Howard University Hospital, previously known as Freedmen's Hospital, is a major hospital located in Washington, D.C., built on the site of the previous Griffith Stadium. The hospital has served the African-American community in the area for over 150 years, having been established in 1862 to cater for the medical needs of the thousands of African Americans who came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking their freedom. The first hospital of its kind to provide medical treatment for former slaves, it later became the major hospital for the area's African American community.