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Origin and history

The American Memorial Hospital in Reims was born from an American initiative to honour the victims of the First World War. Funded by a committee chaired by Edith Bangs, it was conceived as a children's hospital, a symbol of solidarity with the French affected by the conflict. Its origin is related to the presence of Dr Marie-Louise Lefort, a French-American doctor who came to treat the gassed soldiers in 1918. At his request, an American committee was set up to build this establishment, the construction of which began in the nascent White House neighbourhood on the left bank of the Vesle River.

Inaugurated in 1925, the hospital was designed by architects Charles Buttler and Auguste-Raoul Pellechet, with frescoes by Robert La Montagne Saint-Hubert to brighten up young patients. It became a memorial for American soldiers buried in mass graves, without an identified grave. The settlement was officially handed over to the town of Reims on 30 April 1925 in the presence of Edith Bangs, Ambassador Myron T. Herrick, and General Gouraud. It was expanded in 1937 and is now part of the Reims UHC, while a new pediatric hospital, built between 2008 and 2011, continues this story.

Dr. Marie-Louise Lefort played a central role in this project: she supervised the installation of the hospital in 1924 and managed it until 1939. Appointed knight and then officer of the Legion of Honour, she gave her name to the most beautiful hall of the establishment in 1951. The frescoes and parts of the building, including the facades and the garden, were classified by order of 14 November 2023. The hospital thus embodies both a medical, artistic and memorial heritage, linked to Franco-American history.

Funding for the hospital was based on a national subscription in the United States, organized by American families wishing to help Reims, a city devastated by the Battle of the Marne. Some of the funds, placed at the time, still generate income for the institution. The site, located at 47 Cognacq-Jay Street, also includes an entrance porch, an observation pavilion and a park, all protected. The architecture, marked by elevations in 1935 and 1965, reflects its evolution throughout the twentieth century.

Today, the American Memorial Hospital remains a place of care, but also of memory. The frescoes of La Montagne Saint-Hubert, intended to soften the hospitalization of children, as well as the classified spaces, bear witness to its dual heritage: medical and memorial. Its history is part of the reconstruction of Reims after 1918 and the transatlantic ties born of the Great War.

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