After World War II, a hospital was needed in metropolitan Seattle to serve the many veterans returning to the area. The City of Seattle deeded 44 acres of land, originally part of Jefferson Park in Beacon Hill, to the U.S. government for the project. Constructed from 1949 to 1951, the 325-bed Seattle Division Veterans' Hospital sits high on a hill with breath-taking views of downtown Seattle and the Puget Sound as well as mountain ranges to the north and west.

Here, hospital staff pose for a portrait on a grassy hill in front of the completed building a week before the grand opening on April 15, 1951.

Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE, Hospitals, Veterans.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): April 9, 1951.

Caption information sources: http://www.pugetsound.va.gov/about/history.asp and Seattle Historic Times, April 15, 1951, p. 33.