National Register Listing

Bosworth, Dr. Ralph Lyman, House

833 NW Buchanan Ave., Corvallis, OR

The house built in Corvallis in 1922 for Ralph Lyman Bosworth is significant as the city's preeminent example of the English Cottage Style closely related to turn-of-the-century work in the Arts and Crafts tradition by English architects C.F.A. Voysey and Edwin Lutyens. The house is significant also for its association with distinguished local physician Ralph Bosworth (1890-1953), who, after ten years of practice and with capital accumulated from investments in projects such as the construction of the Benton Hotel, built a fashionable house fronting NW 9th Street on a 3.5-acre parcel north of the city limits--a house which he occupied until his death in 1953.
Bosworth is noted in medical annals of the state as a major force behind the construction of Corvallis General Hospital and as a founder member of the Central Willamette Medical Society. He was elected to the City Council and served two calendar years. In 1922 he resigned his seat on the Council because, at the time, his new house was located outside city limits. Thereafter, he served a year as City Health Officer. His major contribution as councilman had been the promotion of a successful $100,000 bond issue for overhauling the city's water system. While relocated elsewhere on the Bosworth holding to avoid untenable encroachment from road widening in 1979, the house nevertheless embodies the distinctive characteristics of its style and, having been relocated intact, possesses integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and association with its original setting, if not its original location.

Ralph Bosworth was born September 20, 1890, the son of Fred and Minnie Bosworth, in Orleans, Nebraska. An engineer for the Burlington Northern Railroad, the father was transferred to McCook, Nebraska soon after the boy's birth. Ralph Bosworth was educated in public schools in McCook and entered the University of Colorado to study medicine. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1912, interned at St. Luke's Hospital, and married Anna Elizabeth Ford, a nurse, in the same year. The pair moved to Corvallis in 1912, where Bosworth soon set up his practice.

In 1922 Bosworth built his house on 3.5 acres north of what was at the time the corporate limits of Corvallis. The construction engineer was Lou Traver, Bosworth's partner in the Benton Hotel project and the superintendent of construction for a number of projects on the campus of Oregon State University, including the south unit of the Men's Gymnasium, additions to the Home Economics Building, and the additional story of Apperson Hall.

Dr. Bosworth quickly developed "a large and remunerative practice." In 1918, during the influenza epidemic that swept the nation, Bosworth was placed in charge of a temporary hospital which was set up in Waldo Hall at what was then Oregon Agricultural College. Corvallis recorded 785 cases of influenza, and Bosworth tended his patients night and day until the outbreak had spent its course. By contemporary account, the "precautions taken and the careful nursing no doubt may be credited with the small percentage of deaths." Only four of the 785 stricken died, and the statistics were considered remarkable. (Gazette-Times, Oct. 23, 1975, p. 48)

Dr. Bosworth vigorously promoted the construction of Corvallis General Hospital. Prior to Cor- vallis General, the city had only a small hospital in a house at 21st Street and Monroe Avenue. An earlier hospital closed because of an outbreak of smallpox. In preparation for the hospital project, Bosworth "traveled all over the coast looking at hospitals and working out plans... He worked tirelessly selling the idea to the other local doctors and helping to raise the necessary money." (Obit., Gazette-Times, Sept. 18, 1953) The hospital was financed by about 125 physicians and businessmen of Corvallis and the surrounding area. When completed, "Corvallis General... incorporated many modern facilities for the care of patients and at that time was looked upon as one of the finer hospitals on the West Coast." (Gazette-Times, Oct. 23, 1975, p. 29) Bosworth served as the hospital's first president and was also chief of the surgical staff. He also held the chair of surgery for the Nurses' Training School associated with the hospital. During this time Bosworth was "regarded as an authority in his profession and... frequently called into consultation in serious cases, his accuracy as a diagnostician and his skill and ability as a practitioner /was/ widely recognized." (Clark, 475)

As a founder member of the Central Willamette Medical Society, Bosworth promoted the gathering of physicians in neighboring Linn, Benton, Lincoln, and Lane counties to discuss current developments in medicine. He also was a member of the Oregon Governing Committee of the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, the Oregon State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Surgeons. His practice was active until his retirement a few years before his death in 1953.

Bosworth's political convictions are reported to have been strongly influenced by his mother, Minnie Bosworth, who came to Corvallis with the newlyweds in 1912. Bosworth ran for a seat on the Corvallis City Council representing the second ward in 1920 and received 249 votes in the primary. In the ensuing election, he received 521 votes and was elected. He took office on January 10, 1921, and held office until January 8, 1923, at which time he resigned because his new house had been completed outside the city limits. As a councilman, Bosworth was assigned to the Fire and Water, Sewer, and Health Committees. He was in large part responsible for the passage of a resolution to issue $100,000 worth of bonds for the construction, expansion, repair, and improvement of the city's water system. He also introduced a resolution for a $10,000 bond to buy a modern fire engine that could use chemicals because of the water shortage in Corvallis during the summer. During his tenure, the Council also improved and constructed a large number of streets and sewers which helped bring Corvallis the image of a "modern" city. After his resignation from the Council, Bosworth was appointed City Health Officer, a position which he "indicated a willingness to accept purely as a matter of service to the community." (Gazette-Times, March 20, 1923) He served one year in the latter capacity and received a salary of $25 per month.

Bosworth involved himself in the commercial development of Corvallis. With Lou Traver, and with the support of the Kiwanis Club, Bosworth helped capitalize the Benton Hotel, one of the landmarks of downtown Corvallis. He was a director at the Benton County State Bank. The Benton County State Bank Building, entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, housed Bosworth's office for a number of years. He also erected in Corvallis one of the "most modern grocery store buildings in the northwest," a building which still stands at the corner of 5th Street and Monroe Avenue. (Obit., Gazette-Times, Sept. 18, 1953) Bosworth was interested in other facets of community life as well. He served as team physician for the football and basketball teams at Oregon State College (now University) from 1926 to 1937. He was a member of the Corvallis Commercial Club and was president of the local Kiwanis Club. Eventually, he became a Kiwanis District Lieutenant Governor.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1981.