Dr. James Odiorne

James Odiorne was a prominent pioneer physician and civic leader who practiced medicine in Illinois and Kentucky before settling in Texas in 1857 and moving to Blanco County in 1860. During the Civil War he served as surgeon at Fort Mason, Texas. In the 1860s he served Blanco County as commissioner and chief justice, and from 1885 to 1887 he owned a newspaper. As a doctor he traveled by horseback or gig regardless of weather, and when drugs were scarce he used native herbs for medication; for a sedative, opium, he grew and milked garden poppies. He died of burns after alcohol exploded while he was compounding medicine in his drugstore near this site.

Johnson City, Texas · United States