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Dr. Nettie Marx Kline accomplished many firsts in her medical career, most notably as the first anesthesiologist in Texarkana. She was, for many years, the only female doctor in Bowie county. Born in Woodville, Mississippi in 1864, Nettie Marx and her family relocated to Texas to escape the Civil War. The Marx family settled in Jefferson, Texas where Nettie grew up. Her parents, Emanuel and Caroline Marx, moved to Texarkana, Texas in the 1883. They built a beautiful home on Pine Street, across the street and a few doors down from the Ace of Clubs House. During this time, Nettie was completing her education at the Notre Dame Convent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After college, she returned to Texarkana to live with her parents. She later met Cincinnati native, Larry Kline and the couple married, moving to Cincinnati shortly after. Tragically, Mr. Kline died two years later and Nettie once again returned to her parents’ home. |
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It was after becoming a widow that Nettie decided to devote herself to medicine. She first attended medical school at Dallas, then studied at Rush and Harvard Medical schools before finishing her schooling at the New York Polyclinic. Returning to Texarkana she passed the Texas and Arkansas State Boards in 1904 and 1905. In 1905, Nettie Kline joined the staff of the Pine Street Sanitarium as resident pathologist and anesthetist. She served as president and secretary of the Bowie County Medical Sociey, vice-president of the Southern Medical Association of Anesthetists, a member of the Texas State Board of Health and served on the Texas Advisory Board during World War I. She also performed all laboratory examinations for questionnaires of Bowie County during World War I. Dr. Nettie Marx Kline died in Texarkana in 1931. |
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Dr. Nettie Marx Kline: Texarkana’s first Anesthetist |
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Dr. Nettie Marx Kline, circa 1905 Photo donated to the TMS Wilbur Smith Research Library |
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Nettie Marx Kline, circa 1890 From the TMS Draughon-Moore Collection Archives |