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History
Established 1940
The Veterans Administration Hospital was constructed in 1939 and dedicated May 12, 1940. The buildings are of early Spanish architecture with the first buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Recent construction has conformed to this style.
The VA Hospital site was on 360 acres of farm and ranchland and was self sufficient. Cattle were raised and gardens maintained to feed veteran patients. Most of the land was returned to the General Services Administration and subsequently Potter County. In 1960, Potter County conveyed the land to what is now known as the Don and Sybil Harrington Regional Medical Center. This area includes Northwest Texas Health Care System, Baptist St. Anthony's Health Care System, Harrington Cancer Center, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and other health related organizations.
The name of the Amarillo VA Medical Center was officially changed to the Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center on November 30, 2004.* It is now located on approximately 43 acres and continues to provide general medical and surgical inpatient care and primary/specialty care. It is a part of what is now the Amarillo VA Health Care System which, with the addition of Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Lubbock, Childress and Stratford, Texas; Clovis, New Mexico; and Liberal, Kansas provides care to veterans throughout the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, eastern New Mexico and southern Kansas.
Initially 152,000 square feet, the Thomas E. Creek VA Medical Center has grown to 360,000 square feet with the construction of a clinical addition in 1987, followed by a 120-bed nursing home care unit in 1990, and the Medical Arts Building in 1996. An eight-room Hospitality House for veterans and/or family members was built in 1997 through combined efforts of the Health Care System and volunteers.
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