Terral, Dr.,Clinic
a.k.a. Dr. Francis Clinic
107 N Washington St., Farmerville, LALocated in the parish seat of the extensively rural Union Parish, the Dr. Terral Clinic is significant in the area of health and medicine because its initial operation as a clinic/hospital in 1948 represented a substantial improvement in health care facilities in Union Parish.
Although the building being considered for the National Register was used as a healthcare-related facility from the time of its 1926 construction (having originally been used as medical offices), it was not until July 1, 1948, that Dr. William C. Terral opened his clinic-hospital facility-the day after his graduation from medical school. Until that time, there had been no facility for major medical care located in Union Parish. A 1941 report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that while Union Parish had seven doctors to serve its approximate population of 20,000, there were no surgeons, hospitals, or clinics in the parish. In order to receive extensive medical care, citizens were required to travel to either Monroe, Ruston, or Shreveport, Louisiana, or El Dorado, Arkansas-a minimum distance of more than 25 miles by rural roads.
Dr. Terral's predecessor at the facility (and the man who commissioned the building), Dr. Charles C. Francis, had planned to convert his medical office building into a full hospital but instead sold the building and renovation plans to Dr. Terral. Physicians' offices, the primary clinic, and laboratory and X-ray facilities were located on the first floor, with the operating and recovery rooms and additional offices at the second floor Dr. Terral has indicated that the demand for medical care allowed his practice to flourish immediately-he offered many medical services for the first time in Union Parish. Neither X-ray nor medical laboratory services had been located in Union Parish prior to the opening of his practice. More importantly, citizens were able to undergo routine surgical procedures such as appendectomies and give birth in a hospital setting.
At the onset of his practice, working 12-14 hours per day, seven days per week, Dr. Terral provided care to the citizens of Union Parish with the assistance of one nurse. Clearly, the need for adequate health care in Union Parish was recognized by the mid1950s, Farmerville would boast the planning of a new clinic-hospital and the town of Marion had a hospital facility as well.
Although a 1926 news article suggests that an operating room was constructed on the residential property of another doctor in Farmerville, there is no evidence to indicate that this facility remained in operation for any time at all or, indeed, if the office was ever opened. If it did in fact open, it no longer existed as of the 1941 publication of the above-referenced report, which listed no hospitals or clinics in the parish.
The former clinic/hospital is currently used as office space, a traditional use that the current owner intends to continue.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.