Abandoned Southeast

Preserving the Past

Posted on by

U.S. Marine Hospital

The U.S. Marine Hospital dates back over 200 years. In 1798, President Adams established the Marine Hospital Service to care for injured and disabled seaman working on the Mississippi River. The hospital was a precursor to the Public Health Service. The campus was built in 1884 to care for wounded Civil War soldiers and also to conduct scientific research in the hopes of finding a cure for yellow fever. The Marine Hospital is located along the Mississippi River, south of downtown Memphis in the French Fort community. The original campus consisted of six buildings: the stable, two wards, the surgeon’s house, administrative building, and nurses’ quarters.

Marine Hospital

26990870801_97e84c39c4_k
The original 1884 Nurses’ quarters behind the red brick hospital.

During the 1930s, several Works Progress Administration buildings were built. The administrative building and the nurses’ quarters were moved 300 feet by wagons pulled by mules to make room for the new WPA hospital. The wards and stables were eventually demolished. The administrative building was repurposed as a museum. In 1979, the Marine Hospital was added to the National Register of Historic Places the following year.

26991820311_4b739fe6d6_k.jpg
A staircase inside the original Nurses’ quarters.

In 1937, the three-story Neo-Classical red brick hospital was completed at the cost of $1 million. The hospital, constructed in Georgian-style, featured a slate roof, limestone columns, and a copper copula.

26456229503_af77aed87e_k26808448820_18bfe7e7a0_k

26780209462_4cf6f74520_k
Each hospital wing consists of a day room, patient rooms, and nurses station. In the rear wing, you will find the operating room, a dental ward, and the soundproof chamber used for hearing tests.

27021393516_ddadc3ff9d_k
Throughout the years, the hospital was used by the Coast Guard, cadets from the state maritime academies, active duty armed forces, Public Health officials, the Army Corps of Engineers, and government employees injured in the line of duty. Most recently by the Army during Desert Storm to house soldiers.
27021385656_62bb12eb54_k
The morgue is located in the basement.
26839653836_14d5f61797_k
Lobby Hallway
26788562641_5634984876_k (1)
Operating Room
26213364913_3cf776721e_k
The hospital closed permanently in 1965 as the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital. The property was split between the museum and the Federal Government. The museum was allowed to lease their half from the City of Memphis for only a $1 a year.
26965691252_9630cdc364_k
The Federal Government retained their portion until 2004 when it was sold to a private buyer. The campus remains private property. The current plan is to convert the hospital into 67 apartments.

21 comments

  2. How amazing to see that your latest post was about the very hospital my father recuperated in during WWII! what are the odds of that happening? beautiful pictures. They helped me “see” where my father stayed and I could easily imagine the rooms filled with doctors, nurses and patients. thank you so much for highlighting this part of our history!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Wow – I’ve been so inspired by what I’m reading in the company of some great wordsmiths. But this kicks it up a notch. Photojournalism at its finest. Great show, Abandoned – thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I hardly leave comments, but I browsed some of the responses here. I do have a few questions for you if it’s allright. Is it only me or does it appear like some of the remarks come across like they are left by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are writing on additional online social sites, I would like to keep up with anything new you have to post. Could you make a list of the complete urls of your social sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. I lived in Memphis most of my life and I didn’t know half the history of the hospital. Thank you for that. However, I noticed in all the sites on the Marine Hospital, the Indian Mound in the now Chickasaw Heritage Park across from the hospital is not mentioned. I think that is an interesting part of the hospital since the hospitalized could see it from their windows.

    Like

    Reply
  11. Pingback: Haunted Places in Memphis, the Dark Side of the Rock n' Roll Capital

  12. Loved reading this and seeing the pictures. I’ve seen this place a few times from the outside. I’m confused though- You say it housed soldiers during Desert Storm, but that it closed permanently in 1965.

    On another note, I was reading today about a plan to turn it into apartments. I like the idea but I don’t know if I want to live somewhere that had a morgue in the basement!

    Like

    Reply
  13. Pingback: 20 Real Tennessee Haunted Houses | Mom Explores the Smokies

  15. As of Oct 2021 it looks like it’s been renovated into apartments and is now called The Marine Residence Apartments. Wish I could’ve seen it before it was renovated!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. Pingback: Finding The 10 Best Abandoned Places In Tennessee In 2022

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: