Sawtelle Veterans Home
Encyclopedia
The Sawtelle Veterans Home was a care home
for disabled American veteran
s in what is today part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
in California
in the United States. The Home, formally the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, was established in 1887 on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica
lands donated by Senator John P. Jones
and Arcadia B. de Baker
. The following year, the site grew by an additional 200 acre (0.809372 km²); in 1890, 20 acre (0.0809372 km²) more were appended for use as a veterans' cemetery. With more than 1,000 veterans in residence, a new hospital was erected in 1900. This hospital was replaced in 1927 by the Wadsworth Hospital.
, marked the entrance of the United States into the direct provision of care for the temporary versus career military. The Asylum was renamed the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
(NHDVS) in 1873. It was also known colloquially as the Old Soldiers Home. Between 1867 and 1929, the Home
expanded to ten branches and one sanatorium.
The Board of Managers were empowered to establish the Home at such locations as they deemed appropriate and to establish those programs that they determined necessary. The Home was a unique creation of the Congress. While the Managers included, ex-officio, the President of the United States, the Secretary of War
and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
, it was not a part of the Executive branch of government. Its budget requests in later years were submitted in conjunction with the War Department. But throughout its existence, until 1930, the Board of Managers consistently defended its independence of the Executive Branch.
In 1900 admission was extended to all honorably discharged officers, soldiers and sailors who served in regular or volunteer forces of the United States in any war in which the country had been engaged and who were disabled, who had no adequate means of support and were incapable of earning a living. As formal declarations of war were not the rule in the Indian Wars, Congress
specifically extended eligibility for the Home to those who "served against hostile Indians" in 1908. Veterans who served in the Philippines
, China
and Alaska
were covered in 1909.
, and his wife Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker. Jones and Baker were involved in the development of Santa Monica and believed the Pacific Branch would contribute to the growth of the community and the area. The Wolfskill ranch owners east of Sepulveda Boulevard, donated a tract of 330 acres (1.3 km²).
is credited with designing the original shingle style frame barracks. J. Lee Burton designed a streetcar depot
and the shingle style chapel
in 1900. The Barry Hospital was built in sections from 1891 to 1909. Plantings of pines, palm trees, and eucalyptus groves transformed the site from its treeless state.
or branch governors (chief administrative officers).
The Branch twice became the object of local controversy, fueled by newspaper coverage. In 1889, the Board of Managers conducted an investigation of the Pacific Branch after a number of charges, including poor treatment of members, bad food, and corrupt management, were leveled. The Board found little cause for concern, as their only action was to remind the governor of the Branch of his responsibilities.
In 1912, the US Senate, prompted by newspaper reports, investigated the operations of Pacific Branch but found little basis for the charges.
developed around the Pacific Branch when veterans’ families, as well as veterans themselves who were drawing relief, settled there.
, a new governmental agency, the Veterans Bureau, was created to provide for the hospitalization and rehabilitation of this much younger group of veterans. The development of medical facilities for veterans during the 1920s fueled a burst of construction during that decade, including Colonial Revival
staff residences. The James W. Wadsworth Hospital opened in 1927, replacing the Barry Hospital.
by President Hoover
in 1930. Planning began for a major building campaign, including Mission/Spanish Colonial style hospital buildings and a group of Romanesque-inspired research buildings. The present Wadsworth hospital was constructed in the late 1930s. A new theater replaced the former Ward Theater in 1940. Most of the 1890s era buildings were demolished in the 1960s. The Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital building (VA Wadsworth Medical Center) was opened in 1977.
The VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System is a tertiary care facility that provides a broad range of health care services to veterans. The largest of the VA's health care campuses, it is a part of the VA Desert Pacific Network.
Long-term care
Long-term care is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical need of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods of time....
for disabled American veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
s in what is today part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
The Los Angeles metropolitan area, also known as Metropolitan Los Angeles or the Southland, is the 13th largest metropolitan area in the world and the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States....
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the United States. The Home, formally the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, was established in 1887 on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica
Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica
Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1839 to Francisco Sepulveda soldier and citizen of Los Angeles...
lands donated by Senator John P. Jones
John P. Jones
John Percival Jones was an American politician who served for 30 years as a Republican United States Senator from Nevada. He made a fortune in silver mining and was a co-founder of the town of Santa Monica, California....
and Arcadia B. de Baker
Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker
Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker was a wealthy Los Angeles landowner.-Early life in San Diego:Arcadia Bandini born 1825 in San Diego, California, the eldest of three daughters of Juan Bandini and Marie de los Dolores Estudio. Arcadia and her two sisters were considered the most beautiful women of...
