The History of CFM, Part 2: Establishing the Office, Setting the Standard, and Constructing VA’s Hospital Network, 1920s – 1940s

This is Part 2 of a 6-part short history of the Office of Construction and Facilities Management. This short history is also the first in a series of histories covering VA Central Office directorates. Click here to read Part 1.

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The creation of the Veterans Bureau in 1921 did not immediately solve the failings of its predecessor organizations, and the bureau’s critics quickly laid blame on its first director, Charles R. Forbes. Though Forbes resigned in early 1923 amid a scandal surrounding his actions as director, he had a positive impact on the Veteran’s Bureau’s construction efforts during his short tenure. In the hearings for the second Langley bill in 1922, Forbes successfully petitioned Congress to give the bureau authority over the hospital construction.^[1] After Forbes resigned, President Harding appointed Frank T. Hines as director, and Hines quickly began to investigate ways to streamline operations within the bureau.^[2] One of his target areas was hospital construction, which was still complicated by the involvement of external Federal departments. On June 30, 1923, Hines created the Maintenance and Operation Division, which was subsequently renamed the Construction Division in mid-November.^[3] With the creation of this division, the bureau was finally responsible for both building and maintaining the facilities that were required to meet the medical needs of Veterans.

Hines selected Louis H. Tripp, who previously served in design positions with the Office of the Supervising Architect and the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army, to lead the newly-formed Construction Division.^[4] Taking over the role of the earlier, upkeep-oriented offices within the bureau, the Construction Division was tasked with overseeing maintenance of the buildings, grounds, and utilities at Veterans’ Bureau facilities, while also managing construction work. Its construction-related responsibilities included, “preparation of plans, specifications and estimates covering construction, alteration and repair of plant[s] and equipment, and … supervision of such work.”^[5] Though the Construction Division created the architectural and engineering plans and managed the projects, private contractors were typically hired to complete construction work.^[6] Through the 1920s, the Construction Division worked to establish standardized practices for building facilities and operating utilities, which allowed the bureau to both provide better services for Veterans and cut costs. As part of the standardization process, the bureau also developed three specialized hospital types during this period – neuropsychiatric, tuberculosis, and general medical – and there was more uniformity in the architectural styles applied to the standard plans, with Colonial Revival and Classical Revival being most popular.

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed Executive Order 5398, merging the Veterans Bureau with the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Bureau of Pensions to form the Veterans Administration.^[7] The consolidation officially took effect at the start of the following fiscal year, on July 1, 1931, and Veterans Bureau Director Frank Hines was selected as the first Administrator.^[8] The components of each of the three predecessor agencies were reorganized to fit within the newly established administration. The Construction Division became the Construction Service, which was located within the Office of Assistant Administrator in Charge of Medical and Domiciliary Care, Construction, and Supplies.^[9] Though the name of the office was changed during this transition, its role remained the same, and Louis Tripp was selected to continue leading the Construction Service.

By the early 1930s, the Construction Service had developed standardized plans for the construction of Veteran Administration hospitals, and they continued updating these plans through the early 1940s.^[10] Construction Service architects collaborated with medical professionals on the hospital designs to ensure that the facilities met the care standards required to serve Veterans, while also using innovative design to make efficient use of available funding.^[11] Using these plans, the Construction Service led the development of more than thirty new hospitals between 1930 and 1945, which added approximately 9,400 hospital beds to VA’s care network.^[12] They also altered existing facilities, replacing temporary buildings and constructing new ones to provide treatment, house staff, and further support the care of Veterans.^[13] Though VA’s network of hospitals continued to grow, it became clear during World War II that the existing hospital system would be insufficient to meet the medical needs of the men and women who served in the conflict. After the war, VA reorganized and expanded to Construction Service to build the next generation of Veterans hospitals.

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Part 3, Making a More Modern System: Post-World War II Updates to VA’s Medical Facilities will be posted next week.

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^[1] Rosemary Stevens, A Time of Scandal: Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding and the Making of the Veterans Bureau (Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 2016), 89-90. 93-94.

^[2] “Hines Cuts Red Tape in Veterans’ Bureau; New Director Says He Means to Prevent ‘Hard-Boiled’ Treatment of Ex-Soldiers,” The New York Times (New York, New York), March 11, 1923.

^[3] “Seal Proposals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), November 17, 1923; U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, Annual Report of the Director, United States Veterans’ Bureau, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1924, 495.

^[4] Eric Gradoia, “Louis and Eleanor Tripp, 1936-2003,” Handy House, Westport Historical Society, 2014.

^[5] U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, Annual Report of the Director, United States Veterans’ Bureau, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1924, 495.

^[6] Spurlock, et al., “United States Second Generation Veterans Hospitals,” E-55.

^[7] Herbert Hoover, Exec. Order 5398, July 21, 1930. The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/276053.

^[8] Barbara Matos, “July 21, 1930: Veterans Administration Created,” VA History Office, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, November 12, 2021.

^[9] U.S. Veterans’ Administration, Annual Report of the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1931 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931), 1; Veterans’ Affairs: Hearings Before the Joint Congressional Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 72nd Cong. (1933) (answers of Gen. Frank T. Himes to Questionnaire Submitted by Senator Brookhart), 256.

^[10] Spurlock, et al., “United States Second Generation Veterans Hospitals,” E-55 – E-56.

^[11] Ibid.

^[12] “History of CFM,” Office of Construction and Facilities Management, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, October 15, 2015, https://www.cfm.va.gov/about/history.asp; Annual Reports for U.S. Veterans’ Administration, 1930-1945.

^[13] U.S. Veterans’ Administration, Annual Report of the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1936 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Veterans’ Administration, 1936), 11.