History
Explore the rich heritage of the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System.
George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center
The original VA hospital in Salt Lake City, located at 12th Avenue and E Street, admitted its first patient on July 5, 1932. The $500,000 hospital had 104 medical and surgical beds and space for regional offices.
At the end of World War II, the hospital faced an increased demand for health services from returning Veterans and their families. Suddenly overcrowded, the hospital set up desks in hallways and added several emergency beds, reaching a total of 204 beds in 1946. To make more room for beds and medical activities, hospital officials moved the regional offices to the General Services Administration building on Redwood Road.
In 1946, the VA hospital in Salt Lake City first partnered with the University of Utah’s College of Medicine. During the next few years, the hospital and the medical school established residency and internship programs in several medical and surgical specialties.
VA builds a new hospital in Salt Lake City
In September 1946, U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorized the VA to build a 500-bed neuropsychiatric hospital on 260 acres of land near Salt Lake City. The property was part of the Fort Douglas Military Reservation, which was originally built as Camp Douglas during the Civil War in 1862. In a Jan.11, 1948, the Secretary of the Army transferred ownerships of the land at Fort Douglas from the War Department to the Veterans Administration.
On Sept. 4, 1952, the new VA hospital started treating Veterans. The $9 million hospital had 546 beds, including 154 beds for tuberculosis and psychiatric patients.
The hospital cared for Veterans with psychiatric disorders from the state of Utah, the eastern half of Nevada, southern Idaho, southwestern Wyoming and western Colorado. Before the Fort Douglas hospital was built, Utah Veterans traveled to hospitals in Sheridan, Wyoming and Fort Lyon, Colorado, for treatment. After the Fort Douglas hospital opened, the original hospital at 12th Avenue and E Street continued to handle acute general medical and surgical cases while the new hospital treated Veterans with tuberculosis and psychiatric or neurological disorders.
As soon as it opened, the Fort Douglas hospital was affiliated with the University of Utah’s College of Medicine. Within a few years, the hospital also partnered with the university’s Graduate School of Social Work and Department of Psychology to help train students in those fields. In the fall of 1961, the hospital started training nurses, first in psychiatry and later in general medicine and surgery, after creating new programs with the University of Utah’s College of Nursing.
On Sept. 1, 1955, the VA combined the original hospital and the Fort Douglas hospital under single management. By then, the Fort Douglas facility was already treating a third or more of Veterans who needed medical and surgical care because the original hospital was too small to handle the demand.
In the spring of 1961, the central office moved all hospital functions to the Fort Douglas. By Feb. 15, 1962, all patients at the original hospital were transferred to Fort Douglas and the other hospital stopped serving as a medical facility for Veterans.
Honoring a Medal of Honor winner for his service
In 2004, President George W. Bush signed legislation to rename the VA hospital in Salt Lake City, making the official name the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. At the time, George E. Wahlen was still alive (he died a few years later at age 84). Federal buildings can’t be named for a living person, so Congress had to approve special legislation allowing it to happen.
During World War II, George E. Wahlen earned the Medal of Honor in 1945 as a Navy corpsman at the battle of Iwo Jima, where he saved many lives. He was injured three times, but he refused to leave the battlefield.
Wahlen later re-enlisted in the Army, where he served during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He retired as a highly decorated officer with the rank of major. He then started a new career with the Veterans Benefits Administration, where he continued to serve our country and other Veterans for 14 years.
Today, the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System, which includes the George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center and 10 community-based outreach clinics, treats thousands of Veterans in 3 states: Utah, Idaho, and Nevada.