Spohn, Arthur Edward, M.D. and Spohn Hospital

One of three brothers who became doctors, A.E. Spohn (1845-1913) was born in Canada and studied medicine in Michigan and New York. He came to the Texas Gulf Coast in 1868 as a U.S. surgeon in charge of military quarantine. He settled in Corpus Christi after his marriage in 1876 to Sarah Josephine Kenedy (1857-1918) daughter of steamboat captain and rancher Mifflin Kenedy. A prominent local physician, Dr. Spohn was also a leader in numerous medical organizations. The first hospital named in his honor was Spohn Sanitarium, built in 1905 on North Beach, with funds contributed by Mr. and Mrs. John Gregory Kenedy, Mrs. Henrietta King, Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Kleberg, and other leading citizens. Dr. Alfred G. Heaney, an associate of Dr. Spohn, admitted the first patient to the facility, operated by Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. After a hurricane damaged the structure on North Beach on September 14, 1919, Mrs. Henrietta King, widow of Capt. Richard King, founder of the King Ranch, donated five acres at this site for a new hospital. From a three-story brick building erected here in 1923, Spohn Hospital has grown into a modern medical complex. (1977)

Spohn, Arthur Edward, M.D. and Spohn Hospital is a historical marker in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, dedicated in 1977. It is one of 105 historical markers documented in Nueces County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 147 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 27.7774, -97.3948 near Corpus Christi. The nearest cataloged historic site is First Methodist Church of Corpus Christi (historical marker), about 0.4 miles away. Others within a short drive include Temple Beth El, Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal, and Wynn Seale Junior High School.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5355006336. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.