Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Chester County

Last Wednesday was my [insert number here]th birthday, and I intended to do a special blog post; but between the various acts of celebration (I basically had a birthday week, because what's the point of getting older if you don't have fun with it) and some really bad weather, it didn't get posted in time. But it did get posted! So if you'd like to have couple of chuckles vaguely related to the content of this blog, you'll find it here.

Speaking of my birthday, in the September newsletter I put out a request for a birthday gift from my readers - I asked everyone to help me bridge the final gap standing between this blog and reaching the 100,000 page view mark. Well, you all delivered way faster than I expected, and the milestone was reached within 36 hours of the newsletter being sent! Thank you! Even more incredibly, the blog received a little over 10,000 hits just during the month of August, and with September not quite half over we're on track to double that. Honestly, I don't know how so many people are finding me but I'm beyond grateful.

For today's quest, we're going to head back down to scenic Chester County and learn about Valley Forge General Hospital. Despite the obvious implications of the name, this actually doesn't have anything to do with the America Revolution. It does, however, have an unexpected connection to - of all things - Saturday Night Live.

The marker stands at the intersection of Charlestown
and Buckwalter Roads in Phoenixville

Valley Forge General Hospital was the first and only U.S. Army General Hospital to be named after its location rather than a person. It was constructed in 1942 and opened in 1943 on George Washington's birthday, with the intent of providing care to those who had been wounded in action in World War II. Designed by architect Matthew Bookler, it was state of the art for its day, with two-story buildings connected by corridors and long ramps to enable wheelchairs to move up and down floors as needed. It expanded as the need grew, eventually consisting of more than a hundred buildings housing more than 3,000 patients.

Little more than a year after its opening, Valley Forge became the east coast's only general hospital specializing in the treatment of patients whose injuries had rendered them blind. (Letterman General Hospital, in San Francisco, was the only other hospital so identified.) Patients were brought to the hospital, or visited at home by a hospital representative if the were unable to be moved, so that treatment could be started as quickly as possible after the injury was received. The treatment varied according to the nature of the injury and the resulting blindness; many patients received artificial eyes. After treating the actual physical ailment, the hospital then focused on helping the patients adjust to life with their new condition. I myself am blind in one eye, so I found this part of the hospital's history to be particularly interesting. The treatment of these injuries became even more revolutionary in 1945, when a team of dentists (yes, you read that correctly, dentists) developed an even better artificial eye and were brought to Valley Forge to teach the staff how to make and insert them. From there the dentists, who were all awarded the Legion of Merit for their brilliant discovery, were sent to other hospitals to spread the training far and wide.

The hospital was closed for several months in 1950, because it had only ever been intended to be a temporary service for World War II injuries and the war was over. But the outbreak of the Korean War meant that Valley Forge's purpose was not yet fulfilled, and so they reopened in the autumn, and continued providing support for those injured in battle. It was at that time renamed the Valley Forge Army Hospital.

In 1951, the film Bright Victory was filmed at Valley Forge; the film's poster is seen here, courtesy of WikiCommons. It's the story of a World War II sergeant (Arthur Kennedy) who was blinded in combat and sent to the hospital to learn how to live with his disability; he finds love with a kind-hearted hospital volunteer (Peggy Dow) and makes friends with other blind veterans. It was filmed on location in the hospital and also throughout downtown Phoenixville, and even features a young up-and-coming Rock Hudson in a minor role.

In the late 1950s, a young man was hired to work at the hospital as a neuropsychiatric technician. That's a person who provides outpatient services to patients with various neurological disorders, which - given the setting - I imagine meant working quite a lot with soldiers who had PTSD. The young man in question was Gene Wilder, who later joined the cast of Saturday Night Live and is fondly remembered today for various Mel Brooks films and, of course, being Willy Wonka. I am not making this up. It's in his autobiography.

Valley Forge continued to be a significant contributor to medical science throughout the 1960s. It provided a supervised clinical training program in psychiatric nursing, offered a "Clinical Specialist" training program for military medics, and taught a course in managing medical inventory management. As the Korean War ended and the Vietnam Conflict began, they kept the doors open and continued providing special education programs into the early 1970s, including an intensive 21-week course for occupational therapy specialists.

The final feather in Valley Forge's cap came in early 1973 with the advent of Operation Homecoming - the release by the Vietnamese of 59 prisoners of war. Sixteen of those men, including the only military physician to be captured, were taken to Valley Forge for examination and treatment before being sent home. Later that same year, on April 17th, it was announced that Valley Forge had completed its mission, and after 31 years of dedicated service, it would be closing for good in 1974. Many of its records, including patient charts, X-rays, doctors' notes, and 35mm slides, were later donated to the historical archives at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

In 1976, the grounds of Valley Forge General Hospital were purchased and converted into Valley Forge Christian College. Today it's the University of Valley Forge, a private university affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA. Many of the hospital's buildings still remain, though, and so does the blue and gold marker that tells its story.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Bruno, Frank. "Valley Forge Army Hospital: 30 Years of Military Medical Care." The Micrograph, May 14, 2021.

McInerney, June. "Valley Forge Army Hospital Presentation." YouTube video published by the Phoenixville Public Library, June 6, 2022.

Wilder, Gene. Kiss me like a stranger: my search for love and art. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2005.

Official website of the University of Valley Forge

Valley Forge General Hospital at the Historical Marker Database 

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.