HISTORICAL POSTCARDS OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI
O'Reilly General Hospital (view 1 of 3)
In March of 1941 the city of Springfield donated a 158-acre tract of land that had formerly been the Glenstone Golf Course to the United States Army to build a hospital. Construction began in April and on November 7, 1941, exactly one month before the Pearl Harbor attack, the first patient, Lowell Wright, arrived for treatment. What was originally designed as a 1000-bed Army hospital was eventually expanded to 3500 beds. The postcard depicts some of the hospital ward buildings, presumably in 1941 or 1942, since the trees are so young. The postcard is published by R.W. Roseberry Company of Springfield, Missouri.
The hospital remained open until February 10, 1947 when it was converted to a Veterans' Hospital for tuberculous and other general patients. Only 125 of the original 240 buildings were used and the Veterans' Hospital had a 500 bed capacity. The Veterans' Hospital closed in 1954.
In 1955 Evangel College, a four-year Assemblies of God college, began to operate in the O'Reilly Hospital buildings. Many of the original buildings are still being used as classrooms, office and storage space for what is now called Evangel University.
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