While chiropractic therapy might now seem like a widely accepted treatment for physical ailments, the practice was hotly contested from the time of its emergence in 1895 until the middle of the twentieth century. Waco chiropractor Charles Lemly, who was reportedly arrested sixty-six times between 1915 and 1943 for practicing the controversial chiropractic method, became a lightning rod in debates on the legitimacy of his profession. Lemly would be instrumental in advocating for the acceptance of chiropractic as a legitimate practice, both at the state and local levels.
Charles C. Lemly was born around 1892 in Waco, Texas. The young Lemly was familiar with the medical field from an early age, as his father was a pharmacist. Lemly’s interest in chiropractic as a profession was sparked when he experienced dramatically positive results from chiropractic treatment early in life. When he began his training, however, the chiropractic treatments were relatively new and not widely accepted.
Chiropractic had occupied a controversial space in American medicine and culture since its “discovery” by Daniel David Palter in 1895, when Palmer used spinal manipulation to perform the first “adjustment” to a patient who had lost his hearing. Palmer, a Spiritualist, saw chiropractic as a middle ground between Christian Science and medicine, a metaphysical alternative to traditional religion that incorporated elements of the scientific. While subsequent practitioners did not share Palmer’s brand of spirituality, chiropractic quickly became contested as the medical field professionalized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
During this time, national and state medical associations sprung up across the country to ensure the credentials of doctors, and medical practitioners debated the definition, purpose, and nature of medicine. For many, that definition did not include chiropractic. The lack of standing examinations in the chiropractic profession concerned doctors, who questioned the efficacy of chiropractic methods and who worried that chiropractors intended to replace serious medical care with rival, quack treatments. Doctors saw chiropractic as a threat to both public health and individual citizens. Campaigns to discredit chiropractic were coordinated nationally through the American Medical Association and at the state level through the Texas Medical Association.
Chiropractors, however, attempted to establish their practice as legitimate in the eyes of the medical community and the public through the use of scientific terms and the formation of such organizations as the Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA) in 1914. Lemly promptly joined the TCA that same year after his graduation from the Universal Chiropractic College and set up a practice in Waco, Texas, where he lived at 1307 Columbus Avenue with his wife and daughter. From 1930 to 1939, Howard Mann leased East Terrace House in East Waco to Lemly who converted it into the Lemly Chiropractic Psychopathic Sanatorium.
Lemly, like other chiropractors, faced the threat of arrest under the charge of practicing medicine without a license, given that there existed no legally accepted licensing for chiropractors. One of Lemly’s many arrests on the charge of offering unlicensed medical treatment occurred in 1926. During the trial, Lemly’s attorney objected to the prosecution using the term “treatments,” arguing instead that Lemly made a charge for adjustments. The defense argued that there was no testimony to show that he called himself a doctor or had used any medicine. Lemly also appealed to one of his most famous clients, Judge and Baylor University President Pat Neff, declaring, “Mr. Neff is taking adjustments from me now, so he must still believe in us.” Lemly and others argued that it was not their intention to violate the medical laws of Texas, and that they wished for a law to be passed that created a board of examiners to professionalize the chiropractic practice, making licensing a possibility.
In the face of such opposition, chiropractors mobilized in the 1930s and 40s to create associations and lobbying groups that might bring about legislation sanctioning their practices, but divisions within their community over specifics of practice hindered the unity necessary to create legislative change. The Texas State Chiropractic Association provided for the legal defense of its members beginning in 1938. Ultimately, Lemly was instrumental in introducing the first chiropractic licensing bills in the 1930s, which received the support of Pat Neff, who not only received adjustments from Lemly but who defended accused chiropractors as well. But these initial bills did not muster enough support to pass during the 1930s.
In 1943, the first Chiropractic Act of Texas passed. This bill, however, was ruled unconstitutional. It would be six more years before the passing of another bill that proved acceptable to chiropractors and legislators alike. The law stipulated that chiropractors must complete, in addition to chiropractic school, a minimum of two years of college and identified required science courses. In the next session, the chiropractic profession was included by the legislature in the Workers Compensation Act of 1951.
