All language subtitles for Mysteries.Of.The.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S01E05.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[narrator] Abandoned
structures hold the secrets
of America's past.

A canyon hides the ruined
dreams of a couple who bet
on America falling.

It's really one
of the most legendary
places in Los Angeles.

There are many rumors about
what the people who owned
it wanted it to become.

[narrator] A ghost town
that offers a rare glimpse
into a celebrated era.

[Steve Reyes] And it'd
become an iconic place
to visit, and represents

truly Americana at its best.

[narrator] And a much
loved tourist attraction

where one woman took
on a corrupt institution.

[Angela Thomas] The struggles
that she had with the city,

and, you know, a lot
of tryin' to fight,

but eventually,
it became too much.

[narrator] Scattered across
the United States
are abandoned structures.

Forgotten ruins of the past.

Monuments to a bygone era.

Each shines a light
on the story of this land,
and its people.

These are the secrets
of Hidden America.

[narrator] 100 miles
south of Las Vegas,
in the Mojave Desert,

is a town that helped
turn this vast
continent-spanning land,

into one unified country.

[Dr. Philip J. Merrill]
The environment is hot, dry,

appears to be desolate,
it appears to be harsh.

[Dr. Sascha Auerbach]
There's basically a road,
some railroad tracks,

and then rising
out of the desert,
this abandoned town.

[narrator] Many
of the buildings
here are in ruins,

but it's not a scene
of total dereliction.

[Auerbach] Some
of them look like there's
a little more life to them.

So there's more going
on here than first meets
the eye, I think.

[narrator] One structure
has recently been restored
to its former glory,

and is a big hit by those
passing through,
whether by car, or by plane.

[Albert Okura] You say,
"Hey, watch people pull over,"

they see the sign,
they want to take the picture
in front of the sign.

All day long this goes on.

[narrator] The sign is
a symbol of a great
nation building achievement.

A triumph that has
been immortalized
in American culture.

It figures in movies,
television shows,
and even songs.

[Dr. Corina Kwami]
This is something that
shaped the country,

and made it what it is today.

[narrator] Albert Okura,
a well-known restaurant chain
owner in Southern California

bought this ghost
town in 2005.

[Okura] The town,
it was pretty much empty.

All the buildings had
no electricity, no water,
it was just a shell.

[narrator] This is
the town of Amboy,

and Albert's restoration work
is putting it back on the map.

[Okura] Amboy is looking
more and more famous
all over the world.

And everyday
I wake up,
I can't believe

the opportunity that's sittin'
right in front of me.

[narrator] The reason
for this town's fame

begins long before Albert
was on the scene.

[Merrill] When you're
exploring the grounds,
you begin to realize

that this story runs
a lot deeper and a lot further
back than you realize.

[narrator] The town was
established in 1883.

Evidence of its origin,
is now only noticeable
to the well-trained eye.

[Reyes] Typically, when you're
travelling in the desert

and you see the trees
behind me, they're called
salt cedars.

They were usually planted
by homesteaders, and they're
not native to the desert.

[narrator] Steve Reyes lives
25 miles south of Amboy,
and is one of the few people

who can paint a picture
of the now disappeared
original town.

[Reyes] The original
schoolhouse would
have been here,

housing for the railroad
workers, there would have
been a store here, as well.

[narrator] At first,
the settlement was simply

a water and repair stop
for the steam trains.

But Amboy's future was about
to dramatically change course
thanks to a new invention,

the automobile.

[Auerbach] In the early
20th century, a car is really

a luxury item
only for the rich.

But the manufacturer's
work hard to try to make
them a more affordable item.

[narrator] The revolutionary
Ford Model-T arrived in 1908,

but good roads still lagged
behind, especially outside
of the cities.

[Auerbach] There was really
nothing out here, there was
dirt tracks if you were lucky.

But then over time,
these start
to develop into roads.

[narrator] In 1912,
for the first time

Americans could take
one road from east
coast to west coast.

It was called the National
Old Trails Road.

It came right through Amboy,
and would irreversibly
change the town.

[Reyes] As modern
travel shifted away
from the railroad,

the residents
and the buildings would've
moved up towards the road.

[narrator] The road was now
the focus of life in Amboy,

but its love affair
with automobiles
was just getting started.

