October 1, 2015
October 1, 2015
File photo
Officials broke ground for the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, successor to DeWitt Army Community Hospital, in November 2007. FBCH began serving patients, with a transfer from DeWitt, Aug. 31, 2011.
June 1957 – August 2011
By Jennifer L. Brande Fort Belvoir Public Affairs Office Building 808, formerly known as DeWitt Army Community Hospital, opened in 1957 at a cost of $4.5 million dollars ($38,284.56 by 2015 numbers) and named after Brig. Gen. Wallace DeWitt Sr., a World War I and II surgeon. It was the second of nine hospitals planned by the Army during the building program after the Korean War. DeWitt was a 46-bed, Joint Commission-accredited facility and the only military inpatient facility in Northern Virginia. It was the center of the DeWitt Health Care Network, which featured the Andrew Rader Army Health Clinic at Fort Myer; Fort A.P. Hill; and the Family Health Centers of Woodbridge and Fairfax in Virginia. Due to Base Realignment and Closure of 2005, DeWitt
Belvoir Eagle
Belvoir Eagle
DeWitt Army Community Hospital took on the responsibility of accepting half of the soonto-be-closed Walter Reed Army Medical Center medical services along with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. DeWitt Hospital and its facilities were just not big enough to handle its new mission so the decision was made to create the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and close DeWitt. Building 808 now stands as a hollow shell, devoid of ceilings and walls as seen in the pictures. Since it became vacant, DeWitt has also been used as a tactical training site. Walls and windows have been broken and partially demolished to allow open air to enter and to allow equipment to be lifted into the building. The U.S. Army Center of Military History may remove certain items from the building for historic preservation.
Photos by Jennifer L. Brande
Some windows of DeWitt Army Community Hospital have already been removed as part of the building’s demolition. The hospital opened in June 1957 and closed in August 2011.
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Tom Pierce of Neuber Demolition looks over some of what remains inside DeWitt Army Community Hospital, ahead of complete demolition.
A view from above of the grassy field in front of DeWitt hospital’s main entrance.
DeWitt’s main entrance.
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