Fort Crawford Military Hospital
Also known as: Museum of Medical ProgressRice Street and South Beaumont Rd., Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Photos
Overview Looking Southwest
The hospital was a part of the second Fort Crawford. The first Fort Crawford, about a mile and a half north of here (see "Villa Louis") was the site of the first definitive work on the human digestive process. There, Dr. William Beaumont performed experiments with a voyageur named Alexis St. Martin. St. Martin had a bullet wound in his side that never healed, and Dr. Beaumont was able to insert a tube into St. Martin's stomach through a flap that never healed. St. Martin wasn't always so happy about the way he was treated, he even left for awhile but returned so Dr. Beaumont could continue his work.
This hospital, a recreation of the original structure, is located on Beaumont Street in Prairie du Chien.
Photo taken by J.R. Manning May 2012
Enlarge
Map
Coordinates:
+43.04357, -91.1469843°02'37" N, 91°08'49" W
Quadrangle map:Prairie du Chien
Description
The only remaining building of the fort which was the center of Federal authority in the Old Northwest, this structure is a reconstruction of the post hospital originally built c. 1835. -- National Historic Landmark statement of significance, October 9, 1960
National Register information
- Status
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966
- Reference number
- 66000121
- Area of significance
- Health/Medicine
- Level of significance
- National
- Evaluation criteria
- A - Event
- Property type
- Site
- Historic functions
- Hospital; Research facility
- Period of significance
- 1825-1849
- Significant years
- 1829; 1833
- Number of properties
- Contributing buildings: 1
Contributing sites: 1
Non-contributing buildings: 2
Update Log
- May 6, 2012: New photos from J.R. Manning