History

VA Hudson Valley Health Care System

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

By 1944, VA operated 8 hospitals with 8,034 beds in the state of New York. With the influx of returning World War II Veterans, more hospital beds were needed and sites near New York City were of particular interest.

In 1944, VA took an option on the Revolutionary War-era estate, known as Boscobel, situated on the banks of the Hudson River roughly 40 miles north of New York City. The government purchased the Boscobel land for $125,000 in April 1945. It was one of the last hospital sites selected by VA’s longest-tenured administrator, Gen. Frank T. Hines.

Just 4 months later, in August 1945, Hines was replaced by Gen. Omar Bradley as VA administrator. Bradley was charged by President Harry S. Truman and Congress with modernizing the VA. In his brief two-year tenure, he made groundbreaking changes, including changing the look and location of VA hospitals.

Some of the most apparent differences between Bradley-era VA hospitals and those of the past were their locations, architecture, and scale: sites were selected in urban areas in proximity to medical schools, “Skyscraper” hospitals were built up instead of sprawling outward to utilize a smaller footprint. Most were large with more than 1,000  beds. Montrose had nearly 2,000 beds.

President Truman dedicates hospital to FDR

On September 26, 1945, President Harry S. Truman officially designated the planned hospital at Montrose as the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Veterans Administration Hospital. It was the first VA hospital named after a U.S. president. This commemorative act took place less than 6 months after President Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945.

The new VA hospital was a unique hybrid that incorporated elements of World War I hospitals along with new components that Bradley wanted in World War II hospitals. Out of 72 hospital projects, Montrose was “the only departure from a ‘main building’ design.” Its rural setting was more typical of World War I-era hospitals, but its planned 2,000 beds made it one of the largest World War II-era hospitals at the time.

Construction of Montrose was slow moving, due initially to post-war inflation. Groundbreaking took place on February 12, 1947. Montrose officially opened on Monday, May 15, 1950, when the first patients were transferred from Halloran Army Hospital in New York City.

Mansion disassembled and moved

One of the interesting stories about the site involves the Boscobel mansion.

Originally, the historic Boscobel mansion house stood at the current location of Building 29 at the FDR Montrose VA Hospital, overlooking the Hudson. It was completed in 1808 for the Morris States-Dyckman family and is regarded as one of the finest examples of federal architecture in the country.

The mansion was meticulously taken apart and rebuilt further up the Hudson to make way for the new VA hospital being built to serve America’s newest Veterans from World War II. The Wallace family of Reader’s Digest fame, long-time residents of the Hudson Valley, paid for the move and restoration efforts.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hospital is also home to the unique Veterans sculpture garden overlooking the Hudson. Sculptures of busts of Veterans from every war America has fought in are on display in this magnificent historic and well-visited meditation garden.

The molds for the busts have been replicated twice and are on display in the Westchester County Lasdon Park Veterans Walk and Memorial, and in the East Orange VA Hospital Museum.

The busts were all created by Nils Anderson, an artist who was a World War II Veteran and patient at FDR VA in the post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program, who completed the project through his art therapy program at Montrose. Nils Andersen was a famous artist prior to his difficulties that led him to VA and praises VA for having saved his life.

The garden also features ornamental trees and plantings and is used by the community, patients, visitors and staff.

Castle Point VA Medical Center

Castle Point  VA Medical Center was built in 1923 as a place of hope for men and women who suffered f rom tuberculosis. Hamilton Fish Sr. and residents of New York came together and pushed for the building of Castle Point.

It evolved into a general hospital and was known for new techniques in spinal cord injury care. 

The  medical center is located on the banks of the Hudson River just 65 miles north of New York City. It  is a primary and secondary health care facility, delivering modern, progressive health care services to Veterans of the Hudson Valley.  A wide range of medical services, intermediate medicine, rehabilitation medicine, and spinal cord injury care are provided at this facility.

for more history about the VA, please follow this link  VA History