This area contained the post's first two hospitals, including Building 8, constructed in 1893 with both floors originally encircled by a wood verandah, and adjacent Building 9, connected by a covered walkway and used as an isolation ward and later a morgue. High ceilings, well-ventilated rooms, and sunny porches served as the area's answer, but no cure, for tuberculosis, the ailment most treated here. A new hospital, Building 1, was constructed in 1904 as a two-story structure closely adhering to plans issued by the Surgeon General in 1867, with a central administrative block, flanking 48-bed wards, a rear kitchen wing, and wrap-around porches later demolished; a third floor was added in 1916. Building 4, the isolation ward, was constructed in 1914, and Building 5, a nearby ambulance garage, soon after. Before air conditioning, when epidemics could kill tens of thousands of Americans, physical quarantine offered a measure of control. In 1916, this 200-bed complex was designated the principal medical facility supporting the Punitive Expedition. During World War I, a number of wood buildings were added to cope with the influx of patients, but as these buildings became overcrowded, unsanitary, and dilapidated, the Surgeon General lobbied for new facilities. The result was a 414-bed hospital complex of 48 buildings northwest of the main post, which opened in 1921 as William Beaumont General Hospital, honoring the surgeon and Army medical officer who was the first American physiologist to make enduring contributions to that science.