. The following year, the site grew by an additional 200 acre (0.809372 km²); in 1890, 20 acre (0.0809372 km²) more were appended for use as a veterans' cemetery. With more than 1,000 veterans in residence, a new hospital was erected in 1900. This hospital was replaced in 1927 by the Wadsworth Hospital.
National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
In 1865, Congress passed legislation to incorporate the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War. Volunteers were not eligible for care in the existing regular army and navy home facilities. This legislation, one of the last Acts signed by President LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, marked the entrance of the United States into the direct provision of care for the temporary versus career military. The Asylum was renamed the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the Civil War...
(NHDVS) in 1873. It was also known colloquially as the Old Soldiers Home. Between 1867 and 1929, the Home
Old soldiers' home
An old soldiers' home is a military veteran's retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes even an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc.-United States:...
expanded to ten branches and one sanatorium.
The Board of Managers were empowered to establish the Home at such locations as they deemed appropriate and to establish those programs that they determined necessary. The Home was a unique creation of the Congress. While the Managers included, ex-officio, the President of the United States, the Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
, it was not a part of the Executive branch of government. Its budget requests in later years were submitted in conjunction with the War Department. But throughout its existence, until 1930, the Board of Managers consistently defended its independence of the Executive Branch.
In 1900 admission was extended to all honorably discharged officers, soldiers and sailors who served in regular or volunteer forces of the United States in any war in which the country had been engaged and who were disabled, who had no adequate means of support and were incapable of earning a living. As formal declarations of war were not the rule in the Indian Wars, Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
specifically extended eligibility for the Home to those who "served against hostile Indians" in 1908. Veterans who served in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
were covered in 1909.
Pacific Branch
Due increased demand as a result of widening of admission standards, in 1887 Congress approved the establishment of a Pacific Branch of the Home. The Pacific Branch was established under an act of Congress approved March 2, 1887, entitled "An act to provide for the location and erection of a Branch Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers west of the Rocky Mountains."Land donation
The proposed establishment prompted intense competition, as local promoters recognized the value of a prominent, prestigious institution. The selected site for the Pacific Branch on land near Santa Monica was influenced by donations of land (300 acres (1.2 km²)) and cash ($100,000) and water (120,000 gallons per day) from Senator John P. Jones and Robert S. BakerRobert Symington Baker
Colonel Robert Symington Baker was a businessman and landowner originally from Rhode Island. He came to California in 1849 and engaged in mining supplies business in San Francisco...
, and his wife Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker. Jones and Baker were involved in the development of Santa Monica and believed the Pacific Branch would contribute to the growth of the community and the area. The Wolfskill ranch owners east of Sepulveda Boulevard, donated a tract of 330 acres (1.3 km²).
Development
The Pacific Branch opened in 1888 on 713 acres (2.9 km²) of land. Prominent architect Stanford WhiteStanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
is credited with designing the original shingle style frame barracks. J. Lee Burton designed a streetcar depot
Streetcar Depot, West Los Angeles
The Streetcar Depot on the grounds of the Veterans Administration Center in West Los Angeles, California was built in 1900. According to the book Los Angeles: An Architectural Guide, architect J. Lee Burton designed both the Streecar Depot and the Wadsworth Chapel, both of which were built in 1900...
and the shingle style chapel
Wadsworth Chapel
Wadsworth Chapel, also known as the Catholic-Protestant Chapels, is actually two separate chapels under one roof on the campus of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Los Angeles, California. The structure was built in 1900 and was closed in 1971 after being damaged in the 1971...
in 1900. The Barry Hospital was built in sections from 1891 to 1909. Plantings of pines, palm trees, and eucalyptus groves transformed the site from its treeless state.
Administration
Although the Board of Managers established regulations for the operation of the NHDVS system and oversaw those operations, many decisions were made at the local level by local managers (who were members of the Board of Managers)| Date | Pacific Branch - Local Managers |
|---|---|
| 1889–1891 | Henry H. Markham Henry Markham Henry Harrison Markham was a United States Representative from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887 and the 18th Governor of California from January 8, 1891 until January 11, 1895.Markham was born in Wilmington, New York... |
| 1891–1892 | George H. Bonebrake |
| 1892–1898 | Andrew W. Barrett Andrew W. Barrett -Early life and career:He was born Washington Andrew Barrett in Stockholm, New York, to Joseph Beeman Barrett and Mehitable Noyes. The family moved to McGregor, Iowa in 1857.-Civil War:... |
| 1898–1904 | William H. Bonsall William Hartshorn Bonsall William Hartshorn Bonsall was acting mayor of Los Angeles from December 5, 1892 – December 12, 1892 and served on the city council representing the 3rd ward from 1891 to 1895. From 1893 to 1895 he was President of the City Council... |
| 1904 - | Henry H. Markham Henry Markham Henry Harrison Markham was a United States Representative from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887 and the 18th Governor of California from January 8, 1891 until January 11, 1895.Markham was born in Wilmington, New York... |
or branch governors (chief administrative officers).
