NSGL Building 200H, Naval Hospital to be demolished

[Eclipse]

I'm guessing more then a few of you have spent some minutes or hours here.

http://www.lakecountyjournal.com/2013/01/10/demolition-of-200h-68h-now-underway/a6pf7ld/
Bldg. 200H was completed as an 800-bed hospital in 1960 with 32 patients per ward. During the height of the Vietnam War, from 1969 to 1975, there were over 1,000 patients being treated at the facility.



Kids, this is >not< instagram, this is what actual vintage photos look like.

http://www.militaryblood.dod.mil/greatlakes/history.aspx

From the RFP:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This project will demolish a Naval Health Clinic at Naval Station Great Lakes, Great Lakes, IL. This project will involve demolishing approximately 13 floors, plus basement and 2-upper mechanical rooms that equal to approximately 515,560 sq ft. Demolition will also include out buildings that are part of the hospital complex as well as Underground Fuel Tanks; three Concrete Tunnels; and adjacent equipment yards and enclosures.

Another fixture on base to go, with the services having been transitioned over to Lovell about 2 years ago.
I knew it was ramping down, but didn't realize it was vacant. They ought to film something in there
before it goes.

[Devil Doc]

I remember this place!! I went to Corps School in 2006. This is were the chow hall was in the basement, the hospital was oooolllldddd. They also tore down the Naval Hospital Corps School, looks like the base is going to be decommisioned soon.

[SarDragon]

Oh, I don't think te base will be closing any time soon. Remember, that's the only boot camp for the Navy now.

They are just tearing down the olde, essentially worn out buildings. They have torn down all the olde RTC buildings from when I went to boot camp there, and replaced them with modern stuff. It's interesting to look at RTC on Google Earth through the older overlays.

[Devil Doc]

Yes, i know RTC is there, all the schools are across the street though. They definatly need to tear down that old stuff, i lived in the new barracks in RTC. We did spend a few nights in the old ones, it was like WW2 style, lol.

[Eclipse]

^ Yes, they are at the tail end of a recapitalization program.  The RTC is essentially brand new from end-to-end, and
the NTC has had extensive work, and lots of demolition of unused and empty buildings.

In this case, the "old" VA hospital has had extensive expansion and is now called the Lovell Federal Health Center.
Everything from the old base hospital is now done there. The place is huge.

I teach motorcycle training on base, the range has been traditionally over at MEPS off 137, and about 3 years ago we put in a new range
at the VA, with the classroom being in one of the historic old hospital buildings. CREEPY.  The one we were in was some kind of child care
center and outpatient treatment facility.  Like they just picked up and left one day (which they probably did.  We lost the MEPS range this
year (though we've still got the VA and one up at Fort Sheridan, which I really like).

The Google earth high-level shots of the RTC and NTC are several years old and show buildings that are long gone (and don't show the
new museum on the NTC, or the F14 and submarine sail on the RTC).  However the Bird's eye view on Bing maps shows fairly recent
photos of the redone RTC, where the encampment is held each spring.  At this point we've occupied all but one of the new "ships".

Yes, i know RTC is there, all the schools are across the street though. They definatly need to tear down that old stuff, i lived in the new barracks in RTC. We did spend a few nights in the old ones, it was like WW2 style, lol.

You're dating yourself pretty close - that would mean you were here no earlier than 2003, and no later then about 2010? I think the last of the old ships was knocked down that year.

[Devil Doc]

I bet I will not notice the place anymore. The one thing i remember at NTC was the old buildings that had the cannons in front of them. We walked around the back side of base one weekend, we found a fishing pier. We also found some of these old buildings near the water, officers quarters? It was like time froze sometimes when we found these old buidlings.

[Eclipse]

I bet I will not notice the place anymore. The one thing i remember at NTC was the old buildings that had the cannons in front of them. We walked around the back side of base one weekend, we found a fishing pier. We also found some of these old buildings near the water, officers quarters? It was like time froze sometimes when we found these old buildings.

The NTC has not changed very much, the officer's quarters and the clock tower are all there - a small amount of base housing was knocked down just to the right of the above photo about 8 years ago, and that's all grass field now (behind the bowling alley and reserve center).

The large parade grounds in front of the clock tower (and commander's offices, which are absolutely beautiful on the outside and in the halls, but
pretty utilitarian inside, are likely the same, as is the gym, and the offices to the North of the parade area.  The vintage buildings in the front as you drive in the main gate have all been restored and a large ceremonial area was created right in the middle.

