Gust Hickman

CLARA (BELITZ) HIPKE

Clara (Belitz) Hipke

Clara (Belitz) Hipke

From Calumet county marriage records:
Gustav A. Hipke and Clara B. Belitz (v.3 p.94)
Married Aug. 12, 1890 in civil ceremony in Town of New Holstein
Gustav A. Hipke
Son of Jacob Hipke and Elsabe C. Schroeder
Physician and surgeon at Allenton, Washington County
Born Town of Schleswig, Manitowoc County
Clara B. Belitz
Daughter of Henry F. Belitz and Helena Schlichting
Born at Kiel
Witnesses H. Albers, Betig Schmidt, Wm. Hipke and Tonie Belitz
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Mrs. C. Hipke Laid to Rest
Funeral services were held on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee for Mrs. Clara Hipke,
who passed away at her home there last Friday, after an illness of a year. Mrs.
Hipke was a daughter of Col. and Mrs. Henry F. Belitz, founder of the city of
Kiel, and was born here on August 27, 1868.
For the past 36 years, Mrs. Hipke has been widely known for her activity in 
public health service and social work. She also gained national recognition for 
her sponsorship of legislation on woman suffrage, eugenics, cancer prevention,
and prevention of blindness. In 1906 she founded the Milwaukee Maternity and
Dispensary Association, and built it from a small institution fo a $200,000.00
hospital. She is given credit for aiding thousands of persons suffering from
every type of ailment to which mankind is subject and to a large extent, the
hospital she headed was operated as a charity, supported by donations of those
interested in the work.
Mrs. Hipke was an able and energetic woman, and was active in many other projects
besides the hospital. She lobbied at Madison for suffrage legislation, and 
sponsored the Society for Care of the Sick, which was the basis for the founding
of the Wisconsin Anti Tuberculosis Association. She was a charter member of the
National Women's party, and is credited with the initiation of legislation in
Wisconsin for treatment of new-born infants with silver nitrate for the prevention
of blindness.
Mrs. Hipke was best known, perhaps, for her operation of a Mothercraft school,
in which mothers were taught the care of children. The system became widely
used throughout the country. She was a life member of the Wisconsin League of
Women Voters, at one time was recording secretary of the Maccabees, and was
health chairman of the Milwaukee Federation of Women's Clubs.
As a young girl, she attended the German-American Young Ladies Institute in
Chicago, and studied social work under Dr. W. N. Hailman at Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Later she taught school in Manitowoc county and in 1890 she was
married to Dr. Gustave Hipke, who became one of Milwaukee's most prominent
surgeons. Dr. Hipke still survives her, with two sons, Dr. Malcolm M. and
Dr. Lucius W. Hipke of Milwaukee; one sister, Mrs. Herman C. Lammers of 
Chicago; three brothers, Dr. William Belitz of Cochraine, Dr. Alfred Belitz
of Pepin, and Arthur Belitz of Milwaukee. Two grandchildren of Milwaukee 
also mourn her loss. (Names of grandchildren omitted for privacy)
(Dec. 8, 1938 hand written on obit.)
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Illness Fatal to Mrs. Hipke
Doctor's Wife Was Widely Known as Founder of Maternity Hospital
Mrs. Clara B. Hipke, founder of the Milwaukee Maternity and Dispensary
association, died late Friday at her home at 3012 W. Kilbourn av., where
she had been confined for a year. She was 70.
Mrs. Hipke was known to hundreds of women who made use of her hospital
or helped her keep the hospital in operation for many years, and she had
a wide acquaintance with legislators and men in public life. For 30 years
she had lobbied before state legislatures in favor of woman suffrage and
for eugenics and other health measures.
Mrs. Hipke, then Clara Belitz, was a teacher in the schools of her native
Kiel, Wis., when she married the young village doctor, Gustav A. Hipke.
That was Aug. 12, 1890. Two years later, after she and her husband had
moved to Casco, Wis., she had her first experience at what was to be her
life work - hospitalization or those to whom hospital care was not
available. She set up beds in her home for her husband's patients who 
needed special care.
Came Here in 1901
In 1899 she and her husband moved to Chicago where Dr. Hipke studied
obstetrics. They came to Milwaukee in 1901. In line with her husband's
protest that Milwaukee provided no adequate care for needy mothers and
their babies, Mrs. Hipke was active in founding the Milwaukee Maternity
hospital. The first organization meeting was held Aug. 2, 1906, at the
Pfister hotel.
The hospital, at first named the Milwaukee Maternity hospital, later was
known as the Milwaukee General hospital of the Maternity Hospital and
Dispensary association. Mrs. Hipke became the first president of the
association and held that office until death.
With a capacity for seven patients, the hospital opened Dec. 2, 1906, 
in a small addition to the Miller home at what was then 424 Vliet st.
Medical and nursing students from the hospital and from the Wisconsin
College of Physicians and Surgeons took much of their training there.
Gave Years to Hospital
For many years an annual tag day - "rose day" - was held for the benefit
of the institution.
After being at several locations, the Maternity Hospital and Dispensary
association in 1929 purchased the old St. Joseph's hospital at 1845 ?,
4th st., vacated when the new St. Joseph's hospital was opened at N. ?0th
and W. Chambers sts.
Financial difficulties resulted in the maternity hospital's moving back
to 838 W. Michigan st. in October of last year. The hospital is not now
operating. Mrs. Hipke had made vain efforts to revive it. It was believed
by many of Mrs. Hipke friends that reversal of fortune for the project to
which she had devoted more than 30 years aggravated the illness which 
caused her death.
Was Widely Active
Mrs. Hipke was a member of many organizations, so many that members of her
family could not recall all the names. Among them are the Wisconsin League
of Women Voters, the Milwaukee County Federation of Women's Clubs and the
Maccabees. She was an ardent worker for suffrage in the days before women
obtained the vote.
"If anybody had a plan to do something for the unfortunate, Clara Hipke
was with him heart and soul," a close friend said.
Besides her husband, Mrs. Hipke is survived by two sons, Dr. Lucius
Worrington Hipke and Dr. Malcom Maynard Hipke, Milwaukee physicians in
practice with their father; two grandchildren; three brothers, Drs. William
Belitz, Cochrane, Wis., Alfred Belitz, Pepin, Wis.,, and Arthur Belitz,
Milwaukee.
Funeral services will be held at the home at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Burial will
be in Wisconsin Memorial park.
(The Milwaukee Journal - no date on obituary)