Dr. June Robertson McCarroll
Dr. June Robertson McCarroll was born June 30, 1867 in the Adirondacks and began her medical career in Chicago. She left a promising practice for Indio in 1904. Becoming the sole practicing physician for the entire Coachella Valley. She traveled by horseback, horse and buggy, and automobile to provide medical care throughout the valley under very primitive conditions.
An encounter with a large truck on a narrow road in 1917 resulted in her Model T abandoning the road for a sandy ditch. This led Dr. June to the idea that a white stripe painted in the center of the road would make automobile travel safer. She personally painted the first known stripe in California on Indio Boulevard, then part of Highway 99, during 1917. A letter writing campaign intitiated by the Indio Women's Club eventually led to adoption of the practice by the California Highway Commission in 1924.
Dr. June also started the first library in the Coachella Valley. She died on March 30, 1954. A nearby portion of the freeway was named in her honor on April 24, 2002.
Marker is on Indio Boulevard east of Smurr Street, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
