by David Cardillo, DDNP staff

One hundred years ago, the Daughters of the American Revolution gifted an ambulance to Delaware College, which eventually became the University of Delaware. According to The Newark Post on October 3, 1917, an elaborate ceremony was planned for the presentation of the automobile to the college on October 4, 1917. The gift of the ambulance was made with the understanding that the US government could conscript its service, if the need arose, during World War I, at that time known as The Great War or The World War.

Along with the ambulance was a five-member College Ambulance Corps who were learning first aid from a local doctor, Walter H. Steel. The Ambulance Corps would be available night and day to respond to emergencies within Newark, Delaware, though it is noted that the ambulance would be able to respond to emergencies or transport patients up to one hundred miles outside of the city. Governor John G. Townsend, Jr. would accept the ambulance on behalf of the college, and while the College Ambulance Corps was to maintain the vehicle, it would serve both the campus and the local community.

Newark post. (Newark, Del.), 03 Oct. 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88053005/1917-10-03/ed-1/seq-1/