Fort Omaha Hospital
Fort Omaha Walking Tour
Maintaining the health and well-being of soldiers at Fort Omaha was accomplished only after overcoming serious obstacles.
One such obstacle was the shortage of potable water. By 1869 only two of the Fort’s wells were considered safe for drinking. The failure of newly dug wells resulted in the use of cistern water, and daily fatigue duty included the hauling and distribution of water. Weather permitting, men would bathe in the nearby Missouri River.
The first hospital, constructed on the northwestern section of the post, had wood-burning stoves and no indoor water closets. It was condemned in 1879 by the post surgeon as “totally uninhabitable.”
After the Army Signal Corps reopened the Fort in 1905, this hospital building was constructed and completed in 1906. It served as a recruiting facility for all military services in both world wars until the Navy departed in 1974. Originally, the building to the south housed Army nurses and later noncommissioned officers.
Marker is on West Road, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
