A Moment in Time

"Soldiers Found Home in Leavenworth"

November 2000
By Christy Davis

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

On a breezy afternoon more than a century ago, the city of Leavenworth broke out into spontaneous celebration. The ringing of church and school bells called the citizens into the street. Nearly one thousand of them gathered that evening to parade through the center of town. The citizens were not celebrating a national holiday, or the end of a war. Instead, what they celebrated on September 26, 1884 was the announcement that Leavenworth had prevailed over communities in six other states to be chosen as the site for the construction of a new home for disabled veterans. Leavenworth's citizens had good reason to celebrate. Such a home would require the construction of dozens of government buildings, which would not only employ local craftsman but also attract newcomers. The home would also attract professionals such as physicians to the community.

The buildings which the proud craftsmen constructed in the decades that followed were built to endure. And endure they have. Today, the majority of the buildings which served as the original structures at the Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers survive as a testament to nineteenth-century ingenuity.

Now called the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center, the site recently was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Landscape designer Horace W. S. Cleveland, best known in Kansas for his design of the grounds at the Kansas State Capitol, is credited for the original campus design.

The earliest buildings, constructed by master builder James McGonigle, conformed to Cleveland's design. McGonigle was a local builder and a veteran who had been wounded in the Civil War. By 1885, when the federal government awarded him the contract for the construction of buildings at the home for disabled soldiers, McGonigle had achieved state-wide acclaim for projects ranging from the construction of Leavenworth's Cathedral of the Immaculate to the construction of part of the Kansas State Capitol. At the home for disabled soldiers, McGonigle's firm constructed seventeen buildings. Included among them were thirteen Georgian Revival buildings; Franklin Hall, a Romanesque Revival Mess Hall and Kitchen; the Ward Memorial Building; and two residential buildings for hospital employees. Following the construction of the buildings at the soldiers home in Leavenworth, McGonigle gained national acclaim for his firm's construction of the Palace of Mechanic Arts at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The home for soldiers holds an interesting past. In 1901, Carrie Nation visited to protest the sale of alcohol in the saloon located in the Dugout's basement.

The Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers is one of the hundreds listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Register of Historic Kansas Places. The program is administered by the Kansas Historical Society. These are the official lists of cultural resources that have been designated worthy of preservation in the nation and in the state. The Registers include districts, sites, buildings, structures, objects, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. For more information about these and other historic preservation programs, contact 785-272-8681, ext. 240.

The Society is headquartered at the Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka KS 66615-1099; 785-272-8681, TTY 785-272-8683; www.kshs.org.

The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The Society requests prior notification to accommodate individuals with special needs or disabilities.