Bexar County Medical Society

On September 22, 1853, the Texas State Medical Association issued a charter to the Bexar Medical Society, located in San Antonio, Texas. It was the first county medical society in the State of Texas and included as members physicians in Bexar and Medina Counties. Its founders included Drs. George Cupples, J.H. Lyons, Ferdinand Herff, and F.M. Giddings. The first officers were Dr. George Cupples, President; Dr. E. G. A. Schaffter, Secretary; Dr. J. H. Lyons, Treasurer; and Dr. F. M. Giddings, Librarian.

Organized medical meetings were disrupted by the advent of the Civil War and practically nothing was heard of the county medical society. While the State Medical Association was reorganized after the Civil War and annual meetings were resumed in 1869, organized medicine in San Antonio was slow to recover until 1876 when the Western Texas Medical Association was incorporated by George Cupples, Ferdinand Herff, and others, with meetings held in San Antonio. Its charter expired in 1902 with the creation of the West Texas Medical Association. This new association was short-lived as the plan of organization by counties sponsored by the American Medical Association was accepted by the State Association on April 27, 1903. At a meeting of the physicians of Bexar County on July 9, 1903, the Bexar County Medical Society was organized. The first permanent home for the society was purchased in 1919 at 123 Lexington Avenue.

The Bexar County Medical Society is now the 8th largest county medical society in the United States. The mission of the BCMS is to support activities that result in the best medical care to patients served by Bexar County physicians operating in the optimal physician practice environment. It acts on behalf of medicine in general, acting in the best interests of physicians, patients, and the public.

Sources:

Nixon, Pat Ireland. A Century of Medicine in San Antonio : the Story of Medicine in Bexar County, Texas. San Antonio, Tex: Privately published by the author, 1936.

From the guide to the Bexar County Medical Society Records AR 61., 1853 - 1986, (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, UTHSC Libraries, University Archives, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900)