Brackenridge Hospital
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When Edwin Waller surveyed the Austin townsite in 1839, he sat aside this block, in what was then the Northeast corner of the city, for a hospital. The site lay empty until 1884, when the City of Austin and Travis County jointly opened a 20-bed, two-story facility known as City/County Hospital. During the early 1900s the City purchased the County's share of the hospital and assumed full responsibility for its operation. In 1912 Dr. Robert John Brackenridge (1839-1918), a retired physician, worked for the passage of a bond election that allowed construction of a new, 45-bed facility, which was completed in 1915. The 1884 building was razed in 1927, and two years later the name of the hospital was changed to honor Dr. Brackenridge. Since then, expansion of facilities and services has meant quality medical care for citizens of Austin and the surrounding area. Over the years, the hospital staff has cared for victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, the mid-20th century polio outbreak, and the 1966 sniping attack at the University of Texas. As the state's oldest continuing public hospital, Brackenridgewas the site of the first intracranial and open-heart surgeries and of the first kidney transplant in central Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Edwin Waller laid out Austin in 1839 he set this block aside for a hospital, though it stood empty until 1884, when the city and county jointly opened a 20-bed facility here. Retired physician Dr. Robert John Brackenridge championed the 1912 bond that funded a larger building, and the hospital was renamed in his honor in 1929. Over the generations its staff met the 1918 influenza epidemic, the mid-century polio outbreak, and the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting, while pioneering Central Texas's first open-heart surgery and kidney transplant.
Why it matters
As the state's oldest continuously operating public hospital, Brackenridge charts the growth of American public medicine from a 20-bed frontier infirmary to a center of surgical firsts.
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Related people
- · Robert John Brackenridge
- · Edwin Waller
Related events
- · 1918 influenza epidemic
- · 1966 University of Texas tower shooting
Themes & tags
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