Our history
Sixty years, one building, two families of veterinarians
On June 6, 1964, Dr. Charles N. McDonald opened a veterinary clinic across from the Rose-Rich Shopping Center in Rosenberg, Texas, five years after finishing his own veterinary degree at Texas A&M. He named the practice for the two towns it served, Rosenberg and Richmond, and that name has stayed on the building ever since. Two years later, a fellow Texas A&M-trained veterinarian and Air Force veteran, G. Tucker Robinson, joined him, and the two of them spent the next three decades running a mixed small and large animal practice, trading off nights and weekends so someone was always on call.
What Rose-Rich looks like today, and the building it now practices in, traces back to a decision Dr. Sharon Moore made after joining as a partner in 1998: to build something the growing practice had outgrown its old walls to need.
The timeline
From a storefront in Rosenberg to a landmark on Thompson Road
June 6, 1964
Dr. Charles N. McDonald, five years out of his veterinary degree from Texas A&M, founds the clinic opposite the Rose-Rich Shopping Center in Rosenberg. The practice takes its name from the two communities it was built to serve, Rosenberg and Richmond.
1966
G. Tucker Robinson, a fellow Texas A&M-trained veterinarian and an Air Force veteran, joins Dr. McDonald in practice.
1969
Construction begins on a new clinic building across the river in Richmond, on Thompson Road.
May 31, 1970
The Thompson Road building opens. The City of Richmond extends water and sewer service to the site to support it.
The next thirty-plus years
Dr. Robinson and Dr. McDonald run a mixed small and large animal practice together, taking turns covering nights and weekends. Three associate veterinarians who practice alongside them at different points, Dr. John Stern, Dr. Douglas Dornak, and Dr. Steven Hibbler, later open their own clinics in Needville, El Campo, and Katy.
1998
Sharon L. Moore, DVM, a 1983 graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, joins Rose-Rich as a partner.
2007
Dr. Moore becomes president of the corporation and begins leading the design and build of a new facility.
June 4, 2009
Ground is broken on the new clinic, timed to the practice's 45th anniversary.
May 2010
The new landmark facility on Thompson Road opens with a series of events, the building that still houses Rose-Rich today.
“I have been taking my two babies to Rose-Rich and they are very professional. Dr. Robinson is the BEST!! He is very good with my big dog, Ivy, that is very nervous by nature.”
Luci R., Google review
The building the practice grew into
By the time Dr. Moore became president of the corporation in 2007, Rose-Rich had spent three decades in the building Dr. McDonald and Dr. Robinson opened in 1970. She led the design and construction of its replacement, and on June 4, 2009, exactly on the practice's 45th anniversary, ground was broken on the new facility. It opened in May 2010 with a series of events for the community it had served for 46 years by then.
The doctors who trained under Dr. McDonald and Dr. Robinson went on to shape veterinary care across the county: three associates who once practiced at Rose-Rich, Dr. John Stern, Dr. Douglas Dornak, and Dr. Steven Hibbler, opened their own clinics in Needville, El Campo, and Katy. Meanwhile Leslie Walenta, who started as an 18 year old co-op student in 1981, is still the office manager today, and Dr. Moore's own daughter, Dr. Katie Williams, now practices alongside her. Read more about the team practicing here now.
See the building this history built
Take a room-by-room walk through the Thompson Road facility, or call to schedule a visit for your own pet.