Historic California
Posts, Camps Stations and Airfields:
Naval Convalescent
Hospital, Beaumont
(Cherry Valley
Hospital, Beaumont General Hospital)
Sailors
raising a flagpole at the Naval Convalescent Hospital, Beaumont
US Army Corps
of Engineers History
The site is located 4
miles to the north of the City of Beaumont, in Riverside County,
California. The site is bounded by Nancy Avenue to the west,
Mountain View Avenue to the east, San Bernardino National Forest
Boundary to the north, and Orchard Street to the south.
On 10 April 1942, the War Department acquired
240.77 acres, through leasehold and license. 240.756 acres were
acquired by lease from five different owners by a directive dated
10 April 1942. An additional 0.014 acre parcel was acquired by
donation and license on 28 August 1943. The site was acquired
for use as a hospital.
The former Cherry Valley Hospital, also
known as the Beaumont General Hospital, was used by the Army
for a 1,000 bed hospital site in support of operations in the
California-Arizona Maneuver Area. Structures known to have been
built on the site between 1942 and 1943 included the hospital
building and a water pipeline. It consisted of 90 buildings,
of which 34 were wards and the remainder administrative and support
spaces and quarters.
On 26 May 1944, the entire installation
was declared surplus by the Army. On 1 July 1944, 4.46 acres
(one of the five leases) was transferred to the Department of
Navy for use as a Naval Convalescent Hospital, Beaumont. On 15
August 1944, 236.296 acres (the four remaining leases) were transferred
to the Department of Navy. On 1 June 1945, the 0.014 acre parcel
acquired by license was transferred to the Department of Navy.
The Navy occupied the site for approximately one year. The official
hospital report noted that “they were “Army huttments”,
wooden frame buildings with single faced bulkheads, wooden floors
without covering, and unsealed. The roofs leaked occasionally,
and patients had to walk a long way to mess.” The hospital
cared only for “enlisted men who were general medical and
surgical convalescents, and neuropsychiatric patients who were
awaiting discharge.” The site was sold in 1948 to private
individuals through GSA by a Director's Deed. At present, the
site consists of both developed and undeveloped residential properties.
The land has been subdivided into several parcels and is owned
by private individual landowners.
Source US Army Corps of Engineers,
Los Angeles District
History
by the Society for the History of Navy
Medicine
This hospital, similarly taken over from
Army ownership, opened the same day as the hospital at Banning.
It consisted of 90 buildings, of which 34 were wards and the
remainder administrative and support spaces and quarters. The
official hospital report noted that “they were “Army
huttments”, wooden frame buildings with single faced bulkheads,
wooden floors without covering, and unsealed. The roofs leaked
occasionally, and patients had to walk a long way to mess.”
The hospital cared only for “enlisted men who were general
medical and surgical convalescents, and neuropsychiatric patients
who were awaiting discharge.” Decommissioned 31 December
1945, the hospital was completely dismantled by July 1946. One
of its buildings now serves as a local hardware store.
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