Historic District Buildings
The National Soldiers Home Historic District, in Milwaukee, is a birthplace of federal veteran care in America, and it remains a soldiers’ recuperation and living settlement. Established by legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln just after the Civil War as The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, this 90-plus acre district rests on the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center grounds in Milwaukee, Wis., off I-94, between what National Avenue and Bluemound Road, directly west of Miller Park. (Read more about the district's early history in Our History section of this Web site.)
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the National Soldiers Home Historic District is the only one of the three original Soldiers Home sites to have its majestic Home intact, and it is also the only one with the majority of its surrounding recuperative village remaining. In all, the National Soldiers Home Historic District houses 25 post-Civil War and turn-of-the 20th Century buildings as well as the oldest two-thirds of Wood National Cemetery and dozens of park-like acres.
The most historically significant and architecturally dominant building is the site’s namesake, the Soldiers Home (Bldg. 2), or “Old Main,” as veterans nicknamed her. It was home to veterans living and recuperating on the grounds for more than 100 years, into the mid-1970s.
Most prominent in the tranquil grounds is Wood National Cemetery, opened in 1871, the final resting place of some 37,000.
This tranquil setting is bordered to the east by a National Geologic Landmark, an intact Silurian Rock Reef, designated in 1837 and a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
The heart of the district rests in the 1889 Home Chapel (Bldg 12), currently being restored and reopened by the Soldiers Home Foundation. Visit the restoration section of this Web site for more information.
Perhaps the most celebrated building on the grounds is Ward Memorial Hall (Bldg. 41) or Ward Theater. Completed in 1881 it is the only one of the National Register of Historic Places district buildings to so far also be listed individually on the National Register. For eight decades, the theater was a popular stop for minstrel shows, vaudeville, variety acts and drama. Entertainers included Will Rogers, Bob Hope, George Jessel, Burns and Allen, Sophie Tucker, Ethel Merman, Nat King Cole, and Liberace.
The Governor’s Residence (Bldg. 39) is the oldest building on the site. Completed in 1868, it has housed the Soldiers Home’s directors for generations including the current VA director.
For much of its life, the Soldiers Home village revolved around the Headquarters Building (Bldg. 1), built in 1896, to house the Home’s administrative offices.
Also central on the grounds was the district's Recreation Hall (Bldg. 4), built from Post Funds in 1894, and the Wadsworth Library (Bldg. 3), built in 1891, which continues to operate as a library today.
Though often referred to as the VA’s “original hospital,” the Hospital and Convalescent Wards (Bldg. 6), built in 1879 was the third hospital on the grounds.
There are dozens of other historically significant buildings in the Soldiers Home village—from the gable-roofed Surgeon’s & Adjutant’s Quarters (Bldg. 17), built in 1887, to 1880s cream brick Barracks designed by Henry Koch and to such maintenance buildings as the 1883 Fire Engine House (Bldg. 11), the 1895 Power Plant (Bldg 45), the Commissary Warehouse/Quartermaster’s Storehouse or “Stone Barn,” (Bldg. 20), erected in 1896 and renovated in 1938, as well as Quonset huts erected in the 1940s.
Additional Historic District buildings include some of the following: Power Plant (Bldg 45) 1895, Quarters (Bldg 49 62, 79, 18, 19) 1909, 1916 and 1921, Barracks (Bldg 5) 1894, Quarters (Bldg 50, 37, 56) 19002, 1909 and 1917-1929, Barracks (Bldg 6, 7) 1879, 1886, 1888 and 1898, Powder Magazine (Bldg 53) 1881, and the Protestant Chaplain's Quarter (Bldg 16) 1901, which is part of the Chapel Restoration Project.
For all the history and architecture and famous names associated with the National Soldiers Home Historic District, it is most of all the names no one knows who most make this district, its 25 buildings, and its cemetery so significant to Wisconsin and America. It is the thousands of soldiers, mostly Wisconsin soldiers, who lived and recuperated, and suffered and died at the Home built for the veteran who had “borne the burden” but could not return home from it. Their history is the true treasure that these buildings hold.
For more about the history of the National Soldiers Home Historic District, check out the Our History section of this Web site for read the site's National Register application.
