Document text
WHITE CITY — The Camp White Station Hospital Administration Building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. White City's first individually listed National Register property is the 154th in Jackson County. Local historian and author George Kramer was approached by the Department of Veterans Affairs to nominate Building 200 for listing and happily championed the cause. Building 200 is the single best remaining building representing the Camp White era, Kramer said. "It is certainly the best surviving part of the hospital itself." In 1939, with the Axis nations plundering Europe and Asia, the U.S. was inexorably headed into World War II. That year, the federal government commissioned a team of architects to design training bases that would be constructed around the country. Camp White was one of about 200 throughout the nation. Camp Adair, north of Corvallis, and Camp Abbott, now occupied by Sunriver in Central Oregon, were the other two facilities in Oregon. The architect assigned in late December 1941 to oversee modification of the training-camp template was Myron Hunt, better known for his work on the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Building 200 was constructed in 1942 to house hospital administration uses associated with the development of U.S. Army Camp George A. White. Camp White was decommissioned following World War II, and the two-story, brick-veneer, Colonial Revival structure was converted into an administration building for the Camp White Domiciliary in 1949. It presently is an administrative office for the 145-acre Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center & Clinics campus. Four criteria are used for inclusion on the National Register: Places associated with broad themes in our history; association with significant events or people; design and architecture; and archeological significance. Kramer suggested Camp White, considered a boot camp before soldiers headed off to combat, qualified under the broad themes and architectural categories. Oregon now has 12,000 entries on the register, from ships, locomotives and airplanes to houses and archeological sites. Few things have left as lasting of an impression in multiple ways as Camp White did on Jackson County. When it was fully operational, Camp White had close to 40,000 inhabitants and was more than three times the size of Medford, which then had 11,000 people, Kramer said. "To draw a present-day comparison, you'd need to build something three times the size of Eugene and plop it down 10 to 15 miles from downtown Medford — and build and populate it within a year," he said. National Registry listing allows the VA to continue its present mission, while honoring the past, Kramer said. As demand  grows, the deficiencies of the aging buildings have led to a major makeover. "A lot of the historic buildings that were built in 1942 have to be replaced," he said. "The VA has embarked on replacement, respecting history, grid, materials and design from then, but using modern systems." Camp White had 1,500 buildings, ranging from barracks to training and mess areas. Kramer said the hospital, when it was built, was four times larger than Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford. "Building 200 was at the center," he said. "And all the hallways led there." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31. null