To kick off National Women’s History Month, Brazos Past seeks to salute a Waco woman of many firsts — Dr. Harriet “Hallie” Earle.

Isham Harrison Earle (1835-1918), son of Dr. Baylis Wood Earle, married Adaline (Graves) Earle (1845-1906), in September 1865 in McLennan County. The Confederate veteran established a cotton mill in Waco shortly after the Civil War with his brother. After it was confiscated by federal authorities, he moved to Hewitt in 1867 and took up farming.

Hallie was born Sept. 27, 1880, the youngest of their eight children.

Dr. Hallie Earle (1880-1963) was a Hewitt native who practiced medicine in Central Texas for more than 30 years.
StoppingPoints.com

The future physician graduated from Baylor University in 1901, one of seven women in a class of 17. A year later, after she earned her Master of Science degree, she was honored when a copy of her thesis was placed in the cornerstone of the then-new Carroll Science Building. 

After three years of teaching in Gainesville, Earle enrolled in the Baylor University Medical School in Dallas, where she was the only woman in a class of seven. For many years, that school’s first female graduate also held the record for the highest grade-point average ever achieved there.

She delighted in sharing stories with her family (via letters from Dallas) of her academic acumen. After one particularly spectacular show of knowledge in class, she reported that instructor Dr. Wells said “Miss Earle will be practicing medicine, and making $20,000 a year (or close to $500,000 in modern dollars) when you are all chewing paper bags!”

In 1907, she received her medical degree and pursued post-graduate work at institutions in New Orleans and Chicago. She performed her obstetrics and gynecology internship at New York’s Bellevue Hospital, the oldest such public institution in the United States, which opened in 1736 to serve the poor.

Earle’s first job after finishing her postgraduate work was at the Torbett Sanatorium in Marlin.

Dr. John Walter Torbett Sr. (1871-1949), founder of the hot mineral springs health spa — which touted its services with the slogan “Where sick folks get well and well folks learn how to stay so”— lauded Earle in his 1947 memoir as “a brilliant woman with a splendid education” and “a fine aristocratic background.”

“When she was with us she was always faithful and competent, but temperamental like myself,” said Torbett, who launched his Sanatorium in 1908.

The private institution specialized in physical therapy, preventive medicine and mineral-water baths. For almost 30 years, he served as trustee and chairman of the board of the Methodist Orphans Home in Waco (now known as Methodist Children’s Home.)

On Nov. 1, 1963, Earle died in Waco and was buried in her family’s plot in Oakwood Cemetery. A Texas Historical Commission marker rests atop the grave, to educate visitors to her pioneering role in Waco’s past.
StoppingPoints.com photo

After working with Torbett’s team for a few years, Earle decided to open her own private practice. In 1915, the doctor opened a private obstetrics and internal medicine practice in Waco, becoming the city’s first licensed female physician. True to her progressive spirit, she opened her office in the Amicable Building, the much-ballyhooed, state-of-the-art “skyscraper” of early 20th-century fame.

At the age of 40 in 1920, her income as a doctor was $2,226.79 (only $24,000 in today’s greenbacks). The rancher’s daughter was also known to carry a gun in her car when she making rural house calls. 

After more than 30 years in her healing profession, Earle retired to her family’s ranch in 1948. There, she stayed active pursuing a “second career” of  meteorology.

On Nov. 1, 1963, Earle died in Waco, and was buried in her family’s plot in Oakwood Cemetery. A Texas Historical Commission marker rests atop the grave, to educate visitors to her pioneering role in Waco’s past.

Additional sources: Handbook of Texas Online, TexasHistory.unt.edu, CelebratingTexas.com, StoppingPoints.com, The Texas Collection at Baylor University.

Dr. Hallie Earle’s first job after finishing her postgraduate work was at the Torbett Sanatorium in Marlin, known for its hot springs of mineral waters. Dr. John Walter Torbett Sr. (1871-1949), founder of the health spa, touted its services with the slogan, “Where sick folks get well and well folks learn how to stay so.” (StoppingPoints.com photo)