Near downtown Milwaukee near the baseball stadium is this magnificent old building. It was built in 1867 as a home for disabled veterans. In April of 1864 a group of local women created a temporary home in downtown Milwaukee to service Veterans with meals and medical care. The women raised $100,000 – a staggering amount of money in the 1860s – and obtained a state charter for construction of a permanent facility. The group of local women turned over the funds they had raised to the federal government and the Milwaukee Soldiers Home was constructed and opened in 1867. It is one of only three remaining original VA facilities in the nation. It has been undergoing renovations for housing for homeless veterans.
Behind the Soldier’s Home is the Wood National Cemetery. It was started in 1871 and was used to bury the residents of the home that had died. Originally known only as Soldiers Home Cemetery, it wasn’t until 1937 the name was changed to honor Gen. George Wood, a longtime member of the Soldiers’ Home’s Board of Managers. It became a national cemetery in 1973.
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