The March Brown Bag Lunch and Local Lore Series will feature a program on Letitia Westgate, M.D., the first woman doctor, chemist, surgeon, and architect to design, build, and manage a U.S. hospital.

The free program will begin at noon March 5 at the DeKalb County History Center, 1730 N. Main St., Sycamore.

“Dr. Letitia Westgate: Medical Pioneer” author Denise Moran will discuss Westgate and the opening of Sycamore Hospital May 1 in 1900. The presentation also features vintage photographs of Westgate. Book copies will be available to buy.

Westgate was born on a farm near Mendota. She moved to Sycamore after receiving a medical degree from Northwestern University in 1892. Westgate immunized 120 residents against a smallpox epidemic in 1902 and secured funds for a new Sycamore library from industrialist Andrew Carnegie. She also was Sycamore’s first woman doctor and the city of Aurora’s health department’s first woman chemist.

The “Dr. Letitia Westgate: Medical Pioneer” program is part of Brown Bag Lunch and Local Lore, a free lecture series offered as a collaboration between the DeKalb County History Museum and Ellwood House Museum. The 2026 Brown Bag Lunch series will focus on commemorating the U.S. 250th anniversary.

For information, visit dekalbcountyhistory.org, call 815-895-5762, or visit il250.org.