[Merrill] We start off
with the National Old
Trails Road,

which is a singular type
of road, east to west,

but we're progressing
to a system, a network
of roads.

[narrator] Arriving in 1926,
the United States'
numbered highway system

was the beginnings
of the nationwide road
network we recognize today.

[Kwami] The road that was
coming past Amboy

was reclassified
in this new system,

and it would become an icon,
the classic Route 66.

[narrator] The increasing
traffic passing through Amboy

caught the attention
of a local man
called Roy Crowell.

[Merrill] Roy was a mechanic
and his wife was a cook.

So you put the two together
and you are able to create
a magnificent concept

of the gas station, the cafe,
a husband and wife.

It's just a wonderful
kind of story that
America was built on.

These type of hard working
people that could create
something out of nothing.

[narrator] Roy and his wife
built the service station
and garage in 1938,

and soon realized
there was opportunity
for another business, too.

[Auerbach] Behind the cafe,
we have quite a large motel,
we have 18 rooms,

so it tells you how well
this place was doing,
it was booming!

[Reyes] It was really a major
thoroughfare of cars going
up and down the highway.

And this being right
in the middle
of Needles and Barstow,

it would be the natural place
that people would stop.

[narrator] But many people
knew of Amboy because it had
been a stop on a journey

triggered by desperation.

So Route 66, during the 1930's
we have a common belief that

it was this... always this
mode of travel for enjoyment,

but really during the Dust
Bowl era, it took kind
of a darker side.

[narrator] High winds
churned up the bare

and over-plowed farmland
in the American prairies

resulting in years
of severe dust storms.

Vast clouds of dust darkened
the sky for days at a time.

In many places,
the dust drifted like snow,

and residents had
to clear it with shovels.

[Auerbach] Route 66 really
offered people a lifeline out
of the Dust Bowl.

And in John Steinbeck's famous
novel, The Grapes of Wrath,

he even refers
to it as the Mother Road.

As if it was the absolute
key to survival
for all these people.

[narrator] Roughly 2.5 million
people left the Dust Bowl
states during the 1930's.

It was one
of the largest migrations
in American history.

[Reyes] It really changed
the demographics of America,

there was a huge
influx of people comin'
into California.

[narrator] This steady flow
of westbound motorists

turned Amboy
into a major
stopping point.

It grew to include three
gas stations, two cafes,
four garages, a post office,

a church and a school,
but its real heyday
was just around the corner.

[Reyes] After World War II,
uh, returning soldiers,
the economy was good,

people had expendable
money to purchase cars.

There's also associations
that are encouraging people
to travel along Route 66.

[narrator] In 1959, Roy passed
his businesses onto
his son-law, Buster Burris,

who gave the buildings
a fresh, new look.

He also gave the town
its now iconic sign.

The sign and the hotel lobby
are really absolute paradigms

of the architecture
of the time,

this gooey modernism,
as it was called.

[narrator] The new
buildings gave Amboy
a different esthetic,

but the flow of cars
remained as steady as ever.

I was fortunate enough
to interview a California
Highway Patrol officer,

and the one thing
he talked a lot about was
how busy the traffic was.

It was this major
travel artery through
the desert into California.

[narrator] But Amboy's
glory days were numbered.

[Reyes] It's fascinating
that just overnight,
this town dried up.

People closed
the gas stations,

closed the restaurants,
and they just went away.

[narrator] Fed
by the popular Route 66,
Amboy enjoyed

a comfortable existence
throughout the middle
of the 20th century,

but it all came
to an abrupt end.

[Reyes] There was one thing
that changed overnight,

that basically shut the town
down, and people moved away,
and walked away

from their stores,
locked their doors,
never to come back.

[Auerbach] The death
knell of this place

was the opening
of the new interstate
just north of Amboy

that gave a more direct route
from Needles to Barstow.

[narrator] After
more than 50 years
on the main route west,

Amboy had been bypassed.

Starved of cars,
businesses shut,
and the population plummeted.

Buster clung
to his investment
until 1995,

when he leased his properties
to be used as film sets,

before finally selling up
completely in 2000.

After decades of neglect,
Amboy has started experiencing

a renaissance, driven
by nostalgia.

[Reyes] So through
years, Amboy,

really the birth
of it become
a tourist destination,

would have been
with the advent
of the internet.

