Washingtonians
traveling today along Florida Avenue between 10th and 11th
Street might take notice of the elaborate stone and wrought iron fence below that
surrounds the entire square, now occupied by an elementary school and high rise
housing project coined Garfield Terrace.
It was once the site of a large complex known as Garfield Memorial
Hospital, one of many institutions and public building named after the
assassinated President. However, even
though it was built as early as 1884, the hospital was not the first structure
on the Square that prompted the elaborate fencing that remains to this
day.
To the
founders of Garfield Hospital, who incorporated the institution on May 18,
1882, it seemed appropriate to name it after President James Garfield, “whose
long and patient suffering from the wounds that caused his death should be
commemorated by a hospital, which, though located in Washington, should possess
a national character” stated Mr. Justice Miller at its inaugural address on May
30, 1884. Funds for the facility had
been raised by an appeal to the “wives and daughters” of Congressional members,
150 of whom first met at the parlor of the Ebbitt House in the spring of
1882.
The
seven-acre site along Florida Avenue between 10th and 11th
Street, which extended nearly two full blocks to Euclid Street, was purchased
in 1883 for $37,500. Developer and
patron Henry A. Willard held a $22,000 mortgage on the property. The property apparently contained two
mansions, one of which was the “Schneider mansion,” once the summer home of Dr.
J. C. Hall, and the large “Haw mansion” facing Florida Avenue, which received a
$12,000 addition and alteration to create the first building of Garfield
hospital beginning in late 1883. Its
grand iron fence was also altered to include an arched sign for the new
hospital at its entrance from Florida Avenue near 11th Street,
opening to a long winding drive into hospital grounds.
Unlike
Children’s Hospital, located just two blocks to the west and featured in the
February Scenes of the Past, Garfield Hospital was incorporated to serve
those in need of medical assistance that could not afford other institutions in
the city. Opening day was staged on May
30, 1884, and largely organized by Mrs. John A. Logan. The day was recorded as a beautiful balmy
spring day, and the opening and dedication consisted of a series tents set on
the vast lawn for refreshments, supper, and confections. Chinese lanterns hung from trees throughout
the grounds of the former estate while patrons danced in the mansion’s
ballroom. Incredibly, funding for the
hospital was raised in numerous foreign countries including France, Great
Britain, Japan, India, Brazil, Haiti, China, and Russia, even with King George
from Tonga committing $239.50.
The first
patient at the Hospital was admitted on June 18, 1884, a female government
clerk, during a time when the resident physician earned just $50 per
month. Dr. Swan M. Burnett performed the
first surgery at the facility on June 28th of that year, on an African
American Civil War veteran. In all, the
hospital treated 178 patients the first year, 119 of whom received their
medical treatment free of charge. Soon
after, the hospital began to experience financial strains and over crowding,
prompting Congressional intervention and funding. Meanwhile, the Ladies Aid Association
collected $168.79 in 1885 from a collection box placed near the Garfield
assassination spot in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station on Capitol
Hill.
The
following two decades witnessed an expansion of the hospital grounds and
buildings under the supervision of architect Appleton P. Clark. In 1888, local resident Alexander Graham Bell
donated an ambulance, and an anonymous donor had an ice house built on the
property in 1890. All races and ages
were admitted to the hospital throughout its tenure. In 1889, the average cost per patient per day
was $1.54!
The number
of buildings steadily increased, as a 100-bed facility was added in 1892, a new
administration building was added in 1894, along with several laboratories, a
caretaker’s cottage, and a Willard memorial fountain. By 1898, the hospital consisted of six large
buildings worth an estimated $250,000. A
large annex was added in 1899, and in 1907 the remainder of the Schneider tract
on 11th Street was purchased, on which a very large central building
with 78 individual rooms for patients was constructed in 1923 at a time when 96
nurses lived on the property.
In 1924,
the hospital had grown to be able to admit 4,397 patients in that year
alone. A huge expansion plan was scraped
due to the efforts of World War two, but the facility was one of the first
hospitals in the city to receive air conditioning, in 1954. Just four years later, the complex was closed
for good. Demolition began in November
of 1960, and the site remained vacant for several years until an elementary
school was built along 11th Street and a high rise housing building
constructed along Sherman Avenue (10th Street) that both remain to
this day.
Copyright Paul K. Williams
