Our History

Parker Veterinary Hospital was first opened in 1937 by Roy H. Parker, whose original veterinary license from 1912 hangs on the wall of the Hospital’s waiting room.  Back then, the Hospital cared for horses, cattle, sheep and other farm animals as well as dogs, cats and virtually anything else with fur or feathers. This was a time when the area around Parker Veterinary Hospital was heavily agricultural and Parker’s was one of only a handful of hospitals that served Mecklenburg County. As the County became more urbanized, the need for veterinary care for large and farm animals waned and today the Hospital sees only companion animals. Parker Veterinary Hospital has been providing continuous veterinary medical and surgical care for almost 80 years, the only hospital in Mecklenburg County to do so!  This level of experience and commitment to the community enables Parker’s to carry out our mission of healing every day with every patient!

Parker Veterinary Hospital is conveniently located on Wilkinson Boulevard in the historic Camp Green neighborhood. The neighborhood was named after the army Camp Green which was a major training camp for soldiers during World War I and housed over 60,000 soldiers and thousands of horses at its peak in 1918. For several years after the war, the land around Camp Green remained quite rural, but slowly a small, modest suburban neighborhood evolved in its place. However, the James C. Dowd house, which was the camp headquarters, still remains in the neighborhood as a historical monument.

Historic Camp Green neighborhood, site of a World War I training camp, housed over 60,000 soldiers at its peak in 1918.

This is the original certificate to practice veterinary medicine issued by the State of North Carolina in 1912 to R. H. Parker, who founded Parker Veterinary Hospital in 1937.