Bellville General Hospital
Historical marker location:Bellville General Hospital
Bellville was founded as county seat of Austin County in January 1848, on land provided by Thomas Bell, for whom the town was named. The railroad reached Bellville in 1879-80, and the population increased substantially in the ensuing years.
In 1915, Dr. Jubal Allen Neely, graduate of the Galveston Medical School, moved to Bellville and opened a private medical practice. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corp during World War I and returned to Bellville with an injury. When the injury required bed rest in 1926, Dr. Herbert Edward Roensch, a Bellville native practicing medicine in nearby Kenney, moved to Bellville to help tend to Neely's patients. They formed a partnership, and in 1928, the two doctors opened Bellville's first hospital with four beds. That same year, the discovery of an oil field in the area led to an increase in population, and soon plans were underway for a larger hospital.
In 1930, the hospital moved to the Neely Building, still on the town square. Serving an ever-growing population, the hospital again expanded in 1938, and plans for an even larger facility began in 1949. The once private hospital became a corporation, receiving its charter in 1952. A 24-bed hospital opened the following year on land donated by Neely and Roensch. Twenty years later, a 32-bed facility opened, and the former hospital was replaced by a physicians' clinic.
Operating under a voter-approved hospital district, Bellville General Hospital continues to serve the community more than 75 years after it opened with the leadership and support of its professional medical and administrative staff, as well as from the board of directors, auxiliary, foundation and friends.
(2003).