United States Marine Hospital (Pittsburgh)

Although funds raised from the 1875 sale were supposed to be used to erect a new hospital, this did not happen in a timely manner. Mercy Hospital was contracted to provide hospital services to rivermen in the interim. By the 1890s, rivermen were actively lobbying for the construction of a new Marine Hospital.[7]

Funding for the second hospital was approved by Congress on March 31, 1902.[8] It was built on five acres that were part of land previously occupied by the Allegheny Arsenal. The land was transferred in 1904 and the building constructed during 1908–1909. It is a brick Classical Revival building 9 bays wide and 3.5 stories high.[9]

In 1915, the Pittsburgh Marine Hospital became the first home of the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation, which would eventually become the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.[10] Laboratories for chemistry, physiology, and bacteriology were constructed on the building's second floor, and a physical laboratory on the ground floor, all in the northwest wing of the building.[11][12] It was the first laboratory for scientific investigation of occupational health in the United States.[13] Its location was in proximity to the recently established Bruceton Research Center of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, enhancing cooperation on miners' health.[14][15] In 1918, the Office relocated to Washington, D.C.[10]

By 1921, the complex had five buildings.[16] John McGraw, later a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, served a junior internship at the hospital during 1933–1934.[17]

The former hospital in 2019

The Marine Hospital ceased operating in 1949.[1][18] In 1950, it was leased to the City of Pittsburgh, and in 1956 ownership was transferred outright. It became known as the Arsenal Health Center.[19][20] In the 1950s the facility was the site of a research nursery school directed by Benjamin Spock.[21][22]

It eventually became home to the Allegheny County Health Department's headquarters.[9][23] In 1979, it was renamed the Frank B. Clack Health Center. Clack had been Director of the Allegheny County Health Department during 1970–1979.[24]

In 2004, the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh named the building one of the area's top ten historic preservation opportunities in the area. At the time, the former hospital was part of a seven-building complex with a green lawn and garden-like setting.[23]

In 2018, the Allegheny County Health Department used money from its Clean Air Fund to renovate the former hospital building for a new air quality program headquarters.[25][26][27][28] In 2019, it became a contributing property to the newly created Lawrenceville Historic District.[9][29]