Site of Blackwell Hospital - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Blackwells and Dr. David V. Rodgers are buried in the Gorman Cemetery here in town. A memorial to Dr. Rodgers stands here as well:

Honoring
Dr. David Verle Rodgers
1910-1971

Verle was one of five children born to Don E. and Nanny L. Rodgers. He graduated from Gorman High School in 1927, attended Weatherford Junior College, Hardin-Simmons University, and McMurry College in Abilene, and Texas Tech. He and Buryl Blackwell were married in 1932. Before being persuaded to go to Medical School by his father-in-law, Dr. George Blackwell, he was a schoolteacher at Alameda and as a Sunday school teacher, was active in church. He graduated from Baylor Medical School in 1937 and served his internship at the Baptist Hospital in New Orleans. In 1938 he began general practice in Gorman. In 1943 the third floor of Blackwell Hospital was completed, accompanied by the installation of an electric elevator; the fourth floor was added in 1947.

Dr. Rodgers endeared himself to countless families during his thirty-three year practice at Blackwell Hospital and Clinic. After many hours of seeing patients in the clinic, making rounds in the hospital, and performing surgery, he often made house calls, meeting patients' needs both day and night. He was a bank director at First National Bank, a rancher, a strong bridge player and served on the school board from 1945 until 1953 when severe heart trouble almost took his life.

By 1965, Dr. Rodgers was credited with having delivered 8,300 babies, more than enough to populate Gorman 7 times, including three of his four children (George, Edward, Jim and Linda), one daughter-in-law and seven of his eight grandchildren. He touched the life of almost every person in Gorman and the surrounding area during the three decades of his medical practice. In June 1965, the citizens of Gorman proclaimed a "Dr. D.V. Rodgers Appreciation Week". Dr. Rodgers was killed in an automobile accident January 3, 1971. His 6'4" frame carried a wealth of knowledge in the skills of the art of healing. In many hearts and many families the "Appreciation Week" will never end. Thank You "Doc" for your best.

Marker Number: 13302 Marker Text: Much of Eastland County's medical history can be traced to the work of two brothers, George and Edward Blackwell. George (1882-1955) attended Baylor Medical College and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where Edward (1890-1956) also attended. Both men returned to Eastland County after receiving their degrees. In 1907, George wed Frankie Brogdon, and in 1913, Edward wed her sister, Bessie. The two young physicians served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War I. Following the war, the brothers opened the Blackwell Clinic in downtown Gorman. They soon realized the need for patient care facilities, and in 1919 they built Blackwell Sanitarium, later known as Blackwell Hospital, at this site. Frankie and Bessie prepared meals at the new facility, which utilized its own livestock as a source of meat, eggs, milk and butter. Nurses performed medical service, as well as housekeeping tasks, and the brothers treated patients at both the clinic and the hospital. Contemporary to the hospital's opening, two large oilfields began drawing scores of new residents to the area, and the hospital continued to grow to meet demand. The brothers, who eventually moved their clinic to the hospital facilities, began to specialize and add new physicians to the staff. These included Dr. David V. Rodgers (1910-1971), George Blackwell's son-in-law who joined the staff in 1938 and assumed hospital leadership in the late 1950s. In 1971, hospital administrators completed a larger building elsewhere. Having grown to become a four-story brick edifice, with doctor and dental offices, clinic and laboratory, the old Blackwell Hospital building remained vacant until its demolition in 1989. (2005)

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