Our Beginnings
Since 1937, it has been our mission to empower people with disabilities to reach their fullest potential.
What started as a well of warm water where children with polio reaped therapeutic benefits, grew into a comprehensive rehabilitation system dedicated to changing disabilities into ABILITIES. Our small-town beginnings have made way for a history rich in passion and triumph. Through education and commitment, Warm Springs made a profound impact on thousands of lives.
As Warm Springs grew and prospered, they continued their legacy of providing quality rehabilitative care to those recovering from illness or injury.
From using the rich mineral water to provide therapeutic benefits to filling the financial gaps with resources and services needed for those with life-altering injuries or conditions, Warm Springs Foundation has a ‘Legacy of Providing Hope.’
Timeline
1900’s
Polio was sweeping the nation, victimizing both children and adults.
1909 – Wildcatters attempted to drill for oil in Ottine (approximately 10 miles north of Gonzales, TX). To their surprise, only hit a layer of rock causing the drilling to stop.
1910 – Another attempt was made. Oil company partners Howard Hughes, Sr., and Walter Benona Sharp used a roller rock bit to penetrate through the rock and discovered it wasn’t oil, but water. Thousands of gallons of hot water spewed from the ground. The partners granted the Ottine community permission to develop the flow of water since studies showed it had medicinal value to those who bathed in it. However the well sat for over twenty-five years.
1930’s
1936 – The Texas Society for Crippled Children had an objective to establish a hospital for young polio victims in Texas. Texas orthopedist, William Carrell and JJ Brown, director of the rehabilitation division of the State Department of Education visited the abandoned well in Ottine, TX, which was also adjacent to the Palmetto State Park and decided the area had enormous possibilities for a rehabilitation institution for crippled children. With a well producing approximately two hundred thousand gallons of water at 106 degrees, Carrell felt the mineral properties of the water would be conducive to hydrotherapeutic treatments.
1937 – Eight Gonzales businessmen caught on to the enthusiasm Carrell had to develop the area into a project that would rival President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous polio retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia., and organized and chartered the Gonzales Warm Springs Foundation, a non-profit, benevolent institution designed to alleviate the suffering of Texas children stricken with paralytic polio.
Supported by voluntary donations, The Foundation worked together with Texas Society for Crippled Children, the Rotary Clubs of Texas, and other state organizations to establish the Gonzales Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital for Crippled Children.
Although FDR offered indirect support only, the construction of the hospital encompassed the markings of the New Deal initiatives. Civilian Conservation Corps Company 886 transferred to Ottine to start clearing unwanted underbrush and weeds, throughout the Palmetto State Park and constructed park facilities, built a bridge and a fountain. The National Youth Administration constructed the first hospital unit in the Spanish stucco style that would characterize future buildings.
1940’s
1941 – The Gonzales Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital for Crippled Children opened its doors.
The $28,000 facility contained two eight-bed wards complete with treatment facilities including two large therapeutic pools. Other units followed, largely funded by Ft Worth, Midland and Houston communities. Each unit was named after the benefactor city. Since the hospital bordered Palmetto State Park, the children enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the river, springs and plants and birds. There were only two hospitals like this, the one in Georgia, and now in Ottine. The biggest difference involved race. The Gonzales Warm Springs Foundation prided itself in being a Texas institution, developed and supported by Texans, for all Texas children.
The mission of the hospital was to accept and treat all Texas polio patients, without reservation to race, age, or creed.
1950’s
The development of the Salk vaccine virtually eradicated polio in the U.S.
The hospital expanded its services to include treatment for people physically challenged due to illness and injury.
1960’s
A new $7 million complex at the original Warm Springs was named the Dorothy Ploeger Pavillion honoring the Gonzales resident for her continued community leadership and past service as President of the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Board.
The 37,000 square foot hospital offered 34 patients in private rooms with an expansion to 76 patient rooms.
1980’s
The corporation’s name was changed to Warm Springs Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc.
A 65-bed hospital was opened in San Antonio. It was built on land leased from the San Antonio Medical Foundation.
1990’s
The beginning of the Warm Springs “All Can Ski” program held at Sea World in San Antonio.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Corpus Christi Warm Springs Hospital and the first patient was admitted on June 16th.
Warm Springs opened a rehabilitation hospital in Victoria, TX.
2000’s
The hospitals were sold in 2006 to Post Acute Hospital Systems. Warm Springs Foundation, Inc held the assets from the sale.
ConnectAbility was founded in 2016.