People from Europe started
rediscovering Route 66,

and that's when
it be... really became
a part of Americana.

It was very common to see

people from France,
from Germany,
to stop here at Amboy.

[Auerbach] People used to pull
into Amboy 'cause it was
between here and there.

Now it's become an actual
destination location.

[narrator] Albert Okura was
also drawn in by the magic
of Route 66.

Baby boomers, my generation,
they got involved
in buyin' hot rods,

and... Harley Davidson's,
and they wanted
to ride the route.

And so when Amboy
came for sale, I knew
I had to buy it.

[narrator] Albert has
restored the gas station,
including its 1970's pumps,

and has plans
for other buildings
on his property, too.

[Okura] We have five bungalow
cabins, ideal for renting
and to stay overnight.

We need to get the utilities
in, and I think that's
our goal for this coming year.

[narrator] But the big
moment was back in 2019,

with the relighting
of the sign.

[Okura] When we had
a grand opening, we had
a lotta people fly in,

and we had up
to 27 planes that day.

It got us a lot
of attention,
a lot of press,

became the focal point
of everything we do here.

It just symbolizes,
it was a whole movement
of the Route 66,

and the whole
restoration thing.

[narrator] Amboy's reawakening
has spawned its own slogan,

"the ghost town
that ain't dead yet."

[Auerbach] Most of the towns
along roads like this
have vanished long ago,

but Amboy gives
us this tantalizing window
into what life was like

when this culture
was at its height.

[narrator] On the edge
of Los Angeles,

lies a sprawling collection
of ruins that shows
how fringe societies

can lurk in the most
unexpected of places.

[Dr. Matthew Green]
It's a beautiful
landscape.

The steep hills
dotted with trees,

quite the contrast
to the never-ending concrete
jungle that is Los Angeles.

[Dr. Kenya Davis-Hayes]
But there's something
surprising here

in this wooded area.

Something that
you wouldn't expect.

What we see are stairs.

So many stairs climbing,
climbing, climbing everywhere.

[Rob Bell] There are
different pieces
of this puzzle

littered throughout the woods.

[narrator] Years of gossip
have added to the mystery
of this site's true purpose.

[Hadley Meares] There's
so many different stories that
have been told over the years

about what happened here.

But what we actually know
is fascinating, but it's
clearly not the full story.

[narrator] Hadley Meares
started researching the rumors
about this place 20 years ago,

after a hike here left her
with unanswered questions
she found too hard to ignore.

[Meares] This is one
of the two giant,
industrial-sized tanks

that the folks here put up.

They were trying to build
something where they
would have their own fuel,

their own water,
and very little dependence
on the outside world.

[narrator] Travelling
deeper into the canyon,

one building emerges
from the trees, that is
the biggest hint yet,

as to the scale
of this complex.

[Meares] So this
is the pump house,

and this is where the double
generator was at one point,

and where the water pump,
we believe, was.

And as you're walking through
this immense property, you'll
see water pipes everywhere

still lining from different
culverts to the river.

You also see
a leveled out section,
a garden.

[Meares] They were very,
very extensively growing
trees, growing food,

so that they'd
become totally insular
and take care of themselves.

[narrator] The site has become
known as Murphy Ranch.

But this name and the ruins
that remain today, don't
begin to tell the whole story.

[Bell] What we had here
was stage one, effectively,
the infrastructure.

What was planned next would
have been the real deal,
the mansion, itself.

[narrator] The project
was never finished,

but Hadley hunted down
all the existing blueprints,

and discovered
a surprising
level of opulence.

[Meares] Common theme
between all these different
plans is that they're grand.

There's a library,
multiple parlors,
multiple bedrooms,

and it really seems like
a place for a head of state
and their government.

Not a normal, rich
person's mansion.

[narrator] It has been said,
that what the owners
were building here

was to be based
on National
Socialist ideals.

[Bell] Some say this was
meant to be a headquarters

for the Nazis out
on the west coast.

Some kind of Nazi White House.

[narrator] Scant ruins remain
at Murphy Ranch.

The lack of evidence
fueling the legends.

But in 1975, an affidavit
from a man called Dr. Vincent,

shone significant light
on the mystery.

[Meares] That one piece
of paper which I have
in my possession,

is really where this entire
legend comes from.

[Davis-Hayes] For years,
there have been rumors
about this property.

