The Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also known as the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, is a medical facility of the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

(VA) at 200 Springs Road in

Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,383 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information ...

. Its campus once consisted of about of land, which had by 2012 been reduced to . The hospital was opened in 1928 to treat neuropsychiatric patients, but now provides a wider array of medical services. Through the efforts of Congresswoman

Edith Nourse Rogers Edith Rogers (née Nourse; March 19, 1881 – September 10, 1960) was an American social welfare volunteer and politician who served in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Until 2012, ...

, the center was expanded to offer services to women in 1947; her role led to the center being renamed in her honor by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

. The focal point of the complex is its Main Building, a three-story brick Classical Revival building that was built in 1928, and is still used as a medical care facility. South of this is the Administration building, also built in 1928. West of that is the former Kitchen and Dining Hall of 1928, which now houses offices and storage space. To its west is the 1929 Acute Care Building, now known as the Nursing Home Care Unit. Other buildings of the complex are located primarily north and south of this grouping, and are smaller in scale. In 2012, 177 acres of the remaining campus were listed as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The district includes the main hospital buildings, as well as residential housing, utility and maintenance buildings, most of which were built no later than 1947, and some of which date to 1928, the earliest period of the facility's construction. It is an excellent example of an intact Period 2 neuropsychiatric VA hospital.

References

External links

*
Official VA website
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1928 Hospitals in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Bedford, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts 1928 establishments in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

See also

References

External links