Dr. Andrew Bane’s Medical Office

In early communities, doctors were the sole medical practitioners for their patients. Before hospitals, the doctor was the family physician, specialist, and surgeon. The doctor was there when the children were born and when a family member passed. Unlike today, the doctor would make a house call when summoned. Doctors would also make rounds to their patients' homes, just to see how they were doing. If a patient were in need of surgery, the doctor would perform that service right there in the office. The first permanent hospital to serve Rusk County opened in Henderson on April 12, 1928.

There were doctors in Rusk County as early as seven years before the county was founded. In 1849, there were eleven practicing physicians. A few years later, Rusk County had several doctors who served their patients in time of need of medical attention. More than ten different communities in the county had close to forty doctors who served their patients faithful­ ly. Some of these communities may have had more than one doctor, but all were there for the health needs of the people they served.

Dr. Andrew Bane was no different. He may have started his practice in Fairplay in Panola County where he was born, but he moved to the Oak Flat area, east of Laneville in Rusk County, where he retired prior to his death in 1898. The Dr. Andrew Bane doctor's office is the original build­ ing he constructed in 1889. Inside, the office is furnished with items that were typically found and used by doctors in that time period, including Dr. Shaw's bag. The office was built on the Bane homestead where Dr. Bru1e set up his practice. Later, his brother John used the office as his justice of the peace office for thirty-five years.