From Girls’ School to Army Hospital: Retired U.S. Army Col. Donald E. Hall, Ph.D. Explores the Legacy of the Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex

Photo By Matthew Breitbart | Painting by Jack McMillen (b. 191 0) Water-based paint on canvas United States, 1944 During World War II, military patients were sent to the Forest Glen Annex of Walter Reed General Hospital for occupational therapy and physical therapy. Located across Linden Lane from the current location of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the former girls' school had been purchased by the Army in 1942 to provide additional space for the hospital's activities. This painting depicts the eclectic architecture of the old Seminary while showing uniformed medical personnel and maroon-suited patients enjoying a concert by the 304th Army Service Forces Band. McMillen painted government-sponsored murals during the Great Depression for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). When the war began in 1941, many of the WPA's responsibilities were transferred to the military, leading to the commission of this painting. The painting hung at Forest Glen until 1994, when it was transferred to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Restoration of the painting was done at the request of the Textbook of Military Medicine Project, Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, for use as a frontispiece of Military Psychiatry: Preparing in Peace for War, published in April 2000. 1994.0038 Disclosure: This image has been cropped to emphasize the subject. (National Museum of Health and Medicine photo/ Released)  

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES

08.03.2025

Story by Kenya Baylor 

National Museum of Health and Medicine

SILVER SPRING, Md. — In the lobby of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, visitors see a bold, colorful painting by World War II Works Progress Administration artist Jack McMillen. Once displayed at the Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex, it now hangs in the museum as a tribute to the site’s history.

That history came to life on Aug. 3, 2025. More than 50 guests attended the museum’s August Lecture Series event, From Girl’s School to Army Hospital. The program was presented by retired U.S. Army Col. Donald E. Hall, Ph.D. Hall, a military historian and longtime board member of Save Our Seminary.

Hall described how the National Seminary — once a private school for young women — became the Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex Army Hospital during World War II.

By 1942, as the Army prepared to care for wounded service members, leaders searched for civilian sites they could turn into hospitals. The seminary campus, located just outside Washington, D.C., was chosen for medical care.

The Army added new wiring, kitchens, bathrooms, nurses’ quarters, and training spaces. With these upgrades, the annex could hold more than 1,100 patients and staff. Soldiers practiced walking, driving, and climbing stairs with prosthetics on the campus’s paths and open grounds.

For Hall, the story of the Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex is about more than buildings or military history. “It’s about … education and community. This place evolved in ways nobody expected.”

The lecture gave visitors a look at a lesser-known chapter of military medical history — one still visible today through preserved buildings and community work to honor the seminary’s legacy.

To learn more about upcoming lectures and NMHM’s mission to preserve and share medical history, visit http://www.medicalmuseum.health.mil.

• Date Taken: 08.03.2025
• Date Posted: 08.20.2025 11:19
• Story ID: 546039
• Location: SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND, US