Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Last updated
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Central Branch
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Central Branch, Four-Unit Residence, 4100 West Third Street, Dayton, Montgomery County, OH HABS OHIO,57-DAYT,11F-5.tif
A four-unit residence building at the center (undated HABS photo)
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location4100 W. 3rd St., Dayton, Ohio
Coordinates 39°44′37″N84°15′55″W / 39.74361°N 84.26528°W / 39.74361; -84.26528 Coordinates: 39°44′37″N84°15′55″W / 39.74361°N 84.26528°W / 39.74361; -84.26528
Area578.87 acres (234.26 ha) (size in 1930)
266 acres (108 ha) (landmark-designated area)
Built1867
NRHP reference No. 03001412 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJanuary 15, 2004
Designated NHLDOctober 16, 2012

The Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center is located at 4100 West 3rd Street in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1867, it is one of the three oldest facilities of what is now the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. When founded, it was known as the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and it is under this name that a portion of its campus, along with the adjacent Dayton National Cemetery, was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2012, for its role in the history and management of veterans affairs. [2]

Contents

Campus

The medical center in September 2008. Dayton VA Medical Center.jpg
The medical center in September 2008.

The Dayton VA campus is located on Dayton's west side, bounded on the north by Dayton National Cemetery (itself bounded on the north by West 3rd Street), the east by South Gettysburg Avenue, the south by United States Route 35, and on the west by Liscum Drive. The expansive property includes a large number of buildings, most of which were built between about 1930 and 1960 to fulfill the VA's mission in a variety of ways. They include administrative facilities, hospital and other medical facilities, housing complexes (some still in use as such, others used for other purposes, and others standing vacant), and landscaped grounds. A small handful of buildings remain from its earliest days. [2]

History

In 1866 the United States Congress established the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), the precursor of the VA, to provide medical and other facilities for veterans of the American Civil War. Three centers were established in the following years: the Eastern branch in Togus, Maine, the Central Branch in Dayton, and the Northwestern Branch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Dayton facility was the administrative center of the home, and its principal commissary. The landscaped grounds of its early days included a conservatory and a small zoo, which were local tourist attractions in addition to providing restorative functions to veterans living at the facility. In 1930 the NHDVS was merged with other organizations to form the Veterans Administration, and the Dayton facilities underwent a major modernization over the following 20 years. The facilities were expanded and further modernizes in the 1980s and 1990s, most visibly with the construction of the Inpatient Tower and associated medical complex, which now dominate the western portion of the campus. [2]

A portion of the complex, including the adjacent cemetery (also founded in 1867), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 for its significance in local and state history, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012 for its national importance in the administration of veterans affairs. [2]

Primary care

See also

Related Research Articles

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.

Camp Chase

Camp Chase was a military staging and training camp established in Columbus, Ohio in May 1861 after the start of the American Civil War. It also included a large Union-operated prison camp for Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War.

Dayton National Cemetery

Dayton National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Dayton in Montgomery County, Ohio. It encompasses 116.8 acres (47.3 ha) and as of July 18, 2019, had 55,359 interments. In January, 2014, it was one of only fourteen cemeteries to be designated as a national shrine. A new 2,000 niche columbarium was dedicated on July 24, 2014. It is one of a few National Cemeteries with their own Honor Squad. Since its formation, unless refused by family and during a few weeks the National Cemetery Administration disallowed military honors in their cemeteries, no veteran has been buried without a Rifle Salute in addition to "Taps" and the folding and presentation of the Flag. It is also the only National Cemetery with the remains of a funeral tunnel which once allowed deceased veterans to be removed from the Home Hospital to the cemetery. Plans are in process to restore the entrance into the tunnel to its original form.

Hampton VAMC National Cemetery Part of the Hampton VA Medical Center

Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located the city of Hampton, Virginia. It encompasses only 0.2 of an acre, and has 22 interments. It is currently closed to new interments.

Togus, Maine

Togus, formally known as the Togus VA Medical Center, is a facility operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Chelsea, Maine. The facility was built as a resort hotel, and housed Union veterans of the American Civil War prior to being converted to a veterans hospital. It was the first veterans facility developed by the United States government.

Governors House (Togus, Maine) United States historic place

The Director's Quarters, Togus Veterans' Administration Center, previously known as the Governor's House, is a historic house on the grounds of the Veterans Administration (VA) facility in Togus, Maine. The house, built in 1869, is historically significant as the only surviving structure of the first National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, established at Togus in 1866 to serve American Civil War veterans. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. It is a contributing element of the historic district encompassing the Togus VA campus.

