<P> The hotel briefly reopened for the 1942 season, but was soon commandeered by the U.S. Army for use as a hospital . The Army paid $3.3 million for the property, which had been valued at $5.4 million, and took over control of the property on September 1, 1942 . They converted the resort to a 2000 - bed hospital, known as Ashford General Hospital, named for Bailey Ashford, a noted Army doctor . The hospital opened on October 16, 1943 . The hospital treated nearly 25,000 patients before closing on June 30, 1946 . The property was sold back to the C&O railroad for just under the $3.3 million they had been paid in 1942 . </P> <P> C&O hired internationally renowned interior designer Dorothy Draper to completely redecorate and restore The Greenbrier . Draper oversaw every element of the design of the property in her trademark style: combining bold colors, classical influences and modern touches, and the work took two years . The Greenbrier's reopening, celebrated from April 15 to April 18, 1948, was an international social event of the season . It attracted such luminaries as the Duke of Windsor and his wife, Wallis Simpson (who had spent her honeymoon with her first husband at The Greenbrier in 1916), Bing Crosby, and members of the Joseph Kennedy family . Since the late 20th century, the resort has hosted several presidents and vice-presidents, in addition to foreign dignitaries such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco . </P> <P> In the late 1950s, the U.S. government approached The Greenbrier for assistance in creating a secret emergency relocation center to house Congress in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust . The classified, underground facility, named "Project Greek Island", was built at the same time as the West Virginia Wing, an above - ground addition to the hotel, from 1959 to 1962 . </P> <P> Although the bunker was kept stocked with supplies for 30 years, it was never used as an emergency location, even during the Cuban Missile Crisis . The existence of the bunker was not acknowledged by the government; Ted Gup of The Washington Post reported it in a 1992 story . Immediately after publication of the Post story, the government decommissioned the bunker . The facility has since been renovated . It is also used as a data storage facility for the private sector . It is featured as an attraction in which visitors can tour the now declassified facilities, known as The Bunker . </P>

When was the bunker built at the greenbrier