Development
As the United States entered World War I, San Diegans offered the nearly empty Balboa Park after the 1915 Panama–California Exposition to be used by various branches of the U.S. military for barracks and training purposes. During this time, a hospital tent was set up at the present location of the San Diego Natural History Museum. In 1919, city leaders set aside a 17-acre (6.9 ha) parcel from Balboa Park for use in constructing a permanent Naval hospital. This donation, along with other purchased land, allowed for the development of a 85-acre (34 ha), 89-building complex with 2,600 beds. The first unit opened in 1925.
During World War II, due to large numbers of casualties coming from the Pacific Theater of Operations, the hospital expanded to include most of the buildings in present day Balboa Park. For instance, the Navy Nurses were housed at the House of Hospitality and the California Building, Fine Arts Gallery and the Natural History Museum were converted into hospital wards. The Lily Pond was used for swim training, the Japanese Tea Garden as a Red Cross Servicemen's Center, the House of Pacific Relations as officers' quarters and the Palisades as a Hospital Corps School named Camp Kidd. The Balboa Complex, to include the main Naval Hospital, treated approximately 172,000 patients with a maximum occupancy of 12,000 in December, 1944. In 1946 the Balboa Park grounds and buildings were returned to the city.
During the Vietnam War-era, the complex was the largest military hospital in the world.
An entirely new $270 million hospital complex was built in Florida Canyon, north of the original hospital, during the mid-1980s; the site was chosen at the urging of then-U.S. Representative Bob Wilson, after whom the new hospital complex was subsequently named. It officially opened in January 1988. A 39-acre (16 ha) portion of the original site was returned to the city of San Diego and restored to Park use.
Read more about this topic: Naval Medical Center San Diego
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)