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The
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center (formerly the
Fitzsimons Army Hospital) was a medical facility of the United States military during the 20th century located on 577 acres (2.3 km²) in Aurora,
Colorado, east of Denver. The facility closed in
1999 and the grounds are currently being redeveloped for civilian use as the
Fitzsimons Medical Campus.The facility was founded by the United States Army during World War I arising from the need to treat the large number of casualties from chemical weapons in
Europe. Denver's reputation as a prime location for the treatment of tuberculosis led local citizens to lobby the Army on behalf of Denver as the site for the new hospital.
Army Hospital 21, as it was first called, was formally dedicated in the autumn of
1918 in Aurora, which at the time had a population of less than 1,000. In July
1920, the facility was formally renamed the Fitzsimons Army Hospital after Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, the first U.S. casualty in World War I.
The facility was used heavily during World War II to treat returning casualties and became one of the Army's premier medical training centers. In the
1950s, Dwight Eisenhower received treatment at the facility three separate times for his heart condition while he was president. In September
1955, while on vacation at his in-laws' house in Denver, he suffered a myocardial infarction and was placed in an oxygen tent at the facility. In 2000, a suite of rooms on hospital's eighth floor was restored to appear as it did when Eisenhower was recovering there.
United States Senator and
2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was born at the facility on December 11,
1943, while his father was receiving treatment for tuberculosis.
In July 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the closure of the facility, with the exception of the Edgar J. McWhethy Army Reserve Center, and the closure was completed in 1999. The $744-million redevelopment of the facility into civilian use includes the construction of the University of Colorado Hospital's $110-million Anschutz Outpatient Pavilion, and the $509-million Children's Hospital. The medical campus also includes the Ben Nighthorse Campbell Center for Native American Research, named in honor of the U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado.
External links
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Defense Environmental Restoration Program : Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center
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DesignBuild Magazine on the Univ. of Colorado Hospital facility on the site.
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Department of Veterans Affairs U.S. House of Representatives hearings on conversion of the site (PDF)
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Dwight Eisenhower Official Army Medical Records (Univ. of Texas Library, PDF)
Category:United States Army medical facilities
Category:Aurora, Colorado
Category:Denver metropolitan area