Wadsworth Chapel United States historic place

Wadsworth Chapel, also known as the Catholic-Protestant Chapels, is actually two separate chapels under one roof on the campus of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Los Angeles, California. The structure was built in 1900 and was closed in 1971 after being damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake. It is the oldest building on Wilshire Boulevard and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The structure has fallen into a state of disrepair due to the lack of funds within the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to pay for the required repairs and renovation.

Sawtelle Veterans Home Care home for United States military veterans (1887–1927)

The Sawtelle Veterans Home was a care home for disabled American veterans in what is today part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area in California in the United States. The Home, formally the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, was established in 1887 on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica lands donated by Senator John P. Jones and Arcadia B. de Baker. The following year, the site grew by an additional 200 acres (0.81 km2); in 1890, 20 acres (0.081 km2) more were appended for use as a veterans' cemetery. With more than 1,000 veterans in residence, a new hospital was erected in 1900. This hospital was replaced in 1927 by the James W. Wadsworth Hospital, now known as the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Marion Branch United States historic place

The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Marion Branch is a historic old soldiers' home located in Marion, Indiana. The hospital, along with Marion National Cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 as a national historic district.

Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center old soldiers home in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA

The Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center began in 1923 as an old soldiers' home in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was originally called the Tuskegee Home, part of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers system.

Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District United States historic place

The Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District is a veterans' hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with roots going back to the Civil War. Contributing buildings in the district were constructed from 1867 to 1955, and the 90 acres (36 ha) historic district of the Milwaukee Soldiers Home campus lies within the 400 acres (160 ha) Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center grounds, just west of Miller Park.

Ward Memorial Hall United States historic place

Ward Memorial Hall is an 1880s theater building within the Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is part of the Milwaukee Soldiers Home complex, designated Building No. 41, on the present day Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center grounds.

Bath VA Medical Center United States historic place

Bath VA Medical Center is a U.S. Veterans Administration hospital located in Bath, Steuben County, New York. Affiliated with the University of Rochester School of Medicine, it provides secondary care and operates clinics in Elmira and Wellsville, New York; and Coudersport and Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, and designated a national historic district.

Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center United States historic place

The Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also known as the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, is a medical facility of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at 200 Springs Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. Its campus once consisted of about 276 acres (112 ha) of land, which had by 2012 been reduced to 179 acres (72 ha). The hospital was opened in 1928 to treat neuropsychiatric patients, but now provides a wider array of medical services. Through the efforts of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, the center was expanded to offer services to women in 1947; her role led to the center being renamed in her honor by President Jimmy Carter.

Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers United States historic place

The Western Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers was established in 1885 in Leavenworth, Kansas to house aging veterans of the American Civil War. The 214-acre (87 ha) campus is near Fort Leavenworth, and is directly adjacent to Leavenworth National Cemetery, south of Leavenworth town. The home features about 82 contributing building resources, constructed between the 1880s and the 1940s. It is now part of the Department of Veterans Affairs Eisenhower Medical Center.

Danville Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District United States historic place

The Danville Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District is the historic campus of a branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Danville, Illinois. The branch, which opened in 1898, was one of eleven branches of the National Home, which formed in 1867 to treat Union soldiers disabled during the Civil War. U.S. Representative and Danville resident Joseph Gurney Cannon used his political influence to establish the Danville Branch, which brought money and jobs to the city. The campus served as both a medical facility and a planned community for the area's veterans, and it included housing, veteran-run shops, community halls, a school and library, and a chapel. Most of these buildings were designed in the Georgian Revival style; however, the library is a Classical Revival building, and the chapel has a Gothic Revival design. The campus also includes the Danville National Cemetery. The buildings remaining on the campus are presently divided between Danville's Veterans Affairs hospital and the Danville Area Community College.

Wadsworth was an unincorporated community in Delaware Township, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Mountain Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers United States historic place

The Mountain Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was an old soldiers' home opened in 1904 in Mountain Home, Johnson City, Tennessee. Its site has since been taken over by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and is home to the Mountain Home National Cemetery and the James H. Quillen VA Center. Also known as the Mountain Home, its campus was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2011, as a well-preserved example of an early 20th-century veterans care facility.

Battle Mountain Sanitarium United States historic place

The Battle Mountain Sanitarium was a division of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) located in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Established by law in 1902 and opened in 1907, it was unique among the facilities of the NHDVS, a precursor of today's United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in that it was strictly a medical facility with no residential components beyond its treatment facilities. It was founded to treat former soldiers suffering from musculo-skeletal problems that were believed to be treatable by the region's mineral springs, and for conditions such as tuberculosis whose treatment was improved by the thin dry air. The facilities built for the sanitarium are in an architecturally distinctive Romanesque and Mission Revival style, and now form the centerpiece of the Black Hills Health Care facility, operated by the VA. Most of the complex site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011 for its architecture and history.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Draft NHL nomination for Central Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-12-07.