The tenacious Milwaukee Ladies pave the way

The origins of the Northwestern Branch of the National Home can be found in relief activities in Milwaukee, which resulted in the creation of a local soldiers’ home in 1865. The Milwaukee Ladies Association had been formed in October, 1861, as an auxiliary of the Chicago Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission”. By December 1862, membership in the Milwaukee organization was so large that it split into two groups based on the location of members’ residences, becoming the East Side and the West Side Societies. In October 1863, the East Side Society reorganized itself as the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Aid Society, and took over the former association’s relationship with the Sanitary Commission. In March, 1864, the West Side Society reorganized as the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home Society, concentrating primarily on providing services at the local level to returning soldiers by providing meals and lodging in rented quarters in downtown Milwaukee.

The Soldiers’ Home Society received its charter from the Wisconsin legislature in February 1865, as well as a grant of $5,000 for the purpose of erecting a permanent facility for the relief of soldiers. In the spring of 1865, the Lady Managers of the Home Society organized a fair to raise funds for the purchase of a site and the construction of the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home. The Soldiers’ Home Fair was held between June 28 and July 6,1865, and succeeded in raising over $100,000 for the Soldiers’ Home (12).

By October 1865, the Home Society had purchased a 27-acre site on the far west side of Milwaukee or $12,000, and had begun developing plans for the construction of a building.

Locating three perfect sites for a new asylum system

The Board of Managers of the National Asylum met for the first time in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1866. The principal concern of the board was the selection of sites for the three branches of the national institution, based on geographic distribution. They established criteria for site evaluation: a healthy site with fresh air and ample water supply, located 3 to 5 miles from a city on a tract of at least 200 acres, connected to the city by a railroad (13).

The Board issued a bulletin to newspapers and to governors of the northern states requesting proposals for sites to be donated or sold for the purpose of erecting branches. Proposals were due by June 20,1866, with all sites to have been inspected by a member of the board before July 12. In addition, the Board advertised for plans, specifications, and estimates for the construction of asylum buildings.

The Lady Managers hold their ground

In the second meeting of the Board in July 1866, George Walker of Milwaukee presented a letter from the Lady Managers of the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home offering $100,000 to the Board as a donation for locating a branch of the National Asylum in Milwaukee (14).

Colonel Walker had made the offer of the Lady Managers’ donation of the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home funds and property to the Board of Managers of the National Asylum in July 1866. This action had been preceded by difficult negotiations in Milwaukee in June 1866, between the Lady Managers and the all-male Executive Committee of the Soldiers’ Home Society. The women rejected Walker’s proposal, arguing that they had worked to raise funds specifically for a Wisconsin home for soldiers, and that they already had a site and had purchased building material. The men of the Executive Committee argued that more soldiers would be helped through a national asylum; subsequently, the Lady Managers accepted the decision of the Executive Committee and Colonel Walker was authorized to make his offer to the Board of Managers (15).

At the September 6, 1866, meeting of the Board, the managers accepted propositions for the purchase of a bankrupt resort at Togus, Maine, as the site for the Eastern Branch; the investigation of sites for the Central Branch in Ohio; and the inspection of sites in Milwaukee for the Northwestern Branch (16).

Colonel Walker died before the December 1866, meeting of the Board, and was replaced by Dr. Eratus B. Wolcott of Milwaukee. At the December 7, 1866, meeting of the Board, the Executive Committee announced its approval of locating a branch in Milwaukee.

The Tweedy & Mitchell site

The committee was directed by the Board to return to Milwaukee to purchase a site and to make arrangements for the construction of asylum buildings and the transfer of veterans currently housed in the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home in Milwaukee, operated by the Lady Managers of the Home Society (17).

By the April 4, 1867, Board meeting, a 400 acre tract west of Milwaukee had been purchased from “Messrs.  Tweedy, Mitchell & Co.” for $77,000 (18). The Tweedy and Mitchell site had existing farm buildings to which the first members were relocated from the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home on May 1, 1867 (19).

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