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.
In 1948, Wilkes-Barre broke ground on an 11-story, 475-bed veterans hospital for the generation returning from World War II. Homes were cleared and even nearby radio towers had to move. Rita's 1949 entry places Joseph inside that enormous civic undertaking while it was still rising—a project tied to local Medal of Honor recipient Gino Merli and to the country's urgent 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
Queen of Peace Residence, Little Sisters of the Poor
Family list: “Little Sisters”
Queens Village, Queens, New York
St. Albans Naval Hospital — postwar permanent expansion
Family list: “St. Albans Naval Hospital”
St. Albans, Queens, New York
The Valley Hospital — Bergen Wing
Family list: “Valley Hospital”
Ridgewood, New Jersey