Chimborazo Hospital was an extremely large hospital facility constructed after the outbreak of war. It was opened October 17, 1861.

The hospital was on land bounded by the present streets of Clay on the north, 30th on the west, 34th on the east, and the bottom of the hill on the south. The Richmond National Battlefield Park building now stands in about the middle of the old hospital grounds.

Chimborazo Hospital was named for the hill on which it was located which was named after Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.

Chimborazo Hospital was one of the largest of all military hospitals up to its time. The normal occupancy was about 3,000 and it had about 120 buildings. Those for patients were divided into five divisions. Divisions were designated for Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Maryland at the beginning, but names varied at different periods.

Chimborazo Hospital had its own ice house, soup house, bakery, soap factory, etc., and operated its own farms, beef and goat herds, and canal trading boat. It had natural springs.

The Medical staff was about 45. It claimed to have handled 17,000 wounded cases. Dr. James B. McCaw was surgeon-in-chief.

Chimborazo Hospital was operated by Federal occupation forces for several weeks. 

 From Confederate Military Hospitals in Richmond by Robert W. Waitt, Jr., Official Publication #22 Richmond Civil War Centennial committee, Richmond, Virginia 1964.

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