Lemly continued to practice chiropractic throughout the 1960s, by which time the American public had become increasingly open to chiropractic as a legitimate method of addressing physical ills. A lifelong advocate of chiropractic, Lemly published articles to “explain the practice of Modern, scientific Chiropractic, the second largest healing profession in the world.” By the time of Lemly’s death in 1970, chiropractic had, for many, come to carry scientific legitimacy while also constituting a more natural and non-invasive treatment approach to physical ailments.
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]]>For more than 150 years, the McLennan County Medical Society has kept alive a robust professional medical community in Central Texas, ensuring the best care for patients throughout the Waco area.
From the arrival of Texas's earliest non-native inhabitants, medicine has played an important role in the state's history. In addition to the myriad dangers of frontier life, diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and small pox relentlessly plagued early settlers. When McLennan County was founded in 1850, most communities relied upon a single physician to provide the full spectrum of medical care. Often, these local doctors lacked the education necessary to effectively treat their patients. As the number of area residents grew, doctors recognized the need for an organization to ensure the credentials of practicing physicians, and formed the Waco Medical Association in 1866.
The association was among the first in a wave of Texas medical organizations designed to both standardize and modernize the medical field. Society meetings provided a space in which doctors could discuss new medical developments, hear scientific presentations, and establish lasting relationships with other members of the profession. At the turn of the century, the American Medical Association restructured its organization in an attempt to boost societal participation at the county and state levels. Waco Medical Association physicians joined thousands of American doctors in adapting to these changes, officially voting to become the McLennan County Medical Society in 1903. The structure of MCMS would change even further when in 1915 the society welcomed Waco’s first licensed female physician, Hallie Earle, into the medical community.
MCMS's first decades saw a shift away from the house calls of yesteryear toward the modern office-based model, both in McLennan County and across the nation. Waco’s first medical offices, located at Fourth Street and Franklin Avenue, were built in 1892, followed by Providence Hospital in 1904 and the ALICO building (which housed several doctors’ offices) in 1910. Texas medical care became even more accessible in the 1920s and 30s thanks to the increasing prevalence of automobiles. Furthermore, the number of local medical facilities quickly multiplied as such sites as the Veterans Administration Hospital cropped up throughout the Waco area. These strides in infrastructure and transportation meant that patients were able to access adequate medical care more easily than ever. During this time, he quality of patient care improved drastically following the advent of the X-ray and modern operating rooms. These advancements gradually encouraged doctors to adopt a specialty; some chose to focus on certain groups of patients (such as women or children), while others opted to focus on specific illnesses or parts of the body.
These medical advancements, however, paled in comparison with those that arrived after midcentury; within a few short decades, nearly every medical specialty would be radically transformed, altering the medical arena for both patients and practitioners alike. New discoveries in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery led to the building of Waco's first heart clinic in 1950, and, twenty years later, to the performing of Waco's first open-heart surgery. Advancements such as the Salk and Sabine vaccines all but eradicated polio, while improvements in mammography and chemotherapy drastically raised chances for the recovery of cancer patients. Additionally, the burgeoning field of fiber optics constituted a virtual revolution in specialties such as endocrinology, urology, and orthopedics. These emerging technologies required increasingly narrow and intensified focus from doctors. Thus, many specialties that began in the 1920s began to split even further into the subspecialties we know today.
Concurrently, the combination of MCMS's thriving medical community and Waco's small-town feel attracted many doctors looking to begin new practices while raising their families away from the chaos of bigger cities. The dearth of young physicians in the area also allowed an increasing number of these up-and-comers to establish themselves as subspecialists well versed in the latest medical techniques and technologies. The Waco medical community experienced yet another growth spurt in the years that followed. As hospitals multiplied in number and size, the presence of salaried physicians they employed grew as well, in contrast to the predominately private employment of Waco physicians in years past.
