DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the McLennan County Medical Society, right here in McLennan County. Now settle in, because this story starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do — with a small group of determined people in a room, and a very big idea. April 30, 1866.
Ten physicians gather in Waco. Ten. The war has barely ended, the world is still sorting itself out, and these ten doctors decide what this place needs more than just about anything is shared medical knowledge and a serious push toward public health improvement.
So they build something: the Waco Medical Association. That's where it all begins. Now, two of those founding physicians — Dr.
David R. Wallace and Dr. John H.
Sears — weren't content to stop at the city limits. By 1869, both men were instrumental in the reorganization of the Texas State Medical Association, and each served as President of it. Other Waco physicians would follow them into that presidency in later years.
Ten doctors in a room, and they were already thinking statewide. Fast forward to 1903. The association broadens its scope, sheds its old name, and becomes the McLennan County Medical Society — the MCMS, as folks around here know it.
At that point, the membership rolls show one hundred and eighty doctors. That is not a small gathering anymore. Then comes 1905, and here's where the story takes a turn that touches everyday lives in a very real way.
With public support from MCMS physicians, the Daughters of Charity opened Providence Sanitarium. The marker is clear about what that meant: it signaled a change from home-based to hospital-based medical care. Think about what that shift meant for ordinary families.
Medicine was moving out of the parlor and into a dedicated place of healing. Twelve years later, in 1917, another piece of the organization took shape — the Women's Auxiliary to the MCMS, formed to assist in promoting and improving public health. That group kept right on evolving, changing its name in the 1990s to the McLennan County Medical Alliance.
Both the MCMS and the Alliance, the marker tells us, remain dedicated to education and outreach within the community. But I want to pause here, because the next chapter of this story deserves a moment of quiet. 1953. The Waco Tornado.
McLennan County physicians stepped forward to treat the victims, and when the insurance proceeds came in, those doctors donated every last dollar of it to a special disaster relief fund for the city. Every dollar. That's the kind of thing that tells you who a community really is when the sky falls.
And then, in 1969, the MCMS did something that apparently no other medical society in the country had done — they founded the McLennan County Family Practice Residency Program to train family physicians. The only such program, the marker says, founded and administered by a Medical Society. Started by ten doctors with shared knowledge and a public health mission, the McLennan County Medical Society has spent well over a century and a half building something the marker says plainly has vastly improved the quality of life of Waco-area citizens.
Ten physicians, one room, one April evening in 1866. Not a bad place to start.
What the marker says
On April 30, 1866, ten Waco physicians met to organize the Waco Medical Association with the primary objectives of sharing medical knowledge and promoting public health improvement. Two of these physicians, Dr. David R. Wallace and Dr. John H. Sears, also were instrumental in the reorganization of the Texas State Medical Association in 1869, serving as President as did other Waco physicians in later years. Broadening its scope in 1903, the Waco Medical Association became the McLennan County Medical Society (MCMS) with 180 doctors listed as members. In 1905, with public support from MCMS physicians, the Daughters of Charity opened Providence Sanitarium, signaling a change from home-based to hospital-based medical care. In 1917, the Women’s Auxiliary to the MCMS was formed to assist in promoting and improving public health, later changing its name in the 1990s to the McLennan County Medical Alliance. Both groups are dedicated to education and outreach within the community. McLennan County physicians played an important role in treating victims of the 1953 Waco Tornado; they donated all of the insurance proceeds to a special disaster relief fund for the city. In 1969, MCMS founded the McLennan County Family Practice Residency Program to train family physicians – the only such program founded and administered by a Medical Society. The McLennan County Medical Society’s commitment to quality and affordable care has vastly improved the quality of life of Waco-area citizens.