When conceived, the State Memorial Hospital was not administratively part of Mendota State Hospital. The Memorial Hospital buildings came under the control of the Mendota State Hospital after the VA moved patients to Tomah and returned the facility to the state in July 1948. This was the only expansion of Mendota State Hospital from 1904 to 1952. Regaining control of Memorial Hospital from the Veterans Administration allowed the state to move patients out of the 90-year-old main building and out of upper floors while replacement facilities were constructed in the 1950s.