Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium

The sanitarium took a decade of persuading. Pastor Arthur James Barton raised the idea in 1909, and in 1912 the Waco Baptist Association formed a committee to raise $50,000. The 1916 charter promised service beyond political, regional, religious and racial distinctions, yet Waco History includes a staff photo with segregated sections and an oral history on segregation in the city's hospitals. The first patient came before opening day: an emergency appendectomy at 4:30 a.m. on May 25, 1920, by Dr. H. Frank Connally. Architect George C. Burnett's building had five stories and 104 patient rooms.

What the plaque says

Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium The Waco Baptist Association authorized a committee to build a Baptist hospital in Waco in 1910. With ecumenical support from local pastors, congregations, citizens and physicians, the Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium was slated to be built atop McArthur Hill, the highest point in the county, named for a World War I army installation base north of the building site. Construction was delayed by World War I, but on May 25, 1920, the hospital opened under the ownership of the Waco Baptist Association. Seven rail lines put it within easy reach of four neighboring counties. The institution began a tradition of community involvement during the Depression era, when residents held fundraisers and other activities to keep the hospital open. In 1938, the name was changed to Hillcrest Memorial Hospital because of the increasing number of memorial gifts from the community. The hospital took an active role in the polio epidemic of the 1930s, establishing a physical therapy program. More than 150 cadet nurses received training here during World War II, and victims of the Waco tornado of 1953 were brought here for treatment. In 1963, the hospital's name changed to Hillcrest Baptist Hospital to signify its affiliation with the Baptist General Convention of Texas; in 1982, the name became Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center to reflect the hospital's approach to health, preventive medicine and education. Modern facilities include one of the early magnetic resonance imaging services in Texas, a neonatal intensive care unit, and specialized cancer and wellness centers. The hospital continues a tradition of pioneering medicine in Waco and caring for the community. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dr Pepper Museum — 2.7 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 2.8 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.
• Waco Mammoth National Monument — 3.1 mi
  A bone bed on the Bosque River where a nursery herd of at least 19 Columbian mammoths was trapped and drowned by floodwater 65,000 to 72,000 years ago, left in place under a dig shelter.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 3.3 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.

More markers nearby

• Texas Christian University — 0.9 mi
• Congregation Rodef Sholom — 1.2 mi
• The Methodist Home — 1.4 mi
• Waco State Home — 1.5 mi