Allie Carl (A. C.) Kolb (1886–1959)

Dr. Allie Carl (A. C.) Kolb was a physician in Arkansas in general practice and later in psychiatry, helping to improve care at the Arkansas State Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Little Rock (Pulaski County). He pushed for better commitment laws and was active with state and national medical societies. He was in the Army Medical Corps in World War I.

A. C. Kolb was born on January 28, 1886, to Charles Kolb and Malinda Cannon Kolb in Sevier County, Arkansas. He attended schools in Sevier and Hempstead counties and graduated from high school in Nashville (Howard County). After graduation, he taught school and attended the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). In 1913, he graduated from UA and entered the medical college of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, earning his MD in 1917. He married Amanda Payton, whom he had met at a Louisville church, on June 25, 1917. The Kolbs’ only child, William Payton Kolb, was born on October 16, 1919.

Kolb served in the Army Medical Corps in World War I and was stationed in France. By 1919, he had returned to Arkansas, where he started a general practice at Hope (Hempstead County). During the economic depression of 1920–1921, he went to Port Arthur, Texas. After that, he decided to return to Kentucky for an internship in neuropsychiatry at the Louisville Neuropathic Sanatorium for Mental and Nervous Diseases. He was also a part owner of the sanatorium. In 1931, he returned to Hope and went into medical practice with his uncle. He also was associated with Josephine Hospital.

On March 30, 1933, Governor Junius Marion Futrell appointed Kolb to the board of the Arkansas State Hospital, the only hospital for people with mental illnesses in the state. When he took over the hospital, it was in terrible condition. Its original capacity was 800 patients; in 1935, the number of patients was 3,660 with no expansion of the buildings. Many slept on mattresses on the floor. All that was necessary for admission was for a person to sign a statement that an individual was insane and have a judge sign a commitment order. There was no waiting list, and some individuals were admitted who should not have been, such as transients and the elderly. There were 200 mentally disabled children.

Funds were very limited, and there were only seven physicians on staff. Patients with medical illnesses had to be diagnosed and treated on site. There was a farm maintained by some of the patients on site to help with food supplies. Women patients who were able did laundry. Kolb once came into possession of a carload of white Ku Klux Klan robes that had not been picked up for freight charges, and the women made them into sheets.

An annex was built in 1936 near Benton (Saline County) with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds, and the farm was moved to the annex. A dairy farm with two barracks was built near Baucum (Pulaski County). When Kolb told his wife that the children at the State Hospital were not in school and needed equipment for play (all without funds for this), she organized the employees’ wives to start a school, and she then organized a fundraiser for books and play equipment.

Kolb served at the State Hospital from 1935 to 1938 and 1941 to 1946. In 1946, he left to become chief of the Neuro-Psychiatric Unit of the Veterans Administration Hospital and worked there until 1958, when he returned to private practice. During his time in Little Rock, he worked with the Arkansas General Assembly to change certain laws concerning the mentally ill. He was also able to increase the number of staff for the State Hospital.

Kolb was active in medical societies. He was a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He was also a member of the board of trustees and a deacon of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church.

While seeing patients in his office, Kolb suffered a heart attack and died on October 30, 1959. He is buried in Louisville.

For additional information:
“Dairy Farm’s WPA Project Accepted.” Arkansas Gazette, October 11, 1935, p. 24.

“Dr. A. C. Kolb Dies.” Hope Star, November 2, 1959, p. 1.

“Dr. A. C. Kolb New Head of Hospital.” Arkansas Gazette, April 17, 1935, p. 1.

Henker, Fred O., III. “The Evolution of Mental Health Care in Arkansas.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 37 (Autumn 1978): 224–239.

Kolb Family Papers. Historical Research Center. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas.

“State Hospital in Appeal to Judges.” Arkansas Gazette, July 21, 1935, p. 3.

“State Hospital to Increase Its Staff.” Arkansas Gazette, June 14, 1935, p. 6.

Carolyn Yancey Kent
Jacksonville, Arkansas