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BEXAR
HISTORY
By J.J. Waller Jr., MD
In January of 1853, a group of physicians from mainly Austin and
San Antonio met to form a medical organization. A constitution and
bylaws were proposed and discussed. The first regular meeting of the
Texas State Medical Association was held in San Antonio in early
September 1853. The constitution and bylaws were accepted and
subordinate local organizations were proposed. The first to receive a
charter in the state was Bexar County in late September 1853. It was
to be known as the Bexar Medical Society and the first president of
both the state and Bexar county group was Dr. George Cupples. The
original certificate resides in the offices of the Medical Society. Dur- the Texas State Medical Association did not have regular meetings
ing the 1870s through the 1880s and 1890s, the certificate was kept
in the offices of Dr. Frank Paschal until the Society finally secured a
“home” of its own. In the early 20th century, it was transferred to
the Society offices for safekeeping.
24 San Antonio Medicine • January 2016
On Jan. 17-19, 1853, 35 physi-
cians from the surrounding
communities met at the
Methodist Church in Austin to
found and organize the Texas
Medical Association.
In 1853, San Antonio was a small village of about 3,000 inhabi-
tants. The surrounding area was wild and uninhabited. Indian raids
were frequent and occasionally reached into the center of town. At
the start, Medical Society meetings were held once a month. Each
man attending carried a sidearm (see previous article). It was
recorded that at meetings all sidearms were required to be checked
at the door until the meeting was complete.
Due to various impediments (including primarily the Civil War),
again until 1869. For the next several years after that, meetings were
occasionally held in various towns around Texas with as few as seven
members attending at a time. There are no surviving records of any
meetings of the local society that may have been held by the Bexar
Medical Society during this period.