By the time the twentieth century came to a close, membership in the local medical society was no longer necessary in order for area doctors to obtain hospital privileges. These shifts however, did not spell the end of MCMS. While the society no longer stands as the single defining standard of medical involvement in McLennan County, much of its function and purpose remain. Indeed, the McLennan County Medical Society continues to cultivate a local medical community, holding up the highest standard in the profession and safeguarding the heritage of Waco medicine.
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]]>Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center has been a big name in the Central Texas healthcare network for almost a century. Though the institution’s name has changed several times over the decades, the mission remains the same: to serve the sick people of Waco and surrounding areas in a welcoming, Christian environment.
The idea for a Baptist hospital in Waco began with Arthur James Barton, pastor of First Baptist Church of Waco, as early as 1909. But this would be no small undertaking, and it would cost a great deal of money for the local congregation. The idea circulated the community for a few years, and in 1912 the Waco Baptist Association (WBA) formed the Sanitarium Standing Committee, set to raise an estimated $50,000 for the construction of a sanitarium—the predecessor to the modern-day hospital with more restricted facilities. The only other hospital in the area was the Catholic-run Providence Hospital. Financial Secretary of the Committee Ben T. Goodwin set out on a widespread fundraising campaign. Despite initial success, such as the $10,000 pledged by the Young Men’s Business League, by September 1914 Goodwin paused all fundraising efforts because of the outbreak of World War I.
The next phase of the project was taken up by Joseph M. Dawson who assumed the pastorship of First Baptist in 1915. Dawson strongly believed that taking care of the sick was an instrumental part of the Christian faith, and he often preached such messages to his congregation in support of the sanitarium. He set out himself in 1916 to acquire land for the proposed sanitarium, buying two plots for $7,000. This important step instilled confidence in the WBA, and following the land acquisitions the WBA leaders chartered the sanitarium the same year. The charter included a nursing school and specified that the sanitarium would be open to all medical school graduates and doctors “of good repute.” Further, it articulated the institution’s purpose as “a responsibility to the community [that] would transcend political strife, regional strife, religious distinctions, and racial distinctions.”
Waco local Jesse Judge Dean donated more land to the project, and by 1917 the WBA had raised $60,000. While the whole project would cost around $275,000, the WBA went ahead and hired architect George C. Burnett and contractor James S. Harrison and Son. They broke ground at the original location on Herring Avenue on July 10, 1917. By October 1918 the exterior was complete, but more funds were needed to furnish the inside. Local women’s groups such as the WBA Women’s Auxiliary donated their time and completed the landscaping, and they also donated materials such as bed linens. The hospital and nursing building were both completed in 1920.
To everyone’s surprise, the first patient preceded the hospital’s opening on May 25, 1920. Dr. H. Frank Connally performed an emergency appendectomy on Mrs. Mable Battle Westbrook at 4:30 a.m. on May 25. The first registered surgical patient, a Mrs. Mamie Lou Lange Hatch, then received her operation at 8:00 a.m. The Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium was officially up and running.
The sanitarium saw massive expansions and improvements in the following decades of the twentieth century. By 1938 the name had changed to Hillcrest Memorial Hospital. The change was meant to honor the citizens of the surrounding Hillcrest area who had worked to hard to fund raise and make the hospital a reality. In the same year, the hospital also obtained its first iron lung to treat polio. Though the hospital almost closed during the Depression, a little over a decade later it was back on its feet ready to expand. In 1953 a new wing was opened and the bed capacity raised to 175. By 1963 the hospital underwent another name change. When it was brought under the Baptist General Convention of Texas the name was changed to Hillcrest Baptist Hospital. That same decade saw the closing of the nursing school, and the hospital began to hire nurses trained at the new McLennan Community College.
The two decades from 1978 to 1998 saw the greatest changes. In 1978 the Clara and Harlon Fentress Cancer Treatment Center was built, with forty-inch walls to contain the radiation. The 1980s brought the construction of an outpatient surgical center, the Magnolia Tree Inn for patients’ families, the primary care clinic and MRI center, and labor and delivery rooms. The name of the hospital was also changed one last time in 1982 to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, to reflect the hospital’s “comprehensive approach to health education and preventative medicine.” The 1990s continued to witness immense growth, with the opening of the Heart Center, the NICU, school clinics, and the hospital’s upgrade to a Level II trauma center.
