Confederate Men's Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. In 1884, a group called the John B. Hood Camp of United Confederate Veterans set out to do something that needed doing.

They had men among them, and men they knew, who had come home from the Civil War broken in body and broke in pocket, and they wanted to give those men a place to land. So they started a project. A home.

Not a charity ward, not a poorhouse, but a residence, and it would be for disabled and indigent Confederate veterans. Now, if you wanted to live there, you had to prove three things: that you had served honorably in the Civil War, that you had a disability preventing you from supporting yourself, and that you were free of any contagious disease. Three bars to clear, and they weren't lowering any of them.

While the Hood Camp was laying the groundwork, the Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy stepped up and led the fundraising. Two years in, 1886, the John B. Hood Camp purchased sixteen acres at 1600 West Sixth Street, and on that land sat a two-story building, and that was enough to open the doors.

The Confederate Men's Home opened later that same year. For the first several years, the Veterans' Camp ran the whole operation, kept afloat by public contributions. Then 1891 came, and the state of Texas stepped in and assumed oversight.

The state would keep its hand in for decades to come. In 1920, the State Legislature created the Board of Control to operate the home. In 1949, responsibility shifted again, this time to the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools.

The site itself kept growing. Started at sixteen acres, eventually spread to twenty-six. On that ground rose a large administration building, living quarters, a hospital, and private cottages.

And through all of it, through the shifts in oversight and the slow passage of years, the men kept coming. From the day the home first opened its doors until the death of the last resident veteran in 1954, more than two thousand Confederate veterans had been admitted. Two thousand men.

By the middle of the twentieth century, the home had widened its doors. Disabled veterans of the Spanish-American War and World War I were welcomed in, and the facility also served mental health patients. The home kept running until 1963, when the residents were transferred to Kerrville.

And then in 1970, the buildings that had stood witness to all of it were razed. More than two thousand men passed through that gate on West Sixth Street, and what remains now is the marker, and the count, and this road you're riding.

What the marker says

The Confederate men’s home began in 1884 as a project of the John B. Hood Camp of United Confederate Veterans and was intended as a residence for disabled and indigent Confederate veterans. Potential residents were required to prove that they had served honorably in the Civil War, that they had a disability that prevented them from supporting themselves, and that they did not suffer from any contagious diseases. The Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy led fundraising efforts for the home. In 1886, the John B. Hood Camp purchased sixteen acres with a two-story building at 1600 West Sixth Street, and the Confederate Men’s Home opened later that year. The home was operated by the Veterans’ Camp with funding from public contributions until 1891, when oversight was assumed by the state of Texas. The State Legislature established the Board of Control to operate the home in 1920, and then in 1949, responsibility was transferred to the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools. The site eventually grew to twenty-six acres and included a large administration building, living quarters, a hospital and private cottages. From the time of its inception until the death of the last resident veteran in 1954, more than 2,000 Confederate veterans were admitted to the home. During the mid-twentieth century, the scope of the home shifted to include disabled veterans of the Spanish-American War and World War I, as well as mental health patients. The home operated until 1963, when residents were transferred to Kerrville, and the site’s buildings were razed in 1970.