Columbia Oval was the finish line of the first marathon within the United States, in 1896.

[4] The Columbia War Hospital was conceived by the head of Columbia's Department of Urology, J. Bentley Squier in March, 1917[5][1] Construction began the following month, and the hospital was ready to admit patients by May 30, 1917.

[6] The hospital was transferred over to Colonel E. R. Schreiner of the United States Army on October 3, 1917, in a ceremony conducted by Columbia university's president Nicholas Murray Butler.

[2] After the end of the war, the 54 buildings that made up the Columbia Oval site were razed.

[7] In October 1922, the 19-acre site was auctioned by the university as 225 separate lots for a total of $351,950 (equivalent to $6.4 million in 2023).