Naval Hospital Boston Historic District

About this property

Naval Hospital Boston was a hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. With the closure of the nearby Boston Navy Yard, the hospital closed in 1974. On January 7, 1836 the Chelsea Naval Hospital was completed and commissioned. Located on a hill on the banks of the Mystic River in Chelsea, MA, it is 112 feet (34 m) above sea level. The original building was built of Vermont granite. The hospital was a three-story building with a 100-bed capacity. A wing was added on the west side of the building in 1865. Chelsea Naval Hospital was one of the first three hospitals authorized by Congress to accommodate naval personnel. Previously, personnel received treatment at marine hospitals operated by the Department of the Treasury for mariners, both naval and merchant. The hospital served naval personnel and others during the American Civil War, Spanish–American War, World War I and World War II. In 1970, a plaque in remembrance of Medal of Honor recipient Wayne Maurice Caron, a hospital corpsman, was placed on the grounds of the hospital. In 1973, the hospital and the surrounding grounds were added to the Naval Hospital Boston Historic District. When it was decommissioned in 1974, it was the oldest naval hospital in service in the United States and consisted of 88 acres (360,000 m2) of land on the Mystic River. Notable patients during the hospital's history include Presidents John Quincy Adams (after his presidency) and John F. Kennedy (before his presidency). The original hospital buildings were converted into condominiums while adjacent land was dotted with single family townhouses and high rise apartment complexes. Still extant are the perimeter wall and guard shack, pier, chapel, ordnance buildings, nurses' quarters, and the Captain's House. In addition to the redevelopment of the housing and hospital portion of the property, several acres on the Mystic River were taken over by the Metropolitan District Commission for Mary O'Malley Park. Naval Hospital Boston Historic District is a historic district at the south end of Broadway, encompassing the area around Naval Hospital Boston. It consists of five buildings, historically the original 1836 Naval hospital, the 1857 Marine hospital, the Commanding Officer's quarters, and two ordnance buildings. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The original hospital was built of granite and was used as personnel quarters after a new hospital was built in 1915; it has been converted into condominiums. The Marine hospital was a three-story building built of brick with an I-shaped footprint; a fourth story was added in 1866. The building was returned to the Navy in 1940. It has been converted into condominiums.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Suffolk County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Suffolk County.

More historic places in Massachusetts

Browse all historic places in Massachusetts.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Massachusetts history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.