On 2 November 1902 the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery bought 96.5acre of land that was owned by the city of Charleston, South Carolina adjoining the northwest side of the Navy Yard. Later transfers to the Navy Yard reduced the acreage to 43.14acre, the number of acres recorded in hospital records as of 1 November 1949.Early years: 1902-1922After establishment of the Navy Yard in 1902, the Medical Department activities occupied "hospital" tents near the site of the Marine Corps Post Exchange. In 1905 a Marine Sick Quarters was erected in the same place. During this period of time the Medical Officer of the Yard had an office in the Post Office building in Charleston, making a daily trip to the Yard by street car. In 1905, a room in one of the then existing buildings at the Yard was allotted for use as a Medical Dispensary.On 26 June 1906, Congress appropriated $12,000 for the building of a Yard Dispensary, but no bids from outside contractors were received on the plans and specifications for the building and it was not until December 1908 that a Yard Dispensary was completed by Yard labor. This wooden building was erected on brick piers near the center of the Navy Yard. Later a basement was constructed under this building which functioned as a dispensary and as a small hospital, with many of its patients in tents. Since its beginning the building had been repeatedly enlarged by additions. In 1917 the west wing was added.With the advent of World War I, this 28-bed dispensary, even with the addition of new buildings, was taxed beyond its capacity, and was entirely inadequate to meet the hospital needs for the Naval Base, and the increased personnel caused by the establishment of the training camp to the capacity of 5,000 men. Emergency facilities in the shape of tents, and temporary beds were established in connection with the Naval Dispensary until a total capacity was reached for 120 patients. This was a temporary expedient to meet the circumstances incident to a sudden influx of men without accommodations for the sick.
