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Medical Practice in Charlotte

9

By the late 1890s, Dr. Annie enjoyed an ever-expanding medical practice. She had privileges at both St. Peter’s and Presbyterian Hospitals. Dr. Annie’s house calls took her to various locations in the county and she treated patients from all walks of life and of any race.

8

With the establishment of an organized medical society, Mecklenburg County physicians adopted standardized two-fee lists. One was for Charlotte and the incorporated towns and the other was for “regular county practice.”

County Practice Fees (1903)

  • A home visit was $1.50 and additional fifty cents for every three miles the physician traveled.
  • Obstetrical Cases were $7.00. 
  • After 10:00 p.m. the fees doubled.

7

Annie Alexander had been in practice for over a decade in 1903, when the local physicians organized themselves into the Mecklenburg County Medical Society. She evidently welcomed this step towards professionalization, for she was one of the charter members, as was her father. “Annie L. Alexander” was the second person to sign the roster. Dr. Annie Alexander must have won the respect of the male physicians of Charlotte, for she served as the first Secretary-Treasurer of the Medical Society.

6

In 1890, Dr. Annie purchased a home at 410 North Tryon Street from R. J. Shipp of Catawba County for $3,500. This one-story home served as both her office and residence. Dr. Annie kept her horse and buggy in a stable behind the house and used it to visit patients all over the county. Soon, her parents moved in with Dr. Annie. Dr. J. B.

5

From the Charlotte Home Democrat, May 29, 1885:

"Miss Annie Lowrie Alexander of Mecklenburg County passed an examination before the Board of Medical Examiners in Durham and was admitted as a member of the North Carolina Medical Association."

One of her first actions as a professional doctor was to deliver a lecture at the Farmer's Institute in Concord, Cabarrus County in 1887.