Today in 1867, the birthday of June Robertson McCarroll, a doctor who made a big difference in road safety by painting a line.
McCarroll was born in Kentucky.
She later came to Chicago, where she was one of the few women to study medicine and start her own medical practice.
But her most famous contribution came when she was living in California.
She had moved west in the early 1900s because her husband had tuberculosis; they hoped the desert air might agree with him.
The air helped him; the woman known as Dr. June helped just about everybody else.
Not only did she open up a medical office; she asked the state to declare her house a branch of the state library so her patients would have something to read ahead of appointments!
And her patients didn’t have to come to her; the doctor traveled throughout the region, including many Native Americans living on nearby reservations.
In that time, a traveling doctor might use a horse-drawn carriage, or just ride an actual horse.
McCarroll also traveled by car, and it was on one such trip that she thought up her big idea.
A truck was coming toward her Model T so aggressively that, to avoid it, she ended up in a ditch.
The doctor figured drivers might avoid near-misses, or even crashes, if there was a simple line down the road to show where they were supposed to go.
She brought this idea to the powers that be, but they didn’t take to the idea.
So McCarroll just painted a line herself along what was then Highway 99.
She spurred women’s groups to press the government to paint those lines all over California, and in 1924 the state started doing so.
Now there were others who came up with similar ideas, but McCarroll is credited for bringing her idea to officials early on.
Which is why there’s a monument in her honor today in Indio, and part of Interstate 10 is known as The Dr. June McCarroll Memorial Freeway.
Now underway in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it’s the American Jump Rope National Championship.
The categories include single rope freestyle, single rope pairs freestyle and single rope team freestyle, plus double dutch freestyle for individuals, pairs and trios.
Dr. June Robertson McCarroll Was the Valley’s First Woman Doctor—but She’s Best Known for a Transportation Innovation (Coachella Valley Independent)
American Jump Rope National Championship