Village Feature:

Doctor's Office

The stone building in the southwest corner of the Buffalo Gap Historic Village was originally a wooden plank house built around 1905. Sometime later the owners covered the home with stones, possibly as an added layer of insulation. It is one of the few buildings at the Village that is in its original location (the other most notable one being the original Taylor County Courthouse). 

Little is known about the original owners of the home, but it became part of the Village when Ernie Wilson purchased the property in 1956 and opened “The Ernie Wilson Museum of the Old West.” When Dr. R. Lee Rode purchased the property in 1977, the house was staged as a doctor and dentist office with actual equipment and furnishings from the time period, including much of Dr. Rode’s own collection.

Today, the building continues to represent the 1920s medical era. The doctor office displays basal metabolism equipment and the first EKG machine used at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, along with actual satchels doctors used in the early 1900s on house calls. They carried all their supplies and medicines with them as they made their rounds, so offices were minimally furnished. Many noted Abilene physicians and pharmacists donated equipment for this display, and an actual human spine is something that fascinates all medical tourists.

Although the American Medication Association was established in 1847, it wasn’t until 1901 that doctors had to pass a board exam to practice medicine. The lack of a sterile environment for either doctor or dentist was not unusual in the early 1900s, when the leading causes of death included pneumonia, influenza, and tuberculosis. In fact, in 1900, the average life expectancy was just 47 years, and 30% of all deaths were children under 5 years of age. The Spanish Flu in the late 19-teens killed one out of 67 residents in the US. Flu vaccines weren’t readily available until the 1930s and polio vaccine not until the mid-1950s. Even penicillin wasn’t widely used outside the military until the mid-1940s. (Per the CDC and WHO.)

The dentist office in this same building contains equipment donated by Dr. John St. Clair Bowyer of Anson, Tx. It includes a leather dentist chair, freestanding light, and glass cuspidor that patients would spit into during procedures before suction came along.

A visit to this building in the Historic Village helps visitors imagine our ancestors’ health challenges – and greatly appreciate today’s modern medicine!