Arthur Louis Cludas, M. D. The medical profession in Ottawa County had no better representative than Dr. Arthur Louis Cludas, who for the last eighteen years had been established at Minneapolis and through professional knowledge and skill and high personal character had became representative of the city’s best citizenship. Doctor Cludas was born at Vinton, Iowa, November 3, 1872, and is a son of William and Belle (Gatka) Cludas.
William Cludas was born at Berlin, Germany, in 1833 and there his parents both died. He was educated in Berlin and at Heidelberg University, served, as did his father, in the regular army, and in 1852 came to the United States. He located in the City of Chicago, Illinos, where he was engaged in the shoe business until 1882, in which year he came to McPherson County, Kansas, where he engaged in farming until he retired. Then, in 1904, he moved to Portland, Oregon, and there his death took place in January, 1917. He married Belle Gatka, who was born in France in 1843 and resided at Portland. Of their family of eight children Doctor Cludas was the fifth in order of birth, the others being as follows: Charles, who is a real estate broker, resided at Phoenix, Arizona; Ida is the wife of M. H. Wright, who is in the real estate business in Arkansas; Minnie is the wife of W. W. Webster, who owned a garage at Canton, Kansas; Frank is a farmer and in the real estate business at Buhl, Idaho; Bertha is the wife of L. C. Heim, who is the editor and publisher of a newspaper at Marine, Illinois; Harry is a resident of Clinton, Oklahoma; and Addie is the wife of Alexander Ehrich, residing at Portland, Oregon.
Arthur Louis Cludas attended the public schools in Chicago, Illinois, and was graduated from a high school there in 1890, when he joined his parents, who had moved previously to Inman, Kansas. He went into the newspaper business there and published a paper for several years at that point, in the meanwhile, however, proceeding with his medical education. He attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago in 1891 and 1892 and then entered the Keokuk Medical College at Keokuk, Iowa, where he was graduated with his medical degree in 1895. Doctor Cludas is one of the modern type of physician and surgeon who believes that as long as there are new discoveries in his profession he must continue to study and at various times had taken post graduate courses, in 1906 attending the Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital of Chicago, and in 1904 having taken a course in the Philadelphia Post Graduate School.
Before establishing himself in practice at Minneapolis, Kansas, in 1899, Doctor Cludas had been in practice for two years at Trescott, Kansas, and one year at Salina, being quite successful at both points but not finding at either place the exact field of opportunity that Minneapolis gives him. He had a large and substantial practice here and maintains his offices in the Ottawa County Bank Building. He had served three terms as county physician of Ottawa County. Doctor Cludas keeps fully abreast of the times in medical thought, being a member of the county and state medical societies and of the American Medical Association.
At Newton, Kansas, in May, 1895, Doctor Cludas was married to Miss Nella Brentano, who is a daughter of William and Sarah Brentano, the former of whom is now deceased. Formerly he was sheriff of McPherson County, Kansas. Mrs. Brentano resided with Doctor and Mrs. Cludas. They have had two sons, Averill B. and Arthur L., the latter of whom died in infancy. The former, Averill B. Cludas, was born June 5, 1896, attended the public schools and was graduated from the high school, subsequently spending two years in the Kansas University. At present he is reflecting credit on his parents and country as a member of the United States Navy.
In politics Doctor Cludas is a republican. He is identified with a number of fraternal bodies, being a member of Minneapolis Lodge No. 143, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Knights of Pythias at Minneapolis; the Good Templars at Salina, Kansas; the Sons and Daughters of Justice; and the Fraternal Aid Union. With other moral agencies, Doctor Cludas gives support to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he had long been a member and at one time served on the board of trustees. He owned his comfortable residence on Second Street and Rothsay Avenue.