Hospital Point Park, Portsmouth, VA
Portsmouth, VA Portsmouth (Independent City)
In 1798 the United States Congress passed an act creating the Marine Hospital Service, the forerunner of the Public Health Service, and set up a Naval Hospital Fund to be filled by taking twenty cents a month from the pay of every seaman, officer and marine. When plans developed for establishing a marine hospital, the state of Virginia in 1801 offered to supply an appropriate site and in 1826 the city of Norfolk was selected. In 1827 the Commissioners of the Naval Hospital--the Secretaries of War, Navy and Treasury--picked eighteen acres at Fort Nelson, a fortification built during the Revolution to protect Norfolk and later purchased by the federal government in 1800, as the site of the future hospital. Sixty-one acres were purchased to add to the property and John Haviland, well-known Philadelphia architect, was commissioned to draw plans for the new building.
The Naval Hospital has had distinquished service serving those in need. In 1855 when Portsmouth lost one-fifth of its population in a dreadful Yellow Fever epidemic, over 500 civilians were treated at the hospital. In April, 1862, the Confederate government surrounded the building with earthworks and renamed it Fort Nelson. The next year it was occupied by Northern troops and re-established as a federal army hospital. (1)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/124-0036_Por...
Hospital Point Park, Portsmouth, VA
Portsmouth, VA Portsmouth (Independent City)
In 1798 the United States Congress passed an act creating the Marine Hospital Service, the forerunner of the Public Health Service, and set up a Naval Hospital Fund to be filled by taking twenty cents a month from the pay of every seaman, officer and marine. When plans developed for establishing a marine hospital, the state of Virginia in 1801 offered to supply an appropriate site and in 1826 the city of Norfolk was selected. In 1827 the Commissioners of the Naval Hospital--the Secretaries of War, Navy and Treasury--picked eighteen acres at Fort Nelson, a fortification built during the Revolution to protect Norfolk and later purchased by the federal government in 1800, as the site of the future hospital. Sixty-one acres were purchased to add to the property and John Haviland, well-known Philadelphia architect, was commissioned to draw plans for the new building.
The Naval Hospital has had distinquished service serving those in need. In 1855 when Portsmouth lost one-fifth of its population in a dreadful Yellow Fever epidemic, over 500 civilians were treated at the hospital. In April, 1862, the Confederate government surrounded the building with earthworks and renamed it Fort Nelson. The next year it was occupied by Northern troops and re-established as a federal army hospital. (1)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/124-0036_Por...