by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Today, as we honor all of the men and women who have served our country in the several branches of the United States armed forces, we feature a circa 1900 photo from the Homestead’s collection and look at the selection of the site for the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) at its Pacific Branch location in West Los Angeles—this decision made at the end of November 1887—and what is now the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Medical Center.
While Veterans Day was not established until much later, Decoration, later Memorial, Day was established during the Civil War, the horrific conflict that rent the country into secession and a four-year war that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. In 1865, soon after the end of the war, Congress passed legislation for a national asylum for volunteer, as opposed to regular or career, soldiers, this being one of the last acts signed by President Abraham Lincoln before his assassination.
An Eastern Branch home was founded in Maine the following year, with others in Wisconsin and Ohio established in 1867 as Northwestern and Central branches. A Virginia Southern Branch was organized three years later and a Western Branch was created in Kansas in 1885. With a push made for a new Pacific Branch west of the Rocky Mountains, aggressive lobbying (this being a given) to Congress commenced, especially after an act was passed in March 1887 to select a site with an initial appropriation provided.
In greater Los Angeles, the full ferment of the Boom of the Eighties was underway and the Angel City’s Board of Trade led the movement to induce the National Home’s board of managers to select a site in this area amid vigorous competition from other areas of the Pacific Coast, including numerous California sites, including Napa and Sonoma counties, Livermore, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego and more.
The 15 February 1887 edition of the Los Angeles Times owned by Civil War veteran Colonel Harrison Gray Otis proclaimed “Let The Vets Come” and reported that the precursor to the Chamber of Commerce recently held a special meeting and resolved that its secretary contact the NHDVS managers “and request them in their investigations of a site that they examine into the merits and advantages that the city of Los Angeles or the country tributary thereto affords in climate, railroad facilities and productiveness of soil for the location of said branch home.”
The correspondence was replied to within a few weeks, as noted by the Los Angeles Herald of 9 March, which reported that the president of the NHDVS, Civil War General William B. Franklin, made a brief reply and that the topic of a potential local site would be discussed at the mid-April meeting of the organization. The paper remarked,
A home for old soldiers should be located where the climate is equable and healthy, and there can be found no place which is better in this respect than Los Angeles. The city is directly interested in the matter, for the erection of the Home will give employment to many artisans and will give work to iron foundries, brick yards, carpenters and others, thus putting considerable money in circulation . . . the citizens and merchants of Los Angeles should not be behind in energy when an addition like this is to be obtained from the proper presentation of the natural advantages of Southern California.
By the end of March, the Times, in advance of that next meeting of the NHDVS managers, held in New York City, commented that “it seems to be practically settled that the home will be located in California, either near Los Angeles or in the Napa Valley, north of San Francisco,” where a state veterans’ home was situated.
The first located reference to an offered site is from the 30 April issue of the Herald, which briefly reported that “Messrs. Humphreys & Riggin, of this city, have offered to donate to the Soldiers’ Home, to be established on this coast, five acres of land on Boyle Heights,” the community founded by then-Mayor William H. Workman, along with Isaias W. Hellman and John Lazzarovich, a dozen years before, “for the purpose of a building and garden, and five acres more for a park and garden opposite the home.” While this was deemed a $20,000 offer, the paper asked, “who will do more than these liberal gentlemen for the establishment of this institution in Los Angeles[?]”
The 17 June edition of the Herald reprinted another letter from Gen. Franklin, who was president of the National Home from 1880 to 1889, to the Board of Trade, in answer to questions about site requirements, that “the land required by the branches of the Home is, in general, about 600 acres” and that most of such property “has been contributed by the inhabitants of the places in the immediate vicinity of the branches.” It was added that information on land prices, proximity to towns and railroads, climatic conditions, water supply and other particulars were wanted as soon as possible.
While the Boyle Heights property was far too small, other locations began to be discussed locally, including, in June, by a Grand Army of the Republic (this veterans’ association established after the late war, as well) post at Anaheim that pushed for site in that area of what, two years later, became part of Orange County. The Herald of 30 July exhorted that “the citizens of Los Angeles should at once purchase a tract of land and donate it” for a home site and added “if several hundred acres were purchased in the great Centinela ranch below the city one of the most beautiful sites in the country would be secured.”
The paper, in its edition of 13 July, ran a lengthy article on site selection in greater Los Angeles and included a remarkable table of diseases, nearly forty of them, with indications of which were absent, rare, very rare, occasional and frequent. The only considered of the last category was myalgia (that is, muscle aches and pains), with fourteen others deemed to be occasionally present including typhoid fever, flu, bronchitis, measles, diphtheria, “organic diseases of the heart,” and “chronic diseases of the liver.”
The Herald added that “in 1868 [actually there was one five years earlier that was likely worse] a sever[e] epidemic of small pox occurred. The inhabitants then were almