Dr. Charles L. Fields
Groom, Carson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1858-1941) Prominent pioneer dentist and farmer. As a boy, cut wood to support mother widowed in Civil War. Worked as carpenter for money to attend dental school in Chicago. Licensed 1890. Came to Canadian in 1903; Groom, 1916. Traveled at times to ranch headquarters and to Ochiltree and Mobeetie, to patients unable to go to him. Often had to ford rivers, hauling his collapsible dental chair and foot-powered drill. Used iodine and laudanum as antiseptics and pain-killers. Operated his own denture lab. Met large demand for gold teeth. Often was paid in beef, produce.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Charles L. Fields grew up poor, cutting wood to support a mother widowed by the Civil War and working as a carpenter to pay his way through dental school in Chicago. Licensed in 1890, he brought dentistry to the Texas Panhandle, settling at Canadian in 1903 and Groom in 1916. He rode to far-flung ranches and towns with a collapsible chair and foot-powered drill, forded rivers to reach patients, ran his own denture lab, and was often paid in beef or produce.
Why it matters
Dr. Fields personifies the itinerant frontier professional who carried modern medicine into a remote and cash-poor region, one river crossing at a time.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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