It was designed by architect Frederick Bunnell and was operated by the Marine Hospital Service from its opening until it closed, in 1952.

It treated injured Confederate and Union soldiers during the American Civil War.

[2] It shares some design features, such as its two-story colonnades, with its neighbor, the old Mobile City Hospital.

[1] The Mobile County Board of Health acquired the title to the property from the Tuberculosis Association on October 23, 1975.

The facility was rededicated as the Major General William C. Gorgas Clinic in 1984.