Yettie Kersting

The first clinic was only the start. Before she died in November 1941, Kersting transferred her property and investments to the county to be run by a board of trustees. The original unit stood where First Liberty National Bank now stands on Sam Houston Street. The community outgrew it, and a larger Yettie Kersting Memorial Hospital at Travis and Magnolia streets, costing $400,000, was dedicated on August 12, 1951. Bluebonnet News described it in 2021 as Liberty-Dayton Regional Medical Center, while the hospital district weighed a new site at State Highway 146 and FM 1011.

What the plaque says

Yettie Kersting Henrietta "Yettie" Kersting was born in Giddings, Texas, on October 17th, 1863, daughter of Louisa (Johnson) and Henry Kersting, a German immigrant farmer. Yettie received a public education and early business experience in Lee County. At the turn of the century she settled in the prosperous oil boomtown of Liberty and quickly established a millinery business. With her business thriving, she saved her money and soon made investments, primarily in real estate. She acquired a two-story building across from the courthouse, moved her millinery business to the lower floor, rented half to another business and maintained her own rooming house upstairs. Eventually Yettie opened the White Kitchen Café, which she operated until her retirement in 1940. Her vision of a hospital came to fruition in 1935, when at age seventy-two she left the bulk of her estate to the people of Liberty County for a hospital. In 1940, construction of one unit of the hospital was started at a cost of $18,000. This first hospital clinic, located on Sam Houston Street, was dedicated on October 18th, 1941, and fittingly received Yettie Kersting as its first patient. Five weeks later on November 22, she died in the hospital she had founded and given to "The relief of suffering humanity." Yettie Kersting's memory is firmly rooted in the community of Liberty and the hospital that her dedication, thrift and generosity made possible. Her philanthropic endeavors in the community still resonate today. She envisioned a medical facility dedicated to the health needs of citizens, no matter their financial circumstances or ethnic background. Through hard work, selfless demeanor and love for her community, this early businesswoman made a great impact. (2019)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 3.3 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 28 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.

More markers nearby

• Catholic Cemetery — 0.5 mi
• Milton Ashley Hardin — 0.5 mi
• Liberty Methodist Church — 0.6 mi
• Edward Thomas Branch — 0.6 mi