Exeter History Tellers: The Curious Story of Dr. Isaac Saylin and Exeter's First Hospital
For a small community, it's remarkable that Exeter had medical facilities and physicians caring for its citizens continuously from 1914 to 1998. Each of Exeter's four hospitals has a fascinating story and will be featured in an upcoming CACHE Chats: Tales of Exeter and Beyond with Dwight Miller on November 16, 2026. The title is "Community of Care: Exeter's Four Hospitals."
While no hospital existed before 1914, Exeter’s medical needs were served by Dr. J.F. Dungan, Exeter’s first doctor. He was recruited by community leader H.R. Stephens in 1894. Dr. Dungan had twenty years of looking after the medical needs of the town and surrounding area without benefit of a hospital.
The first hospital, operating from March 1914 to 1928, was built by Dr. Isaac Saylin, a Jewish physician who moved to Exeter from Southern California in 1913. Called a sanitarium, it is pictured above. After closing as a hospital, the building was converted into apartments. Those apartments had various owners and names: Sequoia Apartments in the 1930’s and ‘40’s; Posey Apartments in the 1950’s and ‘60’s and finally the LaMunyan Apartments in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. It was eventually demolished to make way for the Shell Mini Mart at the corner of East Pine Street and Kaweah Avenue.
So, who was Isaac Saylin, and what brought him to Exeter to build a private hospital?
His story begins far from California. Born in Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire, Saylin immigrated with his family to Buffalo, New York, in 1890 at the age of 17. Around the same time, Lena Weisch, also from Riga, arrived in Buffalo with her family at age 13. The two married three years later while Saylin was attending medical school. After earning his degree, he established a medical practice, and the couple eventually had three children.
In September 1901, Saylin unexpectedly found himself caught up in one of the nation's most dramatic events. President William McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo by Leon Czolgosz, who claimed to have been influenced by the anarchist Emma Goldman. Federal investigators launched a nationwide search for anyone connected to Goldman. Saylin had spoken with her by telephone and had purchased literature from her. While on a business trip to Chicago, he was arrested, jailed and questioned before being cleared of any involvement.
Later, reflecting on the experience, Saylin reportedly remarked, "In Russia I was an anarchist because there was no freedom. In America we have freedom, so there is no need for anarchism." His comment reflected the contrast many immigrants saw between the repression of the Russian Empire and the freedoms they experienced in the United States. Emma Goldman felt that the working conditions in American factories were akin to the suffering of people under the Czar in Russia. She remained a steadfast anarchist but also cleared of any involvement in the assassination.
In 1903, Saylin moved to Southern California after being appointed Chief Surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad. Along with his medical career, he became active in real estate. His personal life, however, was marked by tragedy. His wife, Lena, filed for divorce in 1904, alleging cruelty, but the couple reconciled the following year. Sadly, before they could rebuild their life together Lena suffered severe burns in a kitchen fire and died in 1905. Saylin remarried the next year, and he and his second wife welcomed a daughter.
Why Saylin chose to relocate to Exeter remains something of a mystery. Beyond what appears to have been a promising investment opportunity, I have found no clear explanation. The best guess is that 1912 was the year the Santa Fe railroad line was built through Exeter’s east side. In his role with Santa Fe, he could have seen the positive investment opportunity. In 1913, he purchased 20 acres northeast of town, followed by six lots on East Pine Street. There he built a 14-room sanitarium, essentially Exeter's first private hospital. He hired Dr. P. A. Mix as the resident physician, while Saylin assisted with surgeries and continued to oversee the facility. When Mix was listed as the “resident” physician, that meant he literally lived in the hospital. Prior to the opening of the sanitarium, Dr. Mix, with help from Dr. Saylin, would operate on patients at his home.
Saylin’s time in Exeter was surprisingly brief. After only about three years, he returned to Southern California in 1916. Over the following decades he bought and sold numerous real estate holdings in Pasadena, El Monte, and other communities. Curiously, the Visalia Times-Delta mistakenly reported his death in 1919 yet he lived another 22 years, dying in 1941 at the age of 68.
Late in life, Saylin developed an unexpected passion for breeding and exhibiting canary songbirds. Living in Palm Springs during the 1930’s, one of his prized canaries won second place in a national competition.
Medicine became something of a family tradition. Saylin's brother, son, and daughter all went on to become physicians. Although his years in Exeter were few, his decision to build the town's first hospital marked an important milestone in the community's history and laid the foundation for more than 80 years of local hospital care.
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