The hospital did finally run into some trouble after the turn of the century. Tensions between the doctors serving at the hospital and the administration ran high, and many doctors considered leaving Hillcrest altogether. But a change in management came in 2007 with CEO Glenn Robinson, and doctor-hospital relationships improved. It was also Robinson who oversaw the biggest change in Hillcrest history—much more than a change in name, a change in location. In 2009, every patient was transferred to the new location on I-35 and Highway 6 in just one day. Hillcrest still operates today at this location in partnership with Baylor Scott & White Health network. Primarily vacant for over ten years, several attempts to find a new owner for the old Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center Complex proved unsuccessful. In 2020, a final plan to convert the old hospital into a state-run mental healthcare facility fell through under the financial stress of Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic. While Hillcrest Hospital continues to serve the region in its new location, the former home of Hillcrest will be demolished and the space opened up for revitalization and new development.
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]]>A proudly old-fashioned medicine in retro packaging that features a turn-of-the-twentieth-century tot is not only a vestige of Waco’s drug store past—it is a part of its present as well.
The preparation known since 1938 as Percy Medicine was born in Waco in 1904 as Baby Percy Medicine with the collaboration of traveling buggy-whip salesman A. W. Percy and Waco druggist W. S. Merrick.
While traveling by train to relocate to Waco in 1898, the Percy family’s young son e Albert came down with diarrhea—a serious and often fatal illness for children at the turn of the century. At a stop in Kentucky, a country doctor mixed up a concoction of bismuth subnitrate-based medicine. Soon, baby Percy was on the mend and the family continued on its way.
After arriving in Waco, A. W. Percy asked pharmacist W. S. Merrick to prepare the Kentucky recipe to help the child through another bout of upset stomach. The results were so stellar that the druggist asked the lad’s father to join him in a venture to market and sell the elixir, which came to be known as Baby Percy Medicine.
The company, officially born on January 1, 1904, continues to manufacture the remedy to this day. When two former Behren’s Drug Company employees—Frank J. Trau and Louis Collie—joined the company in 1905, it officially incorporated as the Merrick Drug Company. The pair continued to run the business until the 1940s.
Percy Medicine, as it has been called since 1938, was the only product produced by Merrick Medicine Company at the factory at Eighth Street and Webster Avenue in Waco. It is mixed and bottled by hand and contains “a secret formula of bismuth subsalicylate, calcium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, as well as rhubarb extract, sugar, cinnamon, and orange flavoring.” In fact, Percy Medicine holds the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s longest continuously active industrial alcohol-use permit, No. 10, issued in 1939 since the preparation contains 5 percent ethyl alcohol.
In the mid-twentieth century, a small crew reported to the second floor of the Percy Medicine building about one Saturday per month to produce six thousand three-ounce bottles. Each batch has a shelf life of three years, according to company publications. The batches were then sold to wholesalers, who distributed the product around the country.
The manufacturer suggests its use for diarrhea, indigestion, cholera infantum, and “summer complaints of children. Relieves sour stomach instantly. A safe and reliable teething and colic medicine for babies.”
However, in the early twenty-first century, Merrick Medicine ceased operations at its Fifth Street location and contracted Humco Holding Group of Texarkana to produce the medicine. In 2013, Katie Croft, owner of Croft Art Gallery, and husband James Croft, purchased the former production plant with plans to renovate the building and relocate the gallery. Their renovation plans never came to fruition, and in the summer of 2015, a local retailer purchased and began to refurbish the building. After spending a few years as home to both The Findery, a home décor retailer, and the Boiler Room, a bar, local group WPV Development purchased the building in hopes of leasing it to a new downtown restaurant or retailer.
Today, the Percy Medicine building stands as a nod to the enterprising efforts of one of Waco’s longest-operating companies, while its recent repurposing keeps locals hopeful that it will retain a vital role at the heart of the city’s economic operations.
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