DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Now, Houston after the Civil War was a city rebuilding itself from the ground up — and somebody had to tend to the wounded, the sick, and the working men who were laying rail across Texas in the summer heat. That somebody turned out to be two young physicians, Dr.
David Finney Stuart and Dr. Joshua Larendon, who founded the Houston Infirmary in 1874. Former Confederate Army surgeons, both of them, and they didn't waste any time getting to work.
Before long, they were joined by a third man — Dr. Thomas Joel Boyles — and the three of them had themselves a hospital. Not just any hospital, either.
The Houston Infirmary stepped into one of the most consequential roles a medical facility could play in that era: it became a linchpin in the organization of medical care for the railroad companies pouring into Houston through the 1870s and 1880s. You want to talk about a growth industry — railroads were threading through this city like veins, and every one of those companies needed somewhere to send their men when things went wrong on the line. Stuart, Larendon, and Boyles held that operation together for more than a decade before they started bringing in help.
And when they did recruit, they kept it close to home. In 1885, Dr. James Boyles joined the staff — nephew of Dr.
Thomas Boyles. In 1887, Dr. Samuel Clark Red came aboard — nephew of Dr.
David Stuart. Then in 1890, after finishing medical school, Dr. Joseph R.
Stuart began his career at the infirmary — son of Dr. David Stuart. Three additions, all of them family, all of them folding into an institution that was already nearly fifteen years deep in the life of this city.
Now, the infirmary itself had moved around some. It started on the north side of the Houston and Texas Central Railway tracks, west of Oliver Street. But in 1883, it relocated to a two-story frame building on the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and 10th — a street that would later be known as Elder Street.
It was a segregated hospital, as was common and as was wrong, containing a separate building for African American patients. A ward for Hispanic patients was added by 1907. For nearly forty years, through railroad booms and the slow turning of a century, that infirmary stood.
But two things came together to close it. In 1911, a separate hospital was established for the Southern Pacific Railway — one of those railroad accounts that had long been part of the infirmary's purpose. And then in 1913, Dr.
Joseph R. Stuart died. That same year, 1913, the Houston Infirmary closed.
Nearly four decades of service to the city of Houston, ended in a single year by loss and change. Some institutions burn bright and long, and when they go, they leave a shape behind them — the shape of everything they held together. The Houston Infirmary was one of those.
What the marker says
One of the most prominent hospital facilities established in Houston after the Civil War was the Houston Infirmary, founded in 1874 by two young physicians, Dr. David Finney Stuart and Dr. Joshua Larendon. These two former Confederate Army surgeons were soon joined in their practice by Dr. Thomas Joel Boyles. The infirmary played a prominent role in the organization of medical care for the many railroad companies that established operations in Houston during the 1870s and 1880s. Drs. Stuart, Larendon and Boyles operated the hospital for more than a decade before recruiting additional medical specialists to join the hospital staff. Three of the added physicians were relatives—Dr. James Boyles, a nephew of Dr. Thomas Boyles, joined the staff in 1885; Dr. Samuel Clark Red, a nephew of Dr. David Stuart, began work at the infirmary in 1887; and Dr. Joseph R. Stuart, son of Dr. David Stuart, began his career at the infirmary after completing medical school in 1890. The Houston Infirmary was first located on the north side of the Houston and Texas Central Railway tracks and west of Oliver St., but was relocated to a two-story frame building on the northwest corner of Washington Ave. and 10th (now Elder St.) In 1883. The segregated hospital contained a separate building for African American patients, and a ward for Hispanic patients was added by 1907. The establishment of a separate hospital for the Southern Pacific Railway in 1911 and the death of Dr. Joseph R. Stuart in 1913 contributed to the closure of the Houston Infirmary in 1913, after nearly forty years of service to the city of Houston.