Texas. Dept. of Health.

Until it was abolished in 2004 and absorbed into the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Department of Health was the latest successor in a line of health-related state agencies: the Texas Quarantine Department (1879-1903), the Texas Department of Public Health and Vital Statistics (1903-1909), the Texas State Department of Health (1909-1975), the Texas Department of Health Resources (1975-1977). The department became the State of Texas' primary agency for public health planning, services, and regulation.

During the course of the 20th century, the responsibilities of the Department continued to evolve from its original concern to isolate and prevent epidemic diseases such as cholera, smallpox, and typhoid fever. In 1903, the 28th Legislature, in Senate Substitute Bill 168, assigned to the Department the task of maintaining birth and death records and changed its name to the Texas Department of Public Health and Vital Statistics to reflect its new role. Six years later, in 1909, the name was changed again to the Texas State Department of Health, as growing concern over the safety and purity of food and water supplies resulted in new legislation at both the federal and state levels. The enforcement responsibilities were given to the public health agencies. During the Depression, new federal laws encouraged the states to provide limited kinds of medical and dental care for the poor. In 1946 the U.S. Hospital Survey and Construction Act began providing matching federal funds for hospital construction and renovation under the Hill-Burton program in coordination with state health agencies. Late in the century the Texas Department of Health developed a variety of disease-prevention programs. In 1975 (House Bill 2164, 64th Legislature, Regular Session), the Texas Health Planning and Development Act added the responsibility of overall planning of all health facilities and services in the state, and the State Department of Health became the Texas Department of Health Resources, governed by the Board of Health Resources. Their names were changed to the Texas Board of Health and the Texas Department of Health in 1977.

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