The
Sawtelle Veterans Home, formally the
Pacific Branch of the National Home for
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, was established in 1887 on 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 ; in 1890, 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 Lincoln,
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.
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 ( ) and cash
($100,000) and water (120,000 gallons per day) from Senator John P.
Jones and
Robert S. Baker, 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 .
Development
The Pacific Branch opened in 1888 on of land. Prominent architect
Stanford White 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.
Image:Sawtelle Veterans' Administration Center, Chapels, Wilshire
& Sawtelle Boulevards, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County,
California).jpg|Chapel.Image:SawtelleCA-SantaMonicaBlvd-1890.jpg|
Street CarImage:Streetcar Depot, West Los Angeles VA Center.JPG|
Street Car Depot
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)
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 |
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. |
| James W. Wadsworth |
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
Sawtelle developed
around the Pacific Branch when veterans’ families, as well as
veterans themselves who were drawing relief, settled there.
Wadsworth Hospital
Following
World War I, 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.
Veterans Administration
The
National Home and the Veterans Bureau, were combined into the
United States Veterans
Administration
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.
References
- Leo E. Mallonee, Birth and Growth of VA Center, LA,
Wiltell News, April 10, 1963, reprinted from Westways 48, June
1956.
- Duncan Underhill, Sawtelle, Fairest of Warriors’
Retreats, Wiltell News, April 10, 1963, reprinted from
Westways 48, June 1956.
- Judith G. Cetina, A History of Veterans' Homes in the
United States: 1811-1930, Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western
Reserve University, 1977.
- Report of The Board of Managers Of The National Home For
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 54th Congress, House of
Representatives. (Document No. 46). Government Printing Office.,
Washington, 1896
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