Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center
Joseph was on this job while a new 475-bed veterans hospital rose outside Wilkes-Barre.
The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center as it stands today, photographed by the Veterans Health Administration.
Undated · Photo: Veterans Health Administration · U.S. Government work · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Family source
- Masonry scope
- Strong
Rita’s list
Transcription: Wilkes Barre VA Hospital — 1949
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-006
1 of two
“Wilkes Barre VA Hospital — 1949”
Ground was broken in April 1948; the hospital was still under construction in 1949 and opened in 1950.
An early out-of-state project tied directly to the enormous postwar expansion of veterans' care.
What Kelly did here
Family source
Strong
Substantial masonry work was part of the original Wilkes-Barre VA hospital construction, alongside the reinforced-concrete/high-rise hospital structure. A contemporary retrospective on the 1950 opening specifically notes masonry contractors among the roughly 40 trade groups that built the hospital; exact brick/CMU locations still require specifications.
This scope is recorded as strong, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
The construction team
- 01Architect
Kelly & Gruzen with Isadore Rosenfield
- 02GC / construction manager
Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation
What happened to it
Still standing
1111 East End Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
Sources
3 citedOpen →
- 01va.gov
history
- 02congress.gov
GPO CRECB 1950 pt4 7 1
- 03yahoo.com
look back veterans hospital opened 021800967
- Veterans Health Administration · United States Government work (Flickr) · Veterans Health Administration on Flickr
The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center as it stands today, photographed by the Veterans Health Administration.
Know something about this project?
Share a correction, memory, photograph, source or connection to this project. Every submission is reviewed before anything is published.
Elsewhere in the archive
St. Albans Naval Hospital — postwar permanent expansion
Family list: “St. Albans Naval Hospital”
St. Albans, Queens, New York
Herbert Irving Pavilion / former Atchley Pavilion — Doctors Office Building
Family list: “Doctors Office Building - Columbia Pres”
Manhattan, New York
Queen of Peace Residence, Little Sisters of the Poor
Family list: “Little Sisters”
Queens Village, Queens, New York