But when Dr. Vincent decided
he that he was interested
in buying this estate

he had to listen to the story,
and the owners of the property
had quite the story to tell.

[Meares] There used
to be a weird steel
garage right here,

and in this garage
a couple lived, named
Norman and Winona Stephens,

and they owned all
of this property.

And it was in that garage,

Dr. Vincent initially heard
what they had planned
to do with it.

[narrator] Norman and Winona
Stephens' rumored
connection to Nazism,

grew from a relationship
they had with a persuasive
man, called Herr Schmidt.

[Green] Herr Schmidt is
rather a mysterious
and elusive character.

We hardly know
anything about
him at all.

There's just one article
from the LA Times,

uh, that reports that he was
wanted by Naval Intelligence,
and ultimately rounded up.

[narrator] But it wasn't
Mr. Schmidt's
nefarious activities

that drew in the couple.

[Meares] Winona claimed
that she had long been interested,

basically, in the occult,
and paranormal thoughts.

He kind of convinced
them both that he had these
powers to see into the future.

That they needed to build
a self-sustaining,
basically, utopian colony

based on National
Socialist ideas,

and that they needed to do
it quickly because America
was about to collapse.

[narrator] If Dr. Vincent's
account is true,

hidden somewhere
within this canyon,
a Nazi stronghold was planned

in preparation of Hitler
overthrowing America.

[Davis-Hayes] Something that's
not really discussed often
in the history of Los Angeles

is that there was
a real history of Nazi
supporters within this area.

[Bell] From a Nazi
perspective,

something that LA had going
for it was its ports.

It wasn't monitored,
so it was an easy access point
for propaganda materials.

[narrator] The affidavit
alludes to the Stephens'
connection to Nazism,

using it's alternative name,
National Socialism.

But there are also
other stories that add
weight to this claim.

There are rumors floating
around that neighbors saw
some of these American Nazis.

So-called Silver Shirts,
doing paramilitary
maneuvers in the gardens,

and marching up the stairs.

[Meares] We also know
now that there were reports
to government officials

in Los Angeles, who were
involved in uprooting Nazis
who were imbedded in LA,

that there was a mansion
planned to be built

in this area
for fascist leaders.

So there was some basis
for all of these rumors.

[narrator] Meanwhile,
in Europe,

the rise of Nazism would
result in full-blown war.

America initially resisted
calls to join the fight.

But their reluctance
would not last.

In December of 1941,
everything changed

with the attack
on Pearl Harbor.

[narrator] This was also
a pivotal moment
for Murphy Branch.

[Green] America was very much
entering into the war

and anything that has any
kind of allegiance whatsoever

with Germany or Nazism
is completely outlawed,

at which point somewhere
like this would have been,

overnight, rendered
entirely illegal.

[Meares] We know that
the Stephens stopped
paying architects in 1941

because all available
architectural plans

cease after that date.

Whatever was going on here,
they were probably

under enormous pressure
to stop what they were doing.

[narrator] Herr Schmidt
was slow to react

and ended up paying
a heavy price.

Herr Schmidt was arrested
for hiding shortwave

radio equipment
on the property

and allegedly died in prison.

[narrator] The Stephens
stayed on at Murphy Ranch,

but never built anything more.

The few existing structures
in surrounding land

were later sold to be used
as an artist's retreat.

LA's Murphy Ranch
is a confusing collection

of ruins, rumors,
and hard-to-link facts

that will always be open
to interpretation.

[Bell] This is the city
of make believe.

But the question is,
is this just another of
Hollywood's fantasy tales?

[Meares] What exactly
the Stephen's aims were,

what really happened on
this land during the 1930s,

who else was actually
even here

is a totally mystery.

I don't think we're ever gonna
know what actually happened.

[narrator] At the heart
of America's Rust Belt,

within the city limits
of Detroit,

is a monument to betrayal.

[Meigs] We're on an island
in the Detroit River

just a little upstream from
the city center.

Parts of it are well-tended.
We have parks,

places for swimming
and picnics.

[Bell] It feels like
the perfect place to come
and enjoy nature.

So, why are large parts of it
completely disused?

[narrator] This is Belle Isle

and at its center
is a dilapidated collection

of structures walled off
from the rest.

[Meigs] Behind the fence is
a complex of wooden ruins

that look like something
from a completely different
time and place.

