Dr. Charles S. Holt, who for sixteen years has devoted his attention to the practice of medicine and surgery and who since 1908 has been numbered among the physicians of Fort Smith, where his extensive practice is indicative of the skill and ability which he displays in the line of his chosen profession, was born in 1880, in Salem, Illinois, the historic old town so closely associated with memories of Abraham Lincoln. He pursued his education in the public schools of Salem until he had mastered the work of the elementary grades and later he entered the high school at Mount Vernon, Illinois. His medical education was acquired in the University of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri, where he pursued the full course and was graduated with the class of 1906. For a year thereafter he was connected with the St. Louis State Hospital and his work there proved of great benefit to him, enabling him to put his theoretical training to the practical test and to gain that broad and valuable experience which is never secured as quickly in any other way as in hospital practice. In 1908 he came to Fort Smith, where he opened an office and has since followed his profession. Throughout the intervening years he has read broadly, thus keeping informed concerning the latest scientific researches and discoveries of the medical profession, and in 1913 he went to New York, where he pursued a further course of study in the New York Postgraduate Hospital. He is new owner and surgeon in chief of St. John's Hospital of Fort Smith, a splendidly equipped institution prepared to take care of all kinds of surgical cases. In that connection his practice is extensive and he is also the director of the Holt Clinic, with six physicians under his direction. He is likewise associate professor of surgery in the University of Arkansas, a position which he has filled since 1914.
In 1910 Dr. Holt was united in marriage to Mrs. Zoe Bissel, then a resident of Fort Smith but a native of South Carolina. They have an adopted daughter, Betsy.
During the World war Dr. Holt gave three nights each week to service as a member of the medical advisory board. He belongs to the Lions Club, which is indicative of his interest in the welfare and progress of his city, the development of. its business relations and the maintenance of high civic standards, the organization standing at all times for the most advanced ideals in American citizenship. Dr. Holt likewise belongs to the Country Club, while along strictly professional lines his association is with the Sebastian County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. While he is a broad-minded man and neglects no public duty, his attention has naturally been most largely given to his professional interests and his careful diagnosis of his cases, his capability and devotion to the demands of the profession have gained him high standing.