Dr. Westel Willoughby Jr. (1769–1844)
Dr. Westel Willoughby Jr. (1769–1844) was an American physician, medical educator, judge, and politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and led prominent medical societies in New York during the early 19th century. His name became historically significant to the City of Willoughby, Ohio, when early founders of a local medical college—hoping to attract him—named both their institution and, ultimately, the village in his honor in 1834; this act linked his legacy to Lake County’s development and to early efforts to expand medical education on the American frontier. Though he never visited Ohio, his reputation in medicine and public service left a lasting imprint on the region’s identity and place in American history.
