The University of Oregon Medical School's regents (now Oregon Health & Science University) donated land on Marquam Hill in 1926 to what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs.^[2] The property was to be used to construct a veterans hospital, with construction starting in February 1928.^[3] Offices opened at the new facility in November 1928, and patients were transferred to the new hospital in December 1928.^[3] In 1932, an administration building opened, followed by 13 quonset huts from 1946 to 1948 following World War II.^[2] The last addition to the old campus came in 1949 when a 155-bed tuberculosis hospital opened.^[2] The Portland VA started working with the adjacent medical school in 1946 on joint programs.^[4]

The Veterans Administration announced in May 1976 that a new hospital would be built in Portland.^[5] A local group formed in 1980 to fight construction, and went to court in 1981 to try to stop the project.^[5] A new building was finished in 1981 in order to move some operations away from the planned location of the new hospital building.^[2] The suit was eventually dismissed in October 1981 by judge Robert C. Belloni, and in January 1982 the design of the new building was unveiled as construction started.^[5] The new building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership (now ZGF Architects LLP), with W.B. Bateson Co. serving as the general contractor.^[6]

Construction ended in September 1987 on the main building, and it was dedicated in November 1987.^[5] In February 1988, the new $136 million facility opened to patients on Marquam Hill after a 364-day delay in construction,^[6][7] and demolition of the old buildings started in May 1988.^[5] When the new facility opened, it had a capacity of 478 beds, but never had staffing to operate at full capacity, and as of 1990 only used 399 beds.^[8] The final phase of construction was a $11.7 million, 413-space parking garage built starting in 1990.^[9]

In 1992, a 660-foot (200 m) long pedestrian bridge linking OHSU Hospital and the VA Hospital opened.^[10][11] The $7.4 million bridge is the longest of its type in North America.^[10] Due to staffing problems the VA closed its emergency room at night in April 1994.^[12]

Due to budget cuts, the facility announced 150 layoffs in June 1996.^[13] At that time, the hospital's budget was $140 million,^[13] which grew to $192 million in 2000.^[4] In July 2006, the hospital opened a new $3.7 million, 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m²) center for hearing disabilities.^[14] The Portland VA served 33,000 patients in 2000,^[4] 51,000 patients in 2004,^[15] which grew to 80,000 in 2012.^[1]

Services at the 160-bed medical center's campus include primary care, radiology, speech and language pathology, social work, prosthetics, rehabilitation, emergency care, a pharmacy, and laboratory services, among others.^[1][16] The acute care medical center is accredited by The Joint Commission,^[17] and has approximately 80,000 visitors annually.^[1]

The 127.77-foot (38.94 m) main building has nine stories above ground plus a penthouse, and two underground floors.^[18][19] The steel and concrete high-rise building has a total of 684,985 square feet (63,637.2 m²) of space.^[19] Overall, the campus has 1,532,254 square feet (142,351.1 m²) of space.^[20] The 660-foot (200 m) long pedestrian bridge linking the medical center to OHSU Hospital was constructed with 2.4 million pounds (1,100 long tons; 1,200 short tons) of steel and is supported by two towers, each 150 feet (46 m) tall.^[10][11]

• Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center - U.S. News & World Report