[Bell] In some of
the structures,

you can make out these old,
rusting cages,

some with their doors just
hanging open.

It's enough to send shivers
up your spine.

[narrator] This enclosed
compound played

a significant role in one of
Detroit's most notorious
corruption scandals.

[Bell] There were
darker forces at play
behind the scenes

that no one
could have predicted.

This really was
a hero to zero story.

[Thomas] Basically, he was
taking advantage of the city.

So many people are still upset
about what he did to Detroit.

[narrator] On an island
in the Detroit River,

is a site who's glory days
are firmly in the past.

[Thomas] It feels surreal.

It's been almost 30 years
since I've been inside
of the gates here.

When I was here
in the early 80s,

I never envisioned
this would happen.

[narrator] Angela
Lugo-Thomas knows
this place better than most.

She worked here
during its heyday.

A lot of people
got their first jobs
working in this space.

So, I did concessions
and I sold souvenirs.

But one of my favorite
things to do was making
the cotton candy.

'Cause we used
the old style cotton candy

where you had
a big silver bowl and you just

and you just go around
with a stick until you get it
to a certain size.

It's just one of those
first memories that
you never forget.

[narrator] Its story begins
almost 100 years earlier

at a time when Detroit
was on the up.

The first structures
were erected here in 1895

just as Detroit was emerging
as one of America's
most prominent cities.

[Meigs] Detroit was
a booming industrial city

with factories
and immigrants and a very
fast-growing economy.

[narrator] With repetitive
jobs and cramped, urban
living conditions,

the burgeoning work force
was in need

of an all-together different
form of entertainment.

They found it here,
at the Belle Isle Zoo.

These factory workers
and their families,

they didn't have the money to
travel far outside the city.

So, the idea they could
go to a beautiful island

and stroll among these exotic
creatures at a zoo,

that must have just been
delightful for them.

[Lucy Jane Santos]
By 1909 they had
over 150 animals,

including bears, kangaroos
and monkeys.

[narrator] As Detroit's
fortunes soared,

so, too, did the zoo's.

But, as industry began
to lead the motor city

in the second half
of the century,

the number of patrons
to the zoo dwindled.

After the 1950s,
Detroit's population began
to decrease rapidly.

The city lost nearly
40% of its residents

between 1950 and 1980.

This spelt real
bad news for the zoo.

[narrator] With gate
receipts diminishing,

and the city's finances
in turmoil,

the Belle Isle Zoo
looks set to close.

Until an ambitious restoration
project turned the tide.

Lions and tigers
and bears, oh my!

Welcome to the open of the
Detroit Belle Isle Zoo.

The zoo was revived
in the 1980s with a,
kind of, African theme.

They called it "Safariland."

They built these structures
that were

kind of informed by an idea
of African architecture.

[narrator] The rejuvenated zoo
was a big hit with the public.

[Thomas] Oh, they loved
the zoo. I mean,

a lot of people,
it was their first time
going to see animals.

You know, a lot of
the children had some of

their first school trips
here in this space.

[Santos] A new area was added
to the zoo in 1980.

It was essentially
an elevated board walk

with the animals
fenced in at ground level.

[narrator] The renovation
was spearheaded by

a new zoo director,
Khadejah Shelby.

Under the stewardship
of Khadejah,

the zoo bucked the trend of
Detroit's declining fortunes.

She was a real force
in the city at the time.

And she was also
the nation's first African
American zoo director.

[narrator] Angela had VIP
access to the new facilities

as Khadejah
was her grandmother.

When I came here,
I came with my grandmother.

As soon as she was spotted
at the bridge at Belle Isle,

someone would radio in
to let everyone else know

that Miss Shelby has arrived
and to get everything
ready and prepared.

She had everyone
on their pins and needles

because they knew
that she expected excellence.

[Meigs] But even as
the zoo was revived,

Detroit's fortunes
continued to go downhill.

[narrator] Eventually,
even Khadejah's supreme
efforts were not enough.

There was a time when this
place was funded very well.

And then, of course,
like everything else,

funding goes away.

And it's always
difficult for my grandmother

to do a lot of the programing
that she was used to doing.

Sometimes they didn't have
the right people
to take care of the animals.

So, it became
a point in time when

you would go to the zoo
and you really didn't
see a lot of animals.

