It’s February 13th, 1940, and alcoholism is a little-known, but widely-experienced problem in the United States. The first roots of Alcoholic Anonymous have been dug into the soil of New York City (NY), Cleveland (OH), and Akron (OH). Jim B, a traveling salesman and alcoholic, has just moved to Philadelphia, and is in search of other alcoholics to “work and play” with.
He decides to reach out to Charlie B, the only other man he knows in Philadelphia, also an alcoholic, whom he met at an AA meeting in New York City. Charlie read over the AA book with Jim (which had been published only two years before) and together they decided to establish an Alcoholics Anonymous group in Philadelphia, only the second on the East Coast.
Charlie brought with him two new perspectives: Bayard B and Edmund P. Together the four gathered enough men to start the first AA chapter in Philadelphia. The other founding members became Chas B, Bayard B, Jim B, McCready H, Ed P, and George S.
On February 28th, 1940, now considered the anniversary of Alcoholic Anonymous
in Philadelphia, the first meeting was held at McCready Huston’s room on
22nd and Delancey Street.
Between the first and second meetings, a member was trying to place an Alcoholic Anonymous book at a bookstore. There he met Dr. A Wiese Hammer. Dr. Hammer, ignited by the cause, almost immediately became the chapter’s first Medical Advisor. He, along with Malvern Treatment Center’s own, Dr. C Dudley Saul, became the first men to have their name published along with Alcoholics Anonymous. They appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on March 1st, 1941.
It is after this meeting and involvement that Dr. C. Dudley Saul founded Malvern Treatment Center six years later, in 1946, for the purpose of treating individuals suffering from alcoholism and psychiatric conditions.
What happens next? Check in Friday (February 27th) to find out where the subsequent years took these founding fathers of Philadelphia’s Alcoholics Anonymous.