All the cannons are still in place, as are the various deck guns and other accouterments from various ships and periods.

The marina is still operational and busy, and was redone last year, and there's been a lot of work done to shore up the...shore, because
some of the buildings along the hills were literally at risk of coming down. 

The camping area is awesome, we've done training there right on the lake (private beach that runs the length of the base.
I've seen some foggy sunsets  where the lake was so still you could not tell where the horizon started.  On a clear day you can see
Chicago's skyline to the South and Milwaukee to the North.

Most of the stuff on the Northernmost end is fairly unchanged, with the exception of the large former office building / enlisted residence
just West of the BOQ.  CAP, the Sea Cadets, and the Army Corps, among other residents were there for years, it was a huge building with
some really cool steam tunnels.  Its still on Google but has been gone from the base for a couple of years.

We got moved to Building 158 with the Army Corps and LRADO, in a historic building right off of Sheridan, just West of where the Band
practices and basically next door to the bowling alley.  You can see the CAP van and the ICP trailer on Google, diagonally NW of the replica
of McCain's A4 (which is also no longer there, having been moved to the new museum, our building is the old museum).

[Devil Doc]

Nice, i would rememeber walking from the hospital side, to the NEX, when it was snowing. That darn wind will cut through ya. I have picture of the clock tower somewhere, beautiful in the fall. You know alot about NTC. It was fun while i was there, we went to the bowling alley often, walked to main side sometimes to eat in the chow halls they were better than ours. There was a Pool Hall/Club/Bar, man that place was packed!!!

[Eclipse]

Nice, i would rememeber walking from the hospital side, to the NEX, when it was snowing. That darn wind will cut through ya. I have picture of the clock tower somewhere, beautiful in the fall. You know alot about NTC. It was fun while i was there, we went to the bowling alley often, walked to main side sometimes to eat in the chow halls they were better than ours. There was a Pool Hall/Club/Bar, man that place was packed!!!

The NEX has been significantly remodeled inside, with a big technology center where the Navy affinity stuff used to be - a lot of that has been moved over to the commissary.  The pol hall is still there and was redone recently, too.  The bowling alley makes a mean calzone, but now that you mention it I've never been in the pool hall.

I've spent a lot of time there - My Group HQ and CAP-USAF are there, and I ran an encampment on the RTC for 8 years, involved for 12.  Oddly enough, considering that it's a Navy base, it's really my CAP "home".  And the Navy has been generous to a fault with us.

[Devil Doc]

Thats good the NAVY takes care of its peeps. You are clearing the cobwebbs out of my mind right now.

[icudoc]

  i was stationed there 1981-82, ward 4 east, then ICU(2 NORTH) sad to see it go, would love to tour the place.

[Private Investigator]

i was stationed there 1981-82, ward 4 east, then ICU(2 NORTH) sad to see it go, would love to tour the place.

Roger that and welcome aboard CT.

[Rick-DEL]

My wife did her US Navy Corpsman school there. She was kind of bummed to hear the news.

[DocKibbey]

I went to Corps School back in 2001, I remember walking into the clinic to pick up some medical records and looking up at the TV and seeing the first plane hitting the Twin Towers and thinking it was a new movie trailer; and then I saw the second plane hit and [mess] hitting the fan.  I also spent some time in the pool room and bowling alley.  Although most of my time was spent on the climbing wall on the main side in the gym near the Parade field; was awesome time.  Also remember getting in trouble in Corps school when I put my fist through the small reinforced window on the second deck of the school going down to the area where the color guard gathered to retrieve and post the colors, ah the stupidity of youth.

[DocKibbey]

Alas, I also understand the FMSS school moved from Camp Pendelton where I attended to San Antonio, TX on Ft. Sam Houston.  A shame to see that it moved, had a great time when I was stationed in Cali for FMF training and another school in Coronado, CA. 

[PHall]

Alas, I also understand the FMSS school moved from Camp Pendelton where I attended to San Antonio, TX on Ft. Sam Houston.  A shame to see that it moved, had a great time when I was stationed in Cali for FMF training and another school in Coronado, CA.

DoD has consolodated most medical training at Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio.
Mostly because you have two of the biggest military hospitals there. Brooks AMC and Wilford Hall AFMC.

[icudoc]

   Ft.  sam houston may have two large military hospitals, but remember 2 facts, the PRESIDENT GOES TO A US NAVY MEDICAL CENTER, AND US NAVY CORPSMAN ARE THE ONLY ENLISTED " CORPS" IN THE US MILITARY. GO NAVY!!!!