Then and Now: Answer Edition

In typical fashion, Phoenixville Patch readers flashed some impressive knowledge of the borough in their answers to last week's contest. The fastest to the draw was , who correctly identified the photo as being of the Army Hospital. Below is the full explanation from the Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area:

This photograph from around 1943 was the Quartermaster Laundry at Valley Forge General Hospital (known locally as the Army Hospital). The hospital was constructed in 1942 and opened on February 22, 1943. The Quartermaster Corps provides a host of vital services to the U.S. Army. Among them is laundry and clothingrepair. During World War II as many as 2500 patients were cared for in the hospital at one time. The laundryhandled the washing of clothing and linens not only for patients, but also military personnel stationed at thehospital.
Because these jobs were not glamorous very little is mentioned about Quartermaster soldiers in the mainstreammedia. Between 1944 and 1946 some of the workers in the Quartermaster Laundry were German prisoners ofwar who were housed in a stockade on the hospital grounds.
Learn more about the German POWs and life at the Hospital. A special event to honor the memory of theValley Forge General Hospital will take place on Saturday, October 27, 2012 starting at 9 a.m. The HistoricalSociety of the Phoenixville Area and the Valley Forge Christian College are unveiling a historic marker on thegrounds of the former hospital (at 1401 Charlestown Rd.). There will be special exhibits, military re-enactors,vintage military vehicles, ‘Then & Now’ tours of the property and other special events.