Construction of the still surviving Post-Hospital building began in 1911 when other major buildings on the Fort were getting makeovers. This 16,000 square-foot hospital was built to standards of the Surgeon General’s recommendations for a regiment post for the time. It included two patient ward wings, capable of holding 30 patients each. The plans were to build a rear ward for hospital corps privates and non-commissioned officers, but this was never funded.
The hospital treated a wide variety of diseases and injuries over the years including a large breakout of Spanish influenza in 1918. An outbreak of polio in children at the Fort was treated from 1934 to 1935. The building sustained damage during a fire in 1941, but was repaired a few years later and was used as the main hospital for the Alien Detention Camp.
The hospital was deactivated in 1947, and sat empty until 1962. Today it serves as the administration and accounting offices for the Western Montana Mental Health Center and provides numerous programs related to mental health and addiction services.
