Women Making a Difference has been created in partnership with the Women's Fund of the Community Foundation of Tompkins County


©2006 The History Center in Tompkins County

A graduate of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, Samantha Nivison was the first woman to practice medicine in Tompkins County. In 1862 she established a water-cure sanitarium in Dryden that was so successful that she attempted to open a larger institution in Ithaca. Originally supported by Ezra Cornell, her plan for a new sanitarium collapsed due to lack of funding as he redirected his efforts to the founding of Cornell University. She later established another sanitarium in Hammonton, New Jersey.