Post Hospital Annex

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's what Duane's got for you on this one. Out here at Fort Brown, there's a building that's been a few different things in its time, and every one of those things mattered. It's called the Post Hospital Annex, though you might also hear it called the Medical Laboratory, and both names fit, depending on which chapter of its life you're talking about.

The building was completed in 1869, right in the middle of the rebuilding of Fort Brown, and the man who oversaw that work was Captain William Alonzo Wainwright. Now, somebody who takes the trouble to put up a finely crafted, classically influenced building in the middle of a military rebuilding effort, well, that tells you something about the kind of care that went into it. This wasn't a rough-hewn, get-it-done-and-move-on structure.

It was built with intention. Its original purpose was to house the personnel assigned to work in the nearby Post Hospital, so the people keeping soldiers healthy had a proper place to lay their heads. But the building didn't stop there.

Over time it served as a medical laboratory, then for storage purposes, and then as a dispensary. Three different callings, one sturdy structure. Captain Wainwright built something in 1869 that apparently refused to stop being useful, and Fort Brown is better for it.

What the marker says

Completed in 1869 during the rebuilding of Fort Brown by Captain William Alonzo Wainwright, the Post Hospital Annex (also known as the Medical Laboratory), was constructed to house personnel assigned to work in the nearby Post Hospital. A finely crafted, classically influenced building, it subsequently was used as a medical laboratory, for storage purposes, and as a dispensary.