[1][2] This had been briefly preceded by a temporary board of health that was established in 1834 to fight an outbreak of cholera.
[1][2] In the mid-1850s, with transmission of cholera and smallpox being regarded as under control, the board saw its powers reduced.
[1] Amid the economic burdens of the panic of 1857, the Chicago Board of Health was seen as an unneeded luxury, and it was abolished in 1857.
That year, the Board of Health successfully recommended that children be forbidden to attend public schools without a certificate of vaccination.
[4] Herman Bundesen, already the Chicago City Health Commissioner, was also made the president of the board,[4] a position he held until his death in August 1960.