Hart–Dole–Inouye Federal Center

[3] In 1866, the Seventh-day Adventists established the Western Health Reform Institute on eight acres of land, the former residence of Benjamin Graves, a judge of the Michigan Superior Court.H. S. Lay, the first physician in charge, and James and Ellen White, early founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were instrumental in founding this health institution.[3] In 1876, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, medical director, renamed the property and expanded the facility to include a hospital, central building, and other cottages.[3] A large building by architect Frank Mills Andrews opened in 1903 at a cost of $1 million and was considered a marvel of modern planning and medical technology.[3] With the outbreak of World War II, local builder Floyd Skidmore proposed that the near-vacant sanitarium be converted into a military hospital.[5] Upon this recommendation, in August 1942, the United States Army bought the buildings for $2.25 million and FJ Skidmore & Son rebuilt the derelict structure in six months (working around the clock), enlarging the capacity of the hospital from 1,000 beds to 1,500, and constructing rails and ramps throughout the facility.The new hospital was named after Colonel Percy L. Jones, US Army, a pioneering military surgeon who developed modern battlefield ambulance evacuation.The Percy Jones Institute was an accredited high school, with dozens of educational and training programs for patients ranging from photography to business to agriculture.[10] At the height of the war, more than two thousand people visited the hospital on a daily basis, including celebrities such as Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, Ed Sullivan, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers.Percy Jones specialized as an Army center for neurosurgery, amputations and handicapped rehabilitation, deep x-ray therapy and plastic artificial eyes.Battle Creek was the first city in America to install wheelchair ramps in its sidewalks, to accommodate the Percy Jones patients when they visited downtown.The civil defense operations at the facility included coordinating government and private technical services, volunteer and shelter deployment, public education, and emergency communications.