard by Governor W. E. Stanley, and in 1900 he was appointed major-surgeon of that organization by Governor Stanley and held that position until 1910, when he resigned, owing to the fact that he was unable to attend to the duties of that office and give his private practice the attention which he felt that he owed to his patients.

Dr. Dillenbeck was united in marriage June 4, 1899, with Miss Grace Scott, a native of Keokuk, Iowa. She is a daughter of James and Jennie M. (Best) Scott. The Scott family came to El Dorado when Mrs. Dillenbeck was a young girl and here she was reared and educated. The mother is now deceased and the father resides with Doctor and Mrs. Dillenbeck. To Dr. Dillenbeck and wife have been born two children: Robert, an automobile salesman, El Dorado, and Floyd, in the employ of the El Dorado Electric and Refrigerating Company, El Dorado. Both of the boys reside at home with their parents.

Dr. Dillenbeck is prominent in lodge circles, being a thirty-


404 HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY  

second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He belongs to the Wichita Consistory, and he is a member of the Mystic Shrine, Midian Temple, Wichita, and A. F. and A. M., No. 79, El Dorado. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a number of fraternal insurance companies. Dr. Dillenbeck is a medical examiner for a number of old line life insurance companies, and is local surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and he is consulting surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Association, the Military Surgeons of the United States, the Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America and the American Association of Railway Surgeons. He is a director in the Kansas Central Indemnity Company of Hutchinson, Kans., and is president of the El Dorado Oil and Gas Company.

Dr. Dillenbeck has served as coroner of Butler county for two terms and has been county and city physician for several terms, and has also served on the El Dorado school board. He is a staunch Democrat and has always supported the policies and principles of that party. Dr. Dillenbeck is not only a capable and painstaking physician, with years of successful practice to his credit, but he is a genial and courteous gentleman whose kindly manner has won for him many friends.


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