Governors Island Medical Buildings
Governors Island
This Greek revival style building was constructed in 1839 to serve as a post hospital. In its earliest configuration, the hospital consisted of two wards on the first floor and three smaller wards on the second. The basement contained offices, a kitchen, storerooms, the dispensary, and staff quarters.
This hospital replaced an earlier general hospital located at the northern end of the Island. During wartime, the demands on the post hospital grew as wounded from far a-field were transferred to Governors Island for treatment. Patients included wounded and ill from a conflict in Florida with the Seminole Indians in 1840, personnel stricken with yellow fever during an outbreak on the Island in 1856, and the countless wounded from the Civil War. After the addition of new wings in 1862, the hospital was temporarily named a “general hospital” because it served the larger army population outside of Governors Island.
In 1935, a new hospital was built near Castle Williams and this building was converted into an Army headquarters for the Department of the East. Its responsibilities included all Army operations east of Illinois and the Mississippi River. The new hospital was designed by the prominent architects McKim, Meade & White, who were responsible for most of the Island’s monumental buildings, including Liggett Hall. The new facility provided services as advanced as any public or private hospital in the area, and it treated as many as 5,000 patients a year.
Marker can be reached from Barry Road, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
