In addition to Rome Air Depot, which became Griffiss Air Force Base, the other major military presence in Oneida County during World War II was Rhoads General Hospital on Burrstone Road in Utica.

In early November, 1942, site work and construction of the first of 180 buildings began by the John A. Johnson Construction Company of Brooklyn, New York. By July 1943 the hospital was ready to open and originally had 1750 beds. Two hundred wounded soldiers arrived on August 25. 1943 from Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island, New York. Some of those men had fought at the Salerno Beachhead in the invasion of Italy.

The hospital was designated for patients who needed convalescent care and rehabilitation. The hospital was an active Army post with all the usual operations in addition to its hospital mission. Patients arrived on special medical trains on the New York, Ontario and Western tracks which came into a siding in back of the hospital.

The medical facilities and equipment were considered the finest available at the time for the wounded, sick and injured patients. The aim of the treatment was to return soldiers to active duty.

The chaplains us provided counseling and religious services for Catholic, Protestant and Jewish patients. The chapel, which served all faiths, was a white—spired building with a cathedral type ceiling. It was the scene of many weddings. The chaplains also assisted with morale problems and helped with personal difficulties.

The Red Cross was a major player in the operation of the hospital. It had its own building, the only two story one on the grounds. A large contingent of Red Cross Gray Ladies were trained and then gave patients many auxiliary services such as visits, writing letters home, helping in the library and being present at social activities.

Sun rooms, adjacent to the wards, were furnished by local clubs and organizations; these gave patients a place to play games, read magazines and papers, listen to the radio and entertain family and friends. in this regard it was often noted how the people of Utica and the surrounding area gave such tremendous support and possessed such a generous attitude toward the patients and staff.

A large auditorium in the Red Cross building had a stage and projection booth. There was also a library and a reading room. There were movies twice a week for enlisted men and ambulatory patients. Local talent put on weekly shows and USO shows were performed twice a month. Thursday evening dances were held and Fridays often saw boxing and wrestling exhibitions.

Rhoads had its own publications: Cross Rhoads and The Mohawk Rhoadsman, the latter a monthly which published twenty two times. It had many pictures and articles on the staff and patients. A post radio station was also in operation.

Some celebrities visited or performed at Rhoads including Ida Lupino, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Alan Ladd, Anne Baxter and Eddie Cantor. (politicians such as Vice President Wallace, Senator Meade, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also toured the post to spread cheer).

The Army post had six heating units and nine miles of pipe to heat 180 buildings. All the buildings had sprinklers and fire hydrants were abundant on the grounds. A sixty man fire department protected the post from its own station with two pieces of equipment.

Normal departments included a post office, a telephone center to allow patients to call home, enlisted man and officer quarters. post theater, chapel, motor pool, civilian personnel office, laundry, bake shop, sewing shop, carpenter shop, cadet nurse quarters, quartermaster warehouse, nurses quarters, barracks, wards, Red Cross building, the post exchange with a barber shop and tailor shop, financial office and the post engineer. The post had civilian employees, WACs (Women’s Army Corps), medics, a cadet nurse corps, enlisted men, officers both medical and administrative, and Army nurses.

The only commanding officer Rhoads Hospital ever had from construction in 1942 to closing in July, 1946, was an Army career surgeon, Dr. Austin J. Canning. Born in Bethlehem, PA, He attended Muhlenberg College in Allentown and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1911. In November, 1942, he took command of Rhoads General Hospital, and, after it closed in July 1946, he went to the New York State Reconstruction Hospital in Haverstraw, New York.

Rhoads Hospital was named for Col.. Thomas Leidy Rhoads, a career Army surgeon. He too was a Pennsylvanian, being born in Boyertown in 1870. He received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1893. After the war he was posted to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and received the rank of full colonel in 1926. He retired in 1933 and died in 1940.

While described in the MOHAWK RHOADSMAN in December, 1945, as “one of the great orthopedic hospitals of the US Army” the end of World War II drastically altered the needs of the Army and the complex closed for good. The land and all the buildings were declared “war surplus” and eventually sold by the government. The former chapel was moved across Burrstone Road and was designated The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Several years later it was enlarged and given a brick exterior.

From 1942 to 1946 Rhoads Hospital made significant impact on patients, staff and the whole area. The economic impact was notable as the finance office disbursed $25,000,000 for salaries, products, food and supplies. The construction of the hospital cost $44,000,000 and the monthly payroll was $175,000.

Serving over 25,000 soldier patients, Rhoads Hospital was important to their recovery and to the war time economy of the area in World War II. Additionally, many Uticans were employed there and others served as volunteers. Finally, while most of the buildings are history, the land has been developed extensively some sixty years later.