Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center

The Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a hospital facility on 105 acres with multiple buildings in Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival styles. The complex includes residential halls, medical service buildings, and agricultural areas organized as a unified campus layout.

The facility opened in 1924 as Massachusetts first veterans hospital and focused on neuropsychiatric care for World War I soldiers. The complex was built in phases from the early 1920s through the mid-1940s.

The grounds show workshop and work areas that once helped returning soldiers rebuild their lives through daily tasks and skills. These spaces reflect how healing through occupation and craft was understood at the time.

The campus sits on open grounds that are easy to walk around, though the layout spans a large area. Start from the main entrance and move toward the southern sections to see the full range of buildings without backtracking.

The campus preserves a nearly complete collection of buildings from the earliest period of psychiatric hospitals built specifically for veterans, which is rare to find today. This preservation reveals how these facilities actually operated when first opened.