Of Late, a Bit More Stork Than Answer Man

Garfield Hospital, circa 1930. The hospital eventually merged with two other hospitals to become what is now the Washington Hospital Center. (By Jack Martin -- Washington Times-herald)
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Your children -- and the future Answer Men of Washington -- will thank you.

Here we go: The National Homeopathic Hospital opened in 1884. It was at Second and N streets NW. In the early 1950s, it changed its name to the Hahnemann Memorial Hospital in honor of Samuel Hahnemann, the father of modern homeopathy (if such a thing can be said to exist).

In 1956, the hospital's board announced that it would merge with Sibley, but Answer Man could find no evidence that Sibley's North Capitol Street location was ever called Hahnemann. If you were born at Hahnemann -- or the National Homeopathic Hospital -- you were probably born at Second and N NW.

Garfield Hospital was built on Florida Avenue NW between 10th and 11th streets as a living memorial to President James Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881. It eventually grew into a sprawling hodgepodge of buildings. In 1958, Garfield, along with Emergency Hospital and the Episcopal Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, picked up and moved to land near the Old Soldiers Home. The merger of the three hospitals became Washington Hospital Center.

Answer Man regrets to say that your father was probably fibbing. Garfield did not burn down. The buildings were used to train police dogs for a while, then torn down in the 1960s to make way for senior housing.

We recently moved from Maryland to North Carolina. While returning on a visit, I read your article on Sibley Hospital. Talk about memories! I was born there on July 25th, 1943, and returned there in 1948 to have my tonsils removed. For some reason my mother, now deceased, saved the bill from my birth, which I am enclosing. I thought you'd get a kick out of the amount. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

-- John Tomasulo, Indian Trail, N.C.

The bill that John included showed that a week's stay at the hospital for his mother, Rosaria Tomasulo of Ninth Street NW, was $42. That would barely cover delivery of a few pizzas today, let alone an entire child.

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