Stephenville Medical & Surgical Clinic
The history of medicine in Stephenville began in West Virginia prior to 1875 when Jim Terrell (grandfather of the founders of medicine in Stephenville) and his wife left their home in West Virginia and headed to California’s gold country.
After not striking it rich in California, the family joined a covered wagon caravan bound for Texas and settled in the community of Iredell on the banks of the Bosque River.
Jim Terrell, his wife, and six children went on many cattle drives to Dodge City, Kansas on the Chisholm Trail.
Jim’s son, Will, continued to farm and ranch in Iredell and the story is told that his two sons, James (also known as J.C.) and Vance, were hauling rock one July afternoon in 1915 when during a break, James approached Vance about finding another vocation in place of farming and ranching. They agreed on college at Southwest Teachers College in San Marcos which became Southwest Texas State and is now known as Texas State University.
After completing his education at the University of Texas and medical school at UT-Galveston, Dr. J.C. Terrell returned to Stephenville with his wife, Ellen, and opened his practice on the second floor of the Langdon Hotel in downtown Stephenville.
A year later the first hospital and clinic building was constructed at the current hospital location. The facility consisted of eleven rooms.
Later the eleven room hospital was doubled in size and then in 1935 another two story building was added that again doubled the size of the hospital and clinic.
In 1932 after completing his medical training at UT-Galveston and a residency in EENT (eyes, ears, nose and throat) at New York’s Long Island Hospital, Dr. Vance Terrell and his wife, Violet, a registered nurse who was an operating room supervisor, joined Dr. J.C. Terrell in Stephenville.
In 1945 the name of the hospital and clinic was changed to Stephenville Hospital and Clinic.
In 1952 after completing his medical training in Rochester, NY, and Ohio State University, Dr. Nathan Cedars joined the Stephenville Hospital and Clinic to begin his practice in general surgery.
The three physicians started the first group practice that would eventually grow to 30+ physicians. A short time later they were joined by Dr. James Maniotis.
In the 1960’s, the second generation of Terrell physicians located their practice in Stephenville.
Dr. Jim Terrell, Jr., started his practice in Stephenville.
In 1967 Dr. Frank Terrell started his practice in Stephenville. After a short time, he went back to school and completed his residency in Ophthalmology and returned for good in 1970.
In the 1970’s Dr. Kam Ip and Dr. Gokul joined the clinic.
In 1978, the eight doctors (J.C., Vance, Jim, Frank, Maniotis, Cedars, Gokul and Ip) built the current clinic building and relocated their practice to 150 River North Blvd. in 1979.
In 1999, the Women’s Health Center and Community Health Clinic were added making our clinic facility what it is today.
Upon the millennium we have made many improvements to Stephenville Medical and Surgical Clinic, Women’s Health Center and Community Health Clinic including the update to an Electronic Health Record system implemented in 2011.
In the fall of 2018 we worked towards establishing our Mission Statement and identifying Core Values for our providers and team members to embody. In addition, we redesigned our clinic logos and established clinic colors.
In 2019, Stephenville Medical & Surgical Clinic celebrated 90 years of caring for your family in Erath County. We look forward to providing excellent health care to Erath County and beyond for many more years. In February of 2019 Stephenville Medical and Surgical Clinic announced its partnership with Privia Medical Group – North Texas.
Privia Medical Group, a national, high-performance medical practice, combines technology, team-based care, and unique wellness programs, to help leading doctors better manage the health of their populations. Privia Medical Group is a multispecialty practice, with a large number of primary care physicians and medical specialists integrated to manage complex chronic disease. The medical group enjoys close partnerships with many leading national payers, with reimbursement programs that reward our doctors for improving outcomes and delivering high-value care.