[narrator] And in 1994,
with a change to
administration in city hall,

she was removed from her post.

[Thomas] It was hard
for her to see this zoo,

which was her baby, kind of,
you know, deteriorate.

And so that was sad to watch.

The spirit of this place
changed after she
was not here anymore.

[narrator] Eight years later,
the zoo closed.

But former director Khadejah
didn't give up.

She joined a campaign aimed
at raising the $700,000

needed to reopen the gates.

And with another
new mayor in city hall,

things were looking up.

[Bell] In 2002,
Kwame Kilpatrick
became mayor of Detroit,

sweeping into office
on a tremendous wave
of positivity and hope.

[Santos] He was known
as the "hip-hop mayor."

Not only was he young, but he
was tall, he was handsome.

And he promised very exciting
times for Detroit.

The city was ecstatic to see
him become mayor.

[narrator] At the same time,
Khadejah's fund raising
had been a success.

And with Mayor Kilpatrick
pledging his support

for the reopening of the zoo,
victory was at hand.

But things didn't play out
as expected.

The rug was completely
pulled out from under
the campaigners.

[narrator] In 2002, a new
mayor arrived in Detroit

and brought with him
fresh impetus to resurrect
the shuttered Belle Isle Zoo.

Money was raised for the zoo
and it looked like

it was going to get
a second chance.

But then, nothing happened.

[narrator] Detroiters
were waiting for
construction to begin,

which it did, but on
the other side of the island.

Mayor Kilpatrick,
he did a little switcheroo
on people, because

instead of reopening
and fixing this space up,

he ended up, then, pouring
that money into a new facility

that's on the east side
of the island

called the Belle
Isle Nature Center.

A lot of people felt duped.

They were very upset
because he did not
follow through on the promise.

[narrator] And Kilpatrick's
misdeeds went far beyond
broken promises.

It soon came to light that
he was involved in a massive
corruption scandal.

It involved kickbacks
from contractors
working for the city.

Suddenly, the whole
dirty mess was exposed.

This was corruption
at the highest level.

[narrator] In 2013,
Kilpatrick was convicted on 24
federal corruption charges

and condemned
to 28 years in prison.

But, in 2021, his sentence
was commuted by

President Donald Trump
on his last day in office.

He's out now, but yeah,
he's definitely left
a scar on the city

that I'm not sure a lot
of people are gonna get over.

[narrator] Although it's
unlikely the Belle Isle Zoo
will open again,

Angela is hopeful
the space can be
reimagined in another form.

Whether it's a nature preserve
or maybe paintball, you know,

a maze or whatever, you know,

just utilize the space
because it is a big space

to just have vacant
and nobody using it.

[Meigs] As part
of its revival,

Detroit is rediscovering
its waterfront.

I suspect that within
a few years we'll see

this restored into
a beautiful place

to visit and a resource for
the people of Detroit.

[narrator] In South Carolina,
two empty buildings
mark how one city

changed the course
of American history, twice.

[Corina Kwami] We're right
in the heart of one
of the busiest cites

on the southeast coast
of the United States.

We're in Charleston.

[narrator] In the suburbs
is a complex that was built
in a time of crisis.

[Merrill] It's a weird,
eerie feeling

when you look at the inside
of this large building.

And, as they say,
if the walls could talk,
we might be in trouble.

[narrator] And on
the waterfront,

a building that was once
the beating heart of the city.

Oh, this is one of those
places that very few people
know much about,

but is really critical
to the history of Charleston.

[narrator] These two buildings
tell the story of how
Charleston found redemption,

and in doing so, helped give
rise to modern America.

Don Campagna has lived
in Charleston his entire life.

He was a child when
he first saw this building.

[Campagna] This building
was designed to create
in the citizens

a feeling of appreciation
for the beauty around them.

If you're not impressed
by this size and this scale,

I don't know what it'll take
to move your heart.

[Sascha Auerbach] It's made of
this beautiful blond brick,

built to look good,
not just be functional.

[narrator] This part of
the structure is now empty.

But clues
to its function remain.

[Auerbach] It's a huge
empty space,

but down by one of those
banks of rubble,

you can see flowing water.

[narrator] Water plays
an important role in
the story of this building.

Its history goes back
over 100 years

to when Charleston
was one of the wealthiest
port cities in America.

