Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC) opens its doors to the children of Texas in 1921 when a group of Texas Masons approached Dallas orthopedic surgeon Dr. W. B. Carrell about caring for children with polio regardless of the family’s ability to pay.

The Salk and Sabin vaccines, developed in the 1950s, virtually eradicate polio in North America and allow the medical staff at TSRHC to expand treatment to a wide range of orthopedic conditions, including scoliosis, clubfoot, limb deficiencies and several others.

In 1965, Dr. Luke Waites joins the medical staff at TSRHC and develops the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders to serve children through innovative evaluation, treatment and education. The World Federation of Neurology met at TSRHC in 1968 and formulated the first consensus definition of developmental dyslexia. Today, TSRHC’s Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia provides one of the most comprehensive programs for childhood learning disorders in the nation.

In 1977, TSRHC moves from its original building to the new facility on the same property. The current hospital occupies six levels and covers more than 384,000 square feet. The building is designed to be the finest facility of its kind, and not to look, smell or feel like a hospital.

The TSRH^® Spinal System, developed by TSRHC in the 1980s, revolutionizes the way scoliosis is treated. Patients no longer have to wear a full body cast and are able to return to normal activities much sooner. Twenty-five years later (2005), TSRHC will improve this system with the TSRH^® SILO™ Spinal System.

In the 1990s, TSRHC begins using the French physical therapy method of daily massage and taping and the Ponseti casting technique rather than traditional, invasive surgery with below-knee casting. TSRHC is one of the few hospitals in the country that performs both the Ponseti casting and French physical therapy methods of treatment.

Hospital friends the Seays and the Pickens help establish a radiology and imaging center, including the first MRI at the hospital. The hospital’s Radiology department performs about 30,000 examinations each year for children with orthopedic conditions and certain related neurological disorders.

TSRHC researchers identify the first gene – CHD7 – associated with idiopathic scoliosis, the most common spinal deformity in children. The gene discovery will allow the medical community to form hypotheses to explain what causes the condition and provide tools for future research.

TSRHC is one of the nation’s leading pediatric centers for the treatment of orthopedic conditions, certain related neurological disorders and learning disorders, such as dyslexia. Since 1921, TSRHC has provided the highest quality medical care for 180,000 children at no charge to patient families.