Soldiers Home Foundation

Famed Milwaukee Architect Henry Koch was a busy architect in the mid- to late-1800s in Milwaukee (designing City Hall, the Pfister Hotel, and Turner Hal) and at the Soldiers Home, designing most of the Home’s buildings. His most celebrated Home creation is Ward Memorial Hall (Bldg. 41) or Ward Theater—the only one of the National Register of Historic Places district buildings to so far also be listed individually on the National Register.

The theater was completed in 1881 and named for Horatio Ward, an American banker and patriot, who created an endowment fund to construct memorial halls at several Soldiers Homes.

For eight decades, the playhouse 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.

One of the first theaters in Wisconsin, Ward Memorial Hall was originally a multi-purpose building with a flat-floored hall. It served as a theater and a place of worship and housed an amusement hall, restaurant, home store, and post office. A ticket window — the bow window on the rear porch — served rail passengers on a major line connecting Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Prarie du Chien.

During an 1898 renovation, the hall was rebuilt to its present configuration with balconies, a sloped floor, new seats, and an orchestra pit. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, additional enhancements were made to allow for the showing of motion pictures. Acoustical tiles with painted Wisconsin scenes were also added.

Most prominent, especially when lit at night, is the large stained-glass equestrian portrait of General Ulysses S. Grant on the east side of the Theatre, It was installed in 1887, a gift from the people of St. Louis and Grand Army of the Republic following the GAR’s 1887 national encampment.