• Allison Miles •
• Originally published September 9, 2009 at 7:21 p.m., updated September 9, 2009 at 11:35 p.m.

• Crossroads Veterinary Clinic

  3804 Houston Highway

  361-575-3692

  www.cvcvictoria.com

If walls could talk, there's no telling what the building at 3804 Houston Highway would say.

It might speak of the patients it saw during World War II or the exotic animals that have entered its doors. Maybe talks of its latest renovation would come up.

Regardless, the building has been around for a while. And, on Tuesday, it began a new chapter of life as Dr. Mark Besancon and Dr. Sam Williams opened Crossroads Veterinary Clinic.

Having animals wandering the halls is nothing new for the long, skinny building, which originally sat at Foster Field during World War II.

The 30-by-140 structure got its start as a medical barracks and, among the barbershop, gynecologist's office, pharmacy and other entities that called it home was Dr. Clinton Barrett, who practiced veterinary medicine and handled "everything of animal origin," Nancy Hewitt, Barrett's daughter, said.

In 1946, with the war over, Barrett purchased the building and moved it to its current home, where he opened his own practice. The building still holds fond memories for him.

Once, he said, a Baptist church brought camels for a production and housed them behind his clinic. Another time, a client brought in a porcupine for an exam. He didn't get stuck, he said, but handling the spiky animal was a first for him.

Barrett retired in July of 2008 at age 92, leaving the building open for Besancon and Williams to add their touch.

The duo began working on the site in June, painting, stocking shelves and making a few changes.

The business is a mixture of old and new. It incorporated things like Barrett's old lights in the surgery room and the building's original - albeit updated - front desk, but they also brought in new technologies, such as digital X-ray machines.

Everything is going digital and it made sense to jump on the bandwagon, Besancon said. Eliminating film means the clinic can e-mail X-rays to specialists, rather than developing and mailing them, and can burn the images to CDs if necessary.

"We joke that we're in the oldest building with the newest technology," Besancon said as he examined an X-ray of a pregnant cat, the tiny kittens illuminated on a flat-screen monitor.

An old porcelain bathtub remains on site, but the duo did take out the bed Barrett kept inside the practice.

"He was very dedicated," Besancon said of Barrett.

Williams and Besancon, both graduates of Texas A&M University's veterinary school, have practiced mixed-animal care in the past but said they plan to split up duties at the new facility. Williams, who grew up farming and ranching in Lampasas, said his main focus will be the large animals. Besancon, who was born in Falfurrias but raised in Hebbronville, will focus on the small animals.

More changes are likely in store for Crossroads Veterinary Clinic, the veterinarians said. Eventually they plan to board animals and the large-animal area out back isn't 100 percent complete yet.

Eventually, Williams said, he wants equine reproduction to become a major part of what the clinic does.

"It's a really big thing for this area," he said. "For a lot of areas."

Barrett said he's glad to see things happening at the clinic again.

"It looks like a brand new place," he said, glancing around the tan and white lobby. "They've made some changes I should have made years ago."

Hewitt agreed it's good to see things happening.

"Here is a building that's had three lives," she said. "First at Foster Field, then as a 20th-century veterinary office, and now another in the 21st century."

The new clinic might be open and business might be rolling in - their first day resulted in some technical difficulties but they had a decent flow of clients - but that doesn't mean Besancon and Williams are in the clear just yet.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• 5 Comments
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •