Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Naval Convalescent Hospital, Sprada
(Sprada General Hospital)
US Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles
District History (4 September 1992)
The U.S. Army reportedly took occupancy
of this approximately 446-acre site in December 1941. Several
organizations of the Army occupied this property, and there is
evidence of a lease between the State of California and the Army
dated 1 March 1943. The Navy apparently took over the Army's
lease in 1944.
In December 1941, this site was the location
of the California State Narcotic Hospital, which had been closed
since 30 June 1941. The Army reportedly used the site as a hospital
for rheumatic fever cases and the Navy used it as a convalescent
hospital annex. In addition to using certain state buildings
(administration-treatment building, wards, and mess hall), the
Army apparently constructed a 1000-bed "Theater-of-Operations"
type hospital at this location. According to a letter prepared
by the State of California, Department of Mental Hygiene, dated
8 May 1950, the improvements made during Army and Navy's occupancy
included a number of barrack-type buildings, a laundry, a complete
sewage disposal system, roads, and other works.
According to the above-mentioned letter, the Navy's lease terminated
in 1946, at which point the Mt. San Antonio Community College
District moved onto the property in accordance with a lease
from the State. Mt. San Antonio Community College District later
purchased the property and is the current owner. The property
(446 acres) is currently the site of a junior college. No evidence
of
the former aboveground military facilities remains, and belowground
structures (i.e., the sewage system) were reportedly removed
in 1988.
.
US Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles
District History (20 May 1992)
Location:
The site is located in Walnut, California, 23 miles east of Los
Angeles and 1 mile south of Interstate 10 (between Valley Boulevard
and Grand Avenue). The address of the dministration
building for the junior college which currently occupies the
site is 1100 North Grand Avenue.
Site History: The State of California owned the subject
property from approximately 1920 to 1946, and used the site as
follows: operated a state institution for the mentally deficient
(Pacific
Colony) from March 1921 to January 1923, subsequently leased
the site to a private institution of similar nature (Pacific
Lodge) until 1928, and operated the State Narcotic Hospital from
1928 to
1941. In December 1941, the U.S. Army took possession of the
site, and if not then, had obtained a lease for the property
by March 1943. The Army used the site as a hospital for rheumatic
fever
cases. The Navy took over the Army's lease and used the site
as a convalescent hospital annex. The Navy's lease terminated
in 1946 at which time the Mt. San Antonio Community College District
leased the property. In 1948, the District purchased the site
from the State and currently operates a junior coll~ge at this
location.
The Army, and later the Navy, apparently made several improvements
to the property during its occupancy: a number of barrack-type
buildings, a laundry, a complete sewage disposal system, roads,
and other works. According to Dr. J.A. Albanese, Vice President
of Business Services for Mt. San Antonio Community College, no
Army or Navy improvements remain today; he specifically recalls
that the barrack-type buildings were removed in the mid-1950s
and the old sewage system was removed in 1988. No evidence of
former Army and Navy facilities was observed during the site
1991
survey.
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