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This row of buildings housed the original hospital, at the extreme left, and at various times the Quartermaster and Commissary offices, the materials issue rooms, individual officers' quarters, and laundresses' quarters.  An 1867 photo shows these buildings in good conditions, while this image shows the Fort as it often was: in drastic need of repair.  The large trees, not present in the 1867 photo, date this to at least the late 1870s or early 1880s.  Note the figure on the left, apparently a hospital patient in his white "Long-handles," who has stepped into the doorway for the photograph.  The last ground plan made while the Fort was active shows this entire row as "Laundresses," who were often wives of enlisted men living on the post with their husbands.

April 2000

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