{"nrhp_refnum":"86000801","name":"Truesdale Hospital","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1820 Highland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fall River","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.728510397000065,"lon":-71.13504763850662,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-04-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A hospital complex at 1820 Highland Avenue in Fall River, Massachusetts, on a 5.79-acre hilltop site above the Taunton River. It has a main building of 1912 with additions of 1923, 1926 and 1935, plus the Mitchell House nurses' residence of 1913, expanded in 1930 and 1940.","why_significant":"The hospital met Fall River's need for a modern surgical facility and is one of few early 20th-century hospitals in the city that remain largely unaltered. It was founded by and named for Dr. Philemon Truesdale, a surgeon known nationally for a technique to repair diaphragmatic hernias developed in the 1920s. Its Colonial Revival buildings and additions also show how hospital functions and scale changed over the century.","narrative":"Truesdale Hospital is a Colonial Revival hospital complex on a hilltop above the Taunton River at the edge of Fall River's Highlands neighborhood. Architect Parker Morse Hooper of New York designed the original three-story yellow brick building, completed in 1912, with a Tuscan portico, limestone trim and a granite foundation. Wings were added in 1923 and 1926, and a fourth floor in 1935. A nurses' residence, now called Mitchell House, was built in 1913 and enlarged in 1930 and 1940. The hospital was founded by surgeon Philemon E. Truesdale, who developed a surgical repair for diaphragmatic hernias and made a 1926 teaching film of the operation. A 1935 case drew national press attention. Local families, notably the Charltons, funded much of the hospital's growth. A later rehabilitation removed post-1950 additions and restored the building's historic appearance. Its architecture, its founder's medical work and its place in Fall River's civic life support its listing.","period_of_significance":"1912-ca. 1935 (primary), with a secondary span tied to Truesdale's career, 1905-1945","architect_builder":"Parker Morse Hooper of New York (main building); E. I. Marvell (1940 work on Mitchell House)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Condition rated excellent. The complex is now used as elderly housing. Post-1950 additions were removed in a certified rehabilitation that restored the c. 1935 appearance.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.960746-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/7897/63789701/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000801.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000801/107ba4f5e8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000801/107ba4f5e8-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Truesdale_Hosp_FR.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Truesdale_Hosp_FR.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789701","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truesdale_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7847610"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/truesdale-hospital-86000801/"}