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.
Springs on the site were originally described by Native Americans as "worromontogus" (sometimes translated as "place of the mineral spring"). [1] The 134-room Togus Springs Hotel was built on the site in 1858 by Rockland granite dealer Horace Beals. [1] Beals constructed a stable, large pool, bathing house, race track, and bowling alley on the site in an effort to duplicate the success of the Poland Spring Hotel. [1] Beal's investment of one-quarter-million dollars failed to attract the anticipated number of visitors, and the facility closed when receipts failed to cover expenses. [1]
The hotel was purchased by the federal government for US$50,000 in 1866. [1] Togus began operations on October 6, 1866 as the Eastern Branch of the National Asylum For Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. [1] The first veteran admitted was James P. Nickerson of Company A, 19th Massachusetts Volunteers. [2] Two hundred veterans were living at Togus during the summer of 1867, and a new barracks, hospital, and chapel were under construction. [2] A fire in a main building on January 7, 1868, displaced 270 residents. [2] Three 3-story brick dormitories and an amusement hall recreation building were built in 1868. [2] Togus resembled a military establishment where the men wore surplus blue army uniforms and were subject to military discipline including confinement in the guardhouse for infractions of the rules. [3] The residents signed over their federal pension in return for their care. [3]
Those who were able to work could earn money working at the shops or farms raising much of the food consumed at Togus. [3] Three Holstein dairy cattle were imported from the Netherlands in 1871 to form the first registered herd of the breed in Maine. [4] In 1872 the name was changed to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. [5] New buildings included a bakery, a butcher shop, a blacksmith shop, a brickyard, a boot and shoe factory, a carpentry shop, a fire station, a harness shop, a library, a sawmill, a soap works, a store, and an opera house theatre. [6] President Ulysses S. Grant visited Togus on August 13, 1873 to review the men who had served with him during the Civil War. [3] There were 933 men living at Togus in 1878. [7] Most were Civil War veterans, but some had served in the Mexican–American War or the War of 1812. [7]
The narrow-gauge Kennebec Central Railroad offered transportation to Gardiner beginning on July 23, 1890. [8] The interurban Augusta and Togus Electric Railway offered transportation to Augusta beginning on June 15, 1901. [9] The number of veterans living at Togus peaked in 1904 at just under 2800. [10] Most men lived in dormitories, but some resided in small cottages they constructed on the grounds. [7] The men in cottages drew their rations from the commissary and cooked their own meals. [7] Grand Army of the Republic post Cutler No. 48 was based at Togus and named for major Nathan Cutler. [7] Togus became a popular recreation center for civilians from the surrounding area. [7] Large crowds arrived on weekends to observe baseball games, military band concerts, opera house performances, and a zoo including antelope, bear, buffalo, deer, elk, chimpanzees, and pheasants. [3] Special military ceremonies were held on Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Independence Day. [11]
Additional buildings were constructed to convert the site to a Veterans Administration hospital. The facilities, along with the adjacent Togus National Cemetery, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The Governor's House, the oldest building in the complex and the oldest veteran-related facility in the country, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
On July 8, 2010 a veteran, with ongoing health issues, had an armed confrontation with police and a Maine game warden in a wooded area of the campus after calls were placed to authorities regarding gunshots. The veteran was shot and killed by police. [12]
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong 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.
Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College, Thomas College, and the headquarters of HealthReach Community Health Centers. As of the 2020 census the population was 15,828. Along with Augusta, Waterville is one of the principal cities of the Augusta-Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area.
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.
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.
The Kennebec Central Railroad was a 2 ft narrow gauge railroad operating between Randolph and Togus, Maine. The railroad was built to offer transportation for American Civil War veterans living at Togus to the nearby City of Gardiner. Tracks of 25-pound steel rails ran five miles from Randolph, Maine to the veterans home at Togus. Train service began on 23 July 1890.
Togus National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located at Togus, Kennebec County, Maine. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 31.2 acres (12.6 ha), and as of the end of 2020, had more than 5,300 interments. It is closed to new interments.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home refers to one of two Old Soldiers' retirement homes, one in Gulfport, Mississippi, the other in Washington, D.C., that house veterans and active duty members of the United States Armed Forces.
The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is an organization created in 1920 by World War I veterans for disabled military veterans of the United States Armed Forces that helps them and their families through various means. It was issued a federal charter by Congress in 1932. It currently has over 1 million members. As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, it is outside the purview of – and therefore not rated by – Charity Navigator. DAV's Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 31–0263158.
The Portland Company was established 10 November 1846 by John A. Poor and Norris Locomotive Works engineer Septimus Norris as a locomotive foundry to build railroad equipment for the adjacent Portland terminus of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad connection between Portland, Maine and Montreal. The shops opened for business in October, 1847. Its first locomotive, the Augusta, emerged from the shops in July 1848 for delivery to the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth. Over the next several decades, the Company produced in its Fore Street facilities over 600 steam locomotives as well as 160 merchant and naval vessels, railcars, construction equipment, Knox automobiles, and the like. Portland Company built the engines of the civil war side-wheel gunboats Agawam and Pontoosuc. Taking into account its other products, the Company could lay claim to being one of the leading medium-to-heavy steel manufacturers in New England. The company ceased production in 1978.
Fort Whipple is a former United States (U.S.) Army post that was temporarily established at Del Rio Springs, north of present-day Chino Valley, Arizona, and later relocated to a permanent site near present-day Prescott, Arizona.
Fort Custer Training Center, often known simply as Fort Custer, is a federally owned and state-operated Michigan Army National Guard training facility, but is also used by other branches of the armed forces and armed forces from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. It is one of the most heavily used Midwest training facilities and is used mainly for company level small arms and maintenance training.
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.
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.
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.
The 29th Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Harry S. Coombs (1878-1939) was an American architect practicing in Lewiston, Maine. He was the son of and successor to architect George M. Coombs.
The Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District is a veterans' hospital located 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 American Family Field.
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.
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.
Knoxville Veterans Administration Hospital Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Knoxville, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The first part of the property that was developed is a cemetery, which is located in the middle of the former VA golf course. It contains 40 plots. The State Industrial Home for the Blind was opened on the site of what would become the Veterans Administration Hospital on January 1, 1892. It remained in operation until April 30, 1900, when the last patient moved out. Two years later the facility was transformed into the State Hospital for Inebriates, which was a place of detention and treatment for males addicted to morphine, cocaine and other narcotics. Local citizens protested, and it was closed a few years later.
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