Soldiers Home, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1908 Print

Nice historic view of the Soldiers Home located on a bluff overlooking Minnehaha Creek where it flows into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1910.

The history of Minnesota’s Veterans Homes began shortly after the Civil War. Because of the devastation brought on by that conflict, there was a growing conviction that provisions should be made for the care of the nation’s Veterans. The Minnesota legislature authorized the establishment of the Minnesota Soldiers’ Home in 1887 as a reward to the brave and deserving, and a Board of Trustees was established to manage the facility. By 1888 construction at the site of the current Minneapolis Veterans Home had begun; and by 1911 five men’s cottages and one women’s cottage had been built, along with several support services buildings (infirmary, dining hall, etc).

The mission of Soldiers’ Homes, as they were contemplated in the last third of the nineteenth century, was to create beautiful, landscaped communities for Veterans – havens of rest for Veterans’ later years. These homes were not primarily designed to be medical facilities. Rather, they were seen as monuments to the contributions of Veterans. In fact, it was not until World War I that medical care was provided in Soldiers’ Homes, and even then it was of secondary consideration.