• Crile General Hospital was built as a temporary facility, one of 60 general hospitals built by the U.S. Army during WW II (it would see three decades of "temporary" use from 1944-1974). 

• Crile General Hospital went through three "lives"-- first as Crile General Hospital in 1944, then as Crile VA Hospital in 1946, and finally as the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College beginning in 1966.

• The first patient to be treated at Crile General Hospital was Richard Currier, a wounded ex-POW, who arrived in March, 1944.

Left: First Crile patient & WW II veteran Richard Currier; Right: The on-campus street named in his honor.

• Crile General Hospital eventually aided some 20,000 patients with its 2000 bed capacity. 

• Crile General Hospital covered 150 acres of ground with seven miles of corridors.

• Crile General Hospital housed 300 German prisoners during WW II, one of whom was killed in an escape attempt.

• During the Cold War the facility supported a Nike missile base.

Left: Nike Ajax missile; Right: Tri-C officials inspect empty missile bunker, 1971.