Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Authorized by the Waco Baptist Association in 1910 with broad ecumenical support, the Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium was planned for McArthur Hill, the county's highest point. World War I delayed construction, but the hospital opened in 1920 within reach of seven rail lines and quickly became a community institution — kept afloat by neighborhood fundraisers during the Depression. It trained cadet nurses in World War II, treated victims of the deadly 1953 Waco tornado, and grew into today's Hillcrest medical center.
Why it matters
The hospital charts the rise of modern American medicine in a mid-sized city, sustained across war and depression by the community it served.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bell's Hill School
Waco, TX
The neighborhood took its name in 1886 when Joseph Bell drilled Waco's first artesian well atop the rise that became Bell's Hill. The local school opened as the Sixth District School in 1889 and was renamed for the hill in 1906. When unstable soil caused the building to collapse in 1923, a new schoolhouse rose on the site of the old Bell water well, and the school has served the neighborhood's children ever since.
William McKendree Lambdin
Waco, TX
A Virginia-born son of a Methodist preacher, William McKendree Lambdin followed his father into the ministry and moved to Waco in 1857. There he became the first president of Waco Female College, then served churches across central Texas and rose to presiding elder of the Fort Worth district during the Civil War years. He died of yellow fever in 1867, one of the recurring epidemics that stalked 19th-century Texas.
George W. Carroll Science Hall
Waco, TX
Baylor University's Carroll Science Hall was named for businessman and philanthropist George Washington Carroll, whose gifts of $60,000 and $15,000 funded its construction. Completed in 1903 to a Beaux Arts design by architect S. Wemyss Smith, its three floors and basement housed laboratories and classrooms for chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and astronomy, along with an early home of Baylor's museum. After new science buildings rose in the 1960s, renovations converted it to classrooms, and it now houses the Department of English while keeping its original name.
Burleson Quadrangle
Waco, TX
Named for Rufus C. Burleson, the first president of Baylor's Waco campus, Burleson Quadrangle took its enduring shape as the university's four original buildings rose between 1886 and 1903. For generations it has been the setting of Baylor traditions, from the spring "Ring Out" ivy-chain ceremony to the passing of the key to a 1945 centennial time capsule. Its bronze statue of Burleson, unveiled in 1905, is the work of the noted sculptor Pompeo Coppini.