The Mower U.S. Army General Hospital was one of the largest Federal military hospitals during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Located in the Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...

 section of Philadelphia, it operated from January 1863 through May 1865, when it was closed with the cessation of the war.

The hospital complex was designed by noted architect John McArthur, Jr.

John McArthur, Jr.

John McArthur Jr was a prominent American architect practicing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designer of some of the city's most ambitious buildings of the Civil War era, few of his works survive...

, who also designed the Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...

. It was named in honor of Thomas Mower, an early Army surgeon. The hospital was constructed on 27 acres (109,265.2 m²) between Willow Grove and Springfield Avenues, the Reading Railroad line and Stenton Avenue. The central compound was surrounded by a ring of 47 radiating wards and other buildings. Commanded by Dr. Andrew Hopkins, it had some 3,600 beds and treated over 20,000 patients, the majority being wounded and ill Union

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 soldiers from the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

. The hospital featured many amenities for the patients and staff, including plumbing to provide hot water, special medical wards that could be isolated for patients with infections, centralized storage for supplies, flush toilets, band music, etc.
The wounded were brought directly from Southern battlefields by railroad—a journey known as going from the seven circles of hell to heaven.

Wyndmoor Station

Wyndmoor (SEPTA station)

Wyndmoor Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 256 East Willow Grove Avenue at Wyndmoor Street, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The present station building was built by the Reading Company in 1930, when the line was elevated....

, Market Square Shopping Center, apartment buildings and townhouses now occupy the site.