Its prosperity ended
when the country
was thrown into civil war.

[Kwami] Charleston
played a major role
during the Civil War

and it was a pivotal city
in the fight between the Union
and the Confederate armies.

[narrator] By the end
of the conflict,

Charleston was left in ruins
by the Union army.

[Campagna]
The city was destroyed.

Absolutely decimated.

It wasn't just
a military conflagration,

it was, uh, civilians
suffering as well.

[narrator] For decades,
Charleston was a shadow
of its former self.

But in 1901, Congress gave
the city a second chance

by constructing a complex
that would help transform
the US Navy.

[narrator] In 1901, work began
on an engineering project

to revitalize the city
of Charleston.

They built
the Charleston Navy Yard.

The Navy built one of
the largest dry docks

on the entire Eastern Seaboard
right here in Charleston.

The shipyard focused mainly
on the resupply and the repair

of ships that were
already in the fleet.

[narrator] The shipyard had
a dry dock, crane, water pumps
and management buildings,

creating thousands
of new jobs.

And its beating heart was
a brand new power plant.

[Campagna]
This is industrial size.

You really have to have
something that could generate

the electricity to power
all of that equipment

to build the ships
that you need.

[Kwami] The naval yard
was a catalyst for more
economic activity

because it was
attracting workers from
all over the country.

[narrator] The Charleston Navy
Yard ushered in a new era
of prosperity for the city.

But in 1917, the United States
entered a new conflict

and the yard was about
to play a special roll
in keeping the country safe.

[Campagna] During World War I,

we had pretty much been
a wooden boat navy.

And WWI gave
the United States Navy a new,
steel-hulled fleet.

That was as big a transition
as we're seeing now

between gas engines
and electric cars.

[narrator] The plant powered
the refit of 35 destroyers

and hundreds
of smaller vessels.

It was the start
of what would be come,

the most powerful naval force
the world had ever seen.

[Campagna] The reason America
is as great as it is

is our maritime culture.

It's the maritime industries

that have made America
the country that it is.

[narrator] Charleston helped
prove that America
was willing and able

to defend itself
on the world stage.

Its new challenge
was to protect the people
who fought for it.

Even though America and
the Allies won World War I,

they only just coped with
the demands put on hospitals

to treat those
injured and hurt.

[narrator] It was said that
the crew of just one destroyer

would fill every hospital bed
in Charleston.

They needed more capacity
and decided to build

a bigger, better
hospital district

right here in Charleston.

[narrator] In the
downtown area

they built the new, 33-acer
Navy Hospital District.

[Campagna] I don't think
there was any question

that, at that point,
the government had
a very strong inkling

that we were likely
to wind up in a war

and that we were
gonna have casualties.

And we had to be prepared.

[narrator] The new facility
was equipped with
an X-ray department,

an operating theater,
and a recreational courtyard

that filled
the building with light.

Charleston was ready
if America was ever thrust
into another war.

And in 1941, it was.

As many as 4,000
wounded soldiers were
treated here every month.

Many of whom were fighting
in Europe and Africa.

[Campagna] There were
75,000 casualties

that came into Charleston.

People that came back
on those hospital ships

were the most
seriously wounded.

The most in desperate
need of care.

[narrator] The Charleston Navy
Hospital was well prepared.

It used pioneering methods
to care for its patients.

The hospital was designed
around the courtyard

with different wings
all around it.

And, actually,
what was revolutionary

about the design,
was that it actually enabled

different wards to treat
specific injuries.

If you had a doctor that was
particularly good at doing

repair of legs
or repair of arms,

then it would be nice
for that doctor

to be able to go from
one patient to the next.

It was more efficient
use of the personnel.

[narrator] The new
model of separating
patients into wards

became the basis
of modern clinical care.

After the second World War,

the Navy Hospital District
continued to care

for wounded veterans
for nearly three decades.

In 1996, the aged
navy yard finally closed.

Today, Charleston is a
cultural capital of the South,

its history forged
in three great conflicts.

People like Don Campagna
help keep that history alive.

This needs to be
a monument of sorts

to the memory of the people
who didn't leave here

and the people who did.

Because they both
did their duty.

If we're ever going to tell
the story of that generation,

and their service
and sacrifice,

I can't think of
a better place

than a hospital that made them
well and sent them home.