| Date | Pacific Branch - Governors |
|---|---|
| 1888–1894 | Colonel Charles Treichel (1842–1894) |
| 1894–1897 | Colonel J.G. Rowland ( - ) |
| 1897–1899 | Colonel Andrew Jackson Smith (1838–1913) |
| 1899–1908 | General Oscar Hugh La Grange (1837–1915) |
| 1908–1913 | Colonel Thomas J. Cochrane ( - ) |
| 1913 - | General Patrick H. Barry (1844 - ) |
The Branch twice became the object of local controversy, fueled by newspaper coverage. In 1889, the Board of Managers conducted an investigation of the Pacific Branch after a number of charges, including poor treatment of members, bad food, and corrupt management, were leveled. The Board found little cause for concern, as their only action was to remind the governor of the Branch of his responsibilities.
In 1912, the US Senate, prompted by newspaper reports, investigated the operations of Pacific Branch but found little basis for the charges.
Other notable people
Other notable people associated with the Pacific Branch include:| Person | Association |
|---|---|
| Nicholas Porter Earp (1813 - 1907) Nicholas Porter Earp Nicholas Porter Earp was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, to Walter and Martha Ann Earp. He is most famously known as the father of OK Corral shootout participants and Old West lawmen Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp.Nicholas' father Walter Earp, a school teacher and Methodist... |
Died at the Home in 1907. |
| Hermann Edward Hasse (1836–1915) | Chief surgeon at the Home (1888–1905) who had a particular interest in lichens. |
| John Johnston (aka Liver Eating Johnson) | Frontiersman, deputy, Union Soldier died 1900 at the home. |
| James W. Wadsworth (1846 - 1926) James Wolcott Wadsworth James Wolcott Wadsworth was an American farmer, soldier and statesman.-Life:... |
President of the Board of Managers NHDVS. |
Sawtelle
The Pacific Branch served as an attraction for both tourists and local real estate speculators. In 1904, the Pacific Branch became a stop on the “Balloon Route” - a popular tour of local attractions conducted by an entrepreneur who escorted tourists via a rented streetcar. In 1905, residential lots and larger tracts in the new Westgate Subdivision, which joined “the beautiful Soldier’s Home”, and which was owned and promoted by Jones and Baker’s Santa Monica Land and Water Company, were for sale. The new community of SawtelleSawtelle, Los Angeles, California
Sawtelle is an area partly within West Los Angeles, California, that may refer to a district that is part of the city of Los Angeles, an unincorporated area of the County of Los Angeles that by definition is not part of the municipality of Los Angeles, or may refer to a combination of these,...
developed around the Pacific Branch when veterans’ families, as well as veterans themselves who were drawing relief, settled there.
Wadsworth Hospital
Following World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, a new governmental agency, the Veterans Bureau, was created to provide for the hospitalization and rehabilitation of this much younger group of veterans. The development of medical facilities for veterans during the 1920s fueled a burst of construction during that decade, including Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
staff residences. The James W. Wadsworth Hospital opened in 1927, replacing the Barry Hospital.
Veterans Administration
The National Home and the Veterans Bureau, were combined into the United States Veterans AdministrationUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
by President Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
in 1930. Planning began for a major building campaign, including Mission/Spanish Colonial style hospital buildings and a group of Romanesque-inspired research buildings. The present Wadsworth hospital was constructed in the late 1930s. A new theater replaced the former Ward Theater in 1940. Most of the 1890s era buildings were demolished in the 1960s. The Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital building (VA Wadsworth Medical Center) was opened in 1977.
The VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System is a tertiary care facility that provides a broad range of health care services to veterans. The largest of the VA's health care campuses, it is a part of the VA Desert Pacific Network.
External links
- 1900 USGS topographic map
- Los Angeles in the 1900s, Sawtelle and the Veterans Hospital
- Los Angeles National Cemetery
- “NHDVS” Harper's Magazine, October 1886
- National Parks Service Photographs and Site Map
- VA National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
- VA Virtual Museum
- Veterans Case Files, 1888-1933
- Veterans Park Conservancy
