From Wisconsin County Histories, Waupaca County Edited by John M. Ware 1917
Transcribed and submitted by Paula Vaughan January 2002
 

THE WISCONSIN VETERANS' HOME
The Wisconsin Veterans' Home, the grounds of which cover ninety-eight acres at the eastern extremity of the beautiful chain of lakes a short distance southwest of Waupaca, is a splendid and unique institution. It is the only home of its kind in the United States, in that it is not only under the special control of the Grand Army of the Republic, but cares for the mothers, wives and widows of the veterans, and the army nurses of the Civil war, as well as for the old soldiers themselves. More than 680. men and women, including not a few old married couples, are still within the sheltering walls of the large buildings and the numerous cottages which compose the outward plant; to be more exact, it includes twenty-two
large structures and forty-eight cottages.

During the twenty-eight years of its existence the home has cared for about 3,000 men and 1,700 women. Those now enjoying its care and com-forts are naturally well advanced in age; the ages of the men range from sixty-four to ninety-six, and of the women from forty-seven to ninety-six. Much of the work of maintaining the home, raising the vegetables and caring for the swine which are part of its activities, are performed by the inmates; notwithstanding which, about $170,000 is annually expended in "keeping up the establishment."

Credit for originating the movement which resulted in the establishment of the home, is given to Dr. F. A. Marden, of Milwaukee, a surgeon of the Civil war who made so earnest an appeal to his comrades of the Wisconsin Department of the Grand Army that the Wisconsin Veterans' Home was incorporated in 1887; a site had already been secured at Waupaca. The corporators were Doctor Marden, J. B. Cumberlidge, A. O. Wright, J. H. Marston, and Benjamin F. Bryant. At the death of Doctor Marden, not long afterward, Maj. R. N. Roberts was appointed a member of the original committee.

The first board of trustees, elected by the Wisconsin Encampment in 1888, comprised J. H. Marston, R. N. Roberts, A. O. Wright, J. H. Woodnorth, B. F. Bryant and W. D. Crocker. In August of that year the home was dedicated and opened with sixty-five inmates. An article, which appeared in a Waupaca publication at the time, reads thus: "At the eastern end of the Chain of Lakes, nearest the city, was located the hotel and other extensive improvements of the former Greenwood Park Association.

The property of the association, embracing seventy-eight acres of land and all the buildings, has been sold to the Wisconsin Veterans' Home Association, and is now devoted to the noble charity of affording all the comforts of home, not only to the old and dependent soldier, but to his wife or needy widow. Here they are not housed promiscuously under one roof, as in other state and national institutions where the man alone is granted food and shelter, often at the price of separation from the patriotic and self-sacrificing wife, whose sufferings at home while he was at the front equaled all that he endured. In this Waupaca home-which is a home in truth-there are instances of the old, broken-down veteran taken from some national home for men only, and his aged and dependent wife from some distant poor house, and here reunited in their own little cottage, never to be parted again or to know the misery of poverty and want while they live, or while patriotism endures in Wisconsin, and fraternity, charity and loyalty' remains the watchword of the Grand Army of the Republic. This grand institution, unlike any other in the world and nobler in its charity than all others, in that it cares for the soldier's wife and the soldier's widow, as well as for the veteran himself, was founded and maintained by the Wisconsin Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, assisted by the Woman's Relief Corps, and by the benevolence of societies, cities and individuals. The part that Waupaca has done is not inconsiderable. In her bid for its location here, a bid prompted more by patriotic generosity than by selfish interest, she overcame the sharp competition of five rivals. On the 29th of August,
1888, the home was dedicated in the presence of six thousand people.

A. J. Langworthy was the first commandant of the home, and his successors have been C. Caldwell,  Charles J. Ellis, J. H. Woodnorth, Benjamin F. Bryant and F. S. Veeder. Colonel Veeder assumed office in August, 1914. The adjutants have been E. N. Cooley, T. L. Jeffers and H. K. Mosher, the last-named  having been identified with the home since January, 1901. Successive surgeons: D. L. Manchester,  George B. Noyes, H. P. Mervale, Barth Bantley, B. C. Brett and A. E. McCallin. Quartermasters: M. C. Russell, A. G. Dinsmore and D. G. Freeman. As to the general structural growth of the home, the following facts are suggestive: main dining hall and Hernden Hall, completed in 1889; Fairchild Hall, 1891; Jerry Rusk Hall, 1895; Marston Hall, 1897; power house and hospital, 1899; Griffin Hall, 1904; Roberts Hall, 1905.