page_title: Cornwall Hospital
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cornwall Hospital / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque is located at the base of a flag pole to the east of Pohutukawa Drive, Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand. The US Army 39th General Hospital became Cornwall Hospital (now defunct).
context_page_description: Cornwall Hospital was constructed in Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand during World War II by the American Army and was named the 39th United States General Hospital. It accommodated casualties from the war in the Pacific. From 1945 it was leased by the Auckland Hospital Board to provide maternity and geriatric services and closed in 1975.
context_section_description: In October 1942 the Cornwall Park Trust Board was required, under wartime regulations, to allow the United States Army to establish a hospital on 26 hectares of Cornwall Park. The 39th General Hospital was constructed quickly by Fletcher Construction, opening on 4 February 1943. The hospital consisted of 123 prefabricated buildings, 48 wards, clinic and surgery spaces, staff recreation halls and barracks. Over 1000 patients could be accommodated, and there were more than 60 doctors, 143 nurses and hundreds of auxiliary staff. Patients arrived in Auckland on hospital ships from initial treatment centres in New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and Fiji.
  The hospital closed on 20 November 1944. A proposal that the hospital become part of the Auckland Hospital Board was the subject of discussion by the government, Auckland Hospital Board and the Cornwall Park Trust Board. The Cornwall Park trustees had already objected to using the park for anything other than war purposes. It was agreed that the 39th General Hospital buildings would be made available to the Hospital Board for a period of six years, that no further buildings could be erected, and that the government would remove all buildings at the end of six years and restore the land. The Hospital Board, which was short of hospital accommodation at Auckland Hospital, was also required to keep up its building programme so that proposed hospital buildings would be ready for the closure of Cornwall Hospital in December 1950.
  The hospital remained open until 1975, housing maternity and geriatric units.
caption: Plaque in Cornwall Park commemorating construction of US Army 39th General Hospital, October 1942
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