Veterinary science was now on the move in Texas, and the demand for veterinary services from the college was increasing. This soon brought about another expansion of facilities for the department in the creation of a veterinary hospital building in 1908. In 1916 the School of Veterinary Medicine was established with a complement of instructors and, two years later, a new building, Francis Hall, was built. The new school opened its doors in September 1916 with 13 students. At last it was possible to earn a degree in veterinary medicine in Texas.
Texas veterinarians, along with the rest of the nation, essentially made the transition from the horse and buggy to the automobile age within the same short span of years that encompassed the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, and the armistice in 1918. Perhaps there was some symbolism in the meeting when Professor David W. Williams, who was driving Mark Francis to an archeological outing near the A&M College, passed a horse and buggy driven by one of Francis' students. Francis hailed the driver, had Williams pull over, and proceeded to inspect the horse (which he had recently treated) and check its temperature (never orally), oblivious to the fact that the student was accompanied by "a young lady, all done up in organdy, ribbons, and the Lord only knows how much embarrassment." One would have thought that the automobile, cities and paved highways would have diminished greatly the demand for trained veterinarians. Paradoxically, the new urban-industrial society stimulated the demand for veterinarians.
The practice adjacent to urban areas changed from large to predominantly small animal practice and, particularly within the small animal field of veterinary medicine, specialization began to develop. One of the most dramatic changes of the postwar era had to do with the entry of women into a field almost exclusively consisting of male practitioners before World War II. Not only did women begin to enter into veterinary medical practice in Texas after World War II, but by the close of the 1980s women were well on the way to comprising a majority of practitioners. Women were admitted to Texas A&M University on a limited basis beginning in 1963 and did not gain unrestricted admission until 1971. Following in the footsteps of Dr. Sonja Oliphant Lee, the first woman graduate (1966) of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, women now represent over 60 percent of today's enrollment.
