U.S. Marine Hospital

This is the United States Marine Hospital, built between eighteen forty-five and eighteen fifty-two in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville. It rose at the height of steamboat and river commerce, after Congress authorized seven inland marine hospitals for the benefit of sick seamen, boatmen, and navigators on the western rivers and lakes.

It was designed by Robert Mills, one of the first American born professionally trained architects, in a Greek Revival style. His design is said to have served as a model for others in the system, and construction was supervised by Major Stephen Long, the army explorer. Of all those inland hospitals, this is the only one still standing, having survived two tornadoes. It is regarded as one of the best surviving antebellum hospitals in the country, and it was named a National Historic Landmark in nineteen ninety-seven.