Soldiers Home Foundation

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Home Soldiers Home

Our Buildings - Soldiers Home "Old Main"

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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. Old Main stands as a classic example of Second Empire, a Victorian era style.

Designed by prominent Milwaukee architect Edward Townsend Mix, Old Main was completed in 1869 at a cost of $211,000 and its corner towers were added in 1876. At the Home’s peak, nearly 1,000 veterans lived here. Old Main was the veterans’ home for more than 100 years, into the late 1980s. The domiciliary is designed with long rooms to house several men, common foyers and sitting rooms. Its basic interior design remains as it was in 1869.

A cast iron fountain across from Old Main was designed by Caspar Hoenecke. Parts of the fountain date to the 1870s, and photographic evidence links it to the Home in 1881. The fountain was most famously photographed by renowned Wisconsin Dells photographer H.H. Bennett, a Civil War veteran who visited the Soldiers Home for reunions. The fountain is now surrounded with bricks honoring Wisconsin veterans, which can be purchased through the Soldiers Home Foundation.

 

1889 Chapel Update

Current donations and our goal:

fundraiser ideas

The Milwaukee Soldiers Home Foundation, Inc. has, to date, raised over $200,000 toward restoring the National Soldiers Home Historic District's 1889 Chapel. We've used donations to complete lead, asbestos and animal abatement at the Chapel as well as architectural plans and the required Historic Structures Report. In addition, we've obtained $1.37 million in National Park Service tax credits toward the $6 million project. We need your help to meet the immediate need of raising $500,000 to begin Phase I of the Chapel Restoration project, restoring the damaged Chapel's roof, the first Phase of the Chapel Restoration Project. To donate cash, goods, or time and talent to the project, visit the Chapel Restoration section of this Web site.