Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Hospital and National Treasure in Hot Springs, United States
Battle Mountain Sanitarium is a former veterans' sanitarium on a 68-acre bluff above the Fall River in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Thomas Rogers Kimball designed its buildings in locally quarried pink sandstone, mixing Mission Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque; George Kessler laid out the grounds. The main building has a circular center with spoke-like wings radiating outward.
Congress authorized the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers branch in 1902, and it opened to patients in 1907. A local spring operator supplied mineral water for treating musculo-skeletal conditions and tuberculosis. In 1930 the facility passed to the Veterans Administration and became a general medical center; some tuberculosis wards were later demolished.
The campus was laid out by landscape architect George Kessler of Kansas City, and its pink sandstone buildings by Omaha architect Thomas Rogers Kimball. Local spring operators agreed to supply water from their springs for bathing and drinking treatments, which is why the facility sits where it does. The main building's circular core with spoke-like wings can still be traced on the bluff above the Fall River.
The campus occupies 68 acres on a bluff above the Fall River, northeast of downtown Hot Springs. It remains an active VA medical center, so public access is limited to certain areas. The grounds were laid out by landscape architect George Kessler.
Battle Mountain Sanitarium was the only NHDVS branch built strictly as a medical facility, with no residential component beyond treatment. Congress authorized it in 1902 and the first patients arrived in 1907. Its main building has a circular central structure with spoke-like wings radiating outward, a layout a visitor can trace from the bluff above the Fall River.
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