Dr. William Stone Woods
This reproduction print of a photograph depicts Dr. William Stone Woods (1840-1917) in a traditional three quarter length portrait pose looking bemused. Woods had a long and variant career in the Midwestern United States. He was first a medical doctor trained at the St. Louis Medical College and the Jefferson Medical College. Not long after he became a practicing physician, Woods uptook a wholesale grocery business that supplied workers employed along the Union Pacific Railroad between Nebraska and Utah. The success of this enterprise lead him to eventually give up his medical practice to grow the grocery business. Woods was also a financial contributor to the Female Orphans School in Platte County. Dr. Stone was passionate about the cause as he was orphan himself. His community financial contributions, as well as his other achievements, fostered a notable name for Woods. The image here encapsulates the humble yet dignified breadth of his career. Dr. Woods later became the namesake of William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri, where Gladys Woods Rubey Kemper was the first woman to serve on the school's board of directors (-www.williamwoods.edu/about/william_woods)