Discover the men behind one the region’s most familiar household names. Who were Drs. Willis and Knighton, and what did they do for the field of medicine in their community? Exhibit highlights include original oil portraits of the medical giants, artifacts and material culture associated with their tenure and professional lives.

Dr. Joseph E. Knighton Biography 1870-1950

Description

Dr. Joseph Edward  Knighton was born in Claiborne Parish in 1870 and for several years as teen lived with his uncle doctor in Texas.  This may have given him a taste of the career to which he would devote his life.  Knighton graduated in 1899 from the University of Nashville’s Medical School.  He began practicing in Homer, Louisiana after graduating. 

Around 1910, he and another Homer doctor, James C. Willis joined their practices and moved to the growing community of Shreveport. Dr. Knighton, however, wasn’t your typical country doctor studying at Tulane, Johns Hopkins, and Chicago Universities as well as European hospitals.  Both Drs. Knighton and Willis grew in stature in the Shreveport and within the Louisiana medical community and in 1929, they along with several other physicians bought the Tri-State Hospital.

Dr. Knighton would be deeply involved in the Shreveport community affairs until his death in 1950. His son, James E. Knighton, would carry on the family tradition becoming a doctor and practicing alongside his father and his daughter, Ruth, married a long-time associate, Dr. William S. Kerlin. 

Location in Museum

Talbot Museum Digital Archive

Age

1871-1950
The_Times_Tue__Apr_22__1941_ Willis and Knighton at La Medical Society Meeting 1941
Knighton, Joseph E
Contact Us

The museum is open to be public by appointment.  If you wish to have a guided tour of the museum exhibits, you should contact the Museum Curator, Jim Roberts at (318) 212-8472 or email him to set up a weekday appointment

100 Years