Kansas Soldiers' Home

Last updated

The Kansas Soldiers' Home (KSH), located at Fort Dodge, Kansas, was established February 7, 1890. It is under the authority of the Kansas Commission of Veterans' Affairs. It has grown since its inception to include a variety of services.

Contents

History

Fort Dodge (US Army Post) was located along the Santa Fe Trail. The post began as a military camp in 1864, but was abandoned. In April 1865 it was permanently established to protect the area from Indian raids. Fort Dodge operated until 1882 and was then somewhat maintained by a custodian. The citizens of Dodge City worked to have a soldiers' home established on the old post. In 1889 President Grover Cleveland signed a bill allowing part of the military reservation to be used as a soldiers' home. [1]

The home opened in early 1890, one source claiming on January 1 and another claiming on February 7. Many of the old post buildings were used by the Soldiers' Home. At any rate among the first occupants were American Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate. Also, veterans of the Indian campaigns and the Mexican War were admitted. Eventually, black veterans also were admitted as residents. [2]

However, at least in the early years, some residents did not fit into the retirement community. An online article says, "Many were dismissed from the Soldiers' Home for quarrelsomeness, drunkenness, and the like. Even croquet had to be adandoned as a form of recreation when the mallets proved to be to [sic] handy a weapon to settled quarrels among the oldsters." [3]

The first Independence Day celebration at the Home, July 4, 1890, was a memorable event. More than 200 Dodge City residents attended a special celebration at the home. Both Confederate and Union residents and veterans were recognized. [4]

Through the years the home served veterans of all subsequent wars. New buildings were constructed to expand services. A cemetery was established to inter residents who died and needed a place to be buried. As of 2010 approximately 400 veterans were buried in the Kansas Soldiers' Home Cemetery. In 2002 a new cemetery was established, the Kansas Veterans' Cemetery at Fort Dodge. As of 2010 166 veterans and dependents were buried there. Long-term nursing care was added in 1998. [5]

Services offered

Today, a variety of services are offered to the residents and in some cases to staff and visitors. In short, these include:

Accreditation

The Kansas Soldiers' Home meets the accreditation requirements of several accrediting bodies:

Notable residents

Related Research Articles

United States Department of Veterans Affairs Department of the United States government

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.

Hays, Kansas City in Ellis County, Kansas

Hays is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The largest city in northwestern Kansas, it is the economic and cultural center of the region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 21,116. It is also a college town, home to Fort Hays State University.

Dodge City, Kansas City in Ford County, Kansas

Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West.

United States National Cemetery System Cemeteries for veterans in the United States

The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 172 cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress on July 17, 1862. By the end of 1862, 14 national cemeteries had been established. A national cemetery is generally a military cemetery containing the graves of U.S. military personnel, veterans and their spouses, but not exclusively so. The best known national cemetery is Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, adjacent to Washington, D.C. Some national cemeteries, especially Arlington, have graves of civilian leaders and other national figures. Some national cemeteries also contain sections for Confederate soldiers. In addition to national cemeteries, there are also state veteran cemeteries.

Henry Dodge American politician and army officer

Moses Henry Dodge was a Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son, Augustus C. Dodge, served as a U.S. Senator from Iowa; the two were the first and so far the only father-son pair to serve concurrently in the Senate, which they did from 1848 to 1855.

Old soldiers home Military veterans retirement home, nursing home, or hospital

An old soldiers' home is a military veterans' retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc.

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers American governmental institution for veterans

The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the American Civil War. Initially, the Asylum, later called the Home, was planned to have three branches: in the Northeast, in the central area north of the Ohio River, and in what was then considered the Northwest, the present upper Midwest.

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery Historic veterans cemetery in Leavenworth County, Kansas

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army installation north of Leavenworth, Kansas. It was officially established in 1862, but was used as a burial ground as early as 1844, and was one of the twelve original United States National Cemeteries designated by Abraham Lincoln. The cemetery is the resting place of eight Medal of Honor recipients, but most are the less famous casualties of war. It was named for Brigadier General Henry Leavenworth, who was re-interred there in 1902 from Woodland Cemetery in Delhi, New York. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it occupies approximately 36.1 acres (14.6 ha) and was site to over 22,00 interments, as of 2020. It is maintained by Leavenworth National Cemetery.

James M. Harvey (politician) American politician

James Madison Harvey was a United States senator from Kansas and fifth Governor of Kansas.

Armed Forces Retirement Home Facilities that house US army veterans and active duty members

The Armed Forces Retirement Home refers to one of two facilities, one in Gulfport, Mississippi, the other in Washington, D.C., that house veterans and active duty members of the United States Armed Forces.

Fort Zarah was a fort in Barton County, Kansas, northeast of present-day Great Bend, Kansas, that was used from 1864 to 1869.

Pawnee, Kansas Ghost town in Geary County, Kansas

Pawnee is a ghost town in Geary County, Kansas, United States, which briefly served as the first official capital of the Kansas Territory in 1855. Pawnee was the territorial capital for exactly five days – the legislature met there from July 2 to July 6 – before legislators voted to move the capital to Shawnee Mission, which is located in present-day Fairway. It may be the shortest-lived capital of any U.S. state or territory.

Zophar M. Mansur American politician

Zophar Mack Mansur was an American Civil War veteran, lawyer, banker, and politician who served as the 40th lieutenant governor of Vermont.

Thomas Carney American politician

Thomas Carney was the second Governor of Kansas.

John W. Leedy American politician

John Whitnah Leedy was the 14th Governor of Kansas, serving 1896 to 1898. He later was active in politics in Alaska and Alberta, Canada.

Pewee Valley Confederate Cemetery United States historic place

Pewee Valley Confederate Cemetery is one mile from the site of the old Kentucky Confederate Home. The cemetery is not only on the National Register of Historic Places, but an individual monument within it, the Confederate Memorial in Pewee Valley, is separately on it as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS. It is the only cemetery for Confederate veterans, 313 in total, that is an official state burying ground in Kentucky.

Fort Dodge (United States Army Post) American military base (1865–1882)

The site of Fort Dodge in the U.S. state of Kansas was originally an old campground for wagons traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, just west of the western junction of the Wet and Dry Routes and near the middle or Cimarron Cutoff. On March 23, 1865, Major General Grenville M. Dodge, who commanded the 11th and 16th Kansas Cavalry Regiments, wrote to Colonel James Hobart Ford to propose establishing a new military post west of Fort Larned. On orders of Col. Ford, Captain Henry Pearce, with Company C, Eleventh Cavalry Regiment, and Company F, Second U.S. Volunteer Infantry, from Fort Larned, occupied and established Fort Dodge on April 10, 1865.

In 1864 Gen. Samuel R. Curtis established a military camp at the Fort Riley-Fort Larned Road crossing of the Smokey Hill River in what is now Ellsworth County, Kans.

Osawatomie State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital established in 1863 and opened in 1866 in Osawatomie, Kansas. It has been named "Kansas Insane Asylum" and the "State Insane Asylum" but was officially changed to its present name in 1901.

Soldiers Home in Holyoke Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

The Soldiers' Home in Holyoke is a full-service veterans center and hospital located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which maintains 247 beds in its main nursing facility, and a separate domiciliary care building with 30 full-time residents. The facility provides long-term care and outpatient medical services, as well as dental and social services, and programming and events for veterans. Operated by the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services, it is inspected annually by both the state and the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.

References

  1. ↑ "Fort Dodge Dispute Settled by Records: Authentic History Received from Washington: Established as Military Post in 1864, Became Fort in 1865, Soldiers' Home in 1886," Topeka Daily Capital, June 28, 1931, p. 7B; "Kansas Soldiers' Home: Fort Dodge, Kansas" (N.p.: 1975), pp. 2, 7-8; Dr. V. V. Andamson, "The Origin of the Fort Dodge Soldiers' Home," Dodge City Daily Globe , October 15, 1917, p. 6; Frank W. Blackmar, ed., Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History (Chicago: StandardPub. Co., 1912), Vol. I, p. 659 "KANSAS: Cyclopedia - 1912". Archived from the original on 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2010-01-26. .
  2. ↑ Kenneth W. Felts, "4th of July 1890: Fort Dodge, Kansas Soldiers Home," www.skyways.org/orgs/fordco/july.html ; Andamson, p. 6; Blackmar, p. 659."Fort Dodge, Kansas," http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/fort-dodge.html .
  3. ↑ "Fort Dodge, Kansas."
  4. ↑ Felts, http://www.skyways.org/orgs/fordco/july.html
  5. ↑ "Fort Dodge,Kansas," www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/fort-dodge.html ; Kansas Commission on Veterans' Affairs website, www.kcva.org/cp/fort_dodge.shtml . Kansas Soldiers' Home, Fort Dodge, Kansas, Admission Handbook, p. 2, Kansas Commission on Veterans' Affairs website.
  6. ↑ Kansas Commission on Veterans' Affairs website; Kansas Soldiers' Home . . . Handbook, p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Best Nursing Homes - USNews.com https://www.usnews.com/listings/nursing-homes/ks/175513/health  ; Kansas Soldiers' Home . . . Handbook, p. 3.
  8. ↑ "Jim Kelley, Dodge Pioneer, Is Dead", Dodge City Daily Globe, September 10, 1912, p. 1

Coordinates: 37°43′58″N99°56′12″W / 37.73278°N 99.93667°W / 37.73278; -99.93667

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.