Frank Erdman Boston

Frank Erdman Boston (March 10, 1890 – February 8, 1960) was an American physician. He served in World War I (as a part of the Medical Reserve Corps) in the 317th Infantry. He served in France with the rank captain and ended his military service as a major. After the war, he worked in Philadelphia and then moved to Lansdale, Pennsylvania, founding an ambulance corps and the North Penn Hospital.

Early life Boston was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of four children born to Charles A. Boston and Julia Sands on March 10, 1890.

He was educated and raised entirely in Philadelphia before entering Lincoln University. After graduating from college, he attended Medico Chirurgical College. He finished his medical studies in 1915 and received certification in 1916, where he specialized in surgery. Boston began his medical career as an intern in Roosevelt Hospital.

Boston's first confrontation with the media was in May 1916. He had been criticized by the local coroner's office after the death of a young boy. The boy had come in after a car accident with a massive head injury, and because the hospital lacked an X-ray machine, Boston drove the injured boy to the nearest equipped hospital. After the X-ray Boston performed, however, the child did not survive. In the article, he defends the actions of his colleagues and himself:

He later took a position as surgeon in Mercy Hospital, while maintaining a private practice in Philadelphia. He opened his own medical practice in Lansdale.

Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School had been opened for training African American men as there had been a huge influx of African American volunteers and a petition was erected by the students of Howard University. However, there was still some discontent at the facility as many soldiers found that he had been unfairly assessed for merely being black.

When Boston answered the military's call for physicians, he was immediately given the rank of first lieutenant in the Army Medical Reserve Corps. Like all the African American recruits, he was sent to Fort Des Moines for medical training at the Medical Officers Training Camp. After completing his training, he was assigned as a medical officer with the 317th Engineers Regiment of the 92nd Division.

At the time, Boston was living in 813 N. 16th Street, Philadelphia, and in one of his letters to Du Bois, he replied:

It is unknown whether the two men ever actually met.

In 1919, Boston was given the rank of major, and he was even a member of the Association of Military Surgeons. He was discharged in the later months of 1919.

Career When Boston left the military, he returned to his medical practice in Philadelphia. He placed a heavy emphasis on providing medical assistance and education towards the community. He had been a member of the American Medical Association, the Philadelphia County Medical Society, the International College of Surgeons, and the National Medical Association. At the 1926 annual convention, Boston was listed as chairman of the Committee for Gynecologists and General Surgeons in the Journal of the National Medical Association. He proceeded to open stations at Mercy Hospital for well-known surgeons to operate.

Boston was often involved in veteran fundraisers and work dedicated work to Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1934, he opened a hospital in Lansdale called the Elm Terrace Hospital, which would be renamed North Penn Hospital in 1954, and eventually became part of the Jefferson Health Systems. It is now known as the Lansdale Abington Hospital. He continued his association with Mercy Hospital during the 1930s, participating in various clinical lectures, and was credited for it in the Chicago Defender.

Death In 1960, Boston died, unmarried, at the age of 69, in Einstein Medical Center. Upon his death, his many peers from both the hospital and the Emergency Relief Squad came to sing at his grave.

Boston was buried in Whitemarsh Cemetery in Pennsylvania. The First Baptist Church in Lansdale, Pennsylvania established a memorial consisting of a sculpture made by S.K. Miller, which exists today at 7th & Broad Streets in Lansdale. On June 8, 2022, the PA state legislature voted to designate part of State Route 2004 in Lansdale and Hatfield the Dr. Frank Erdman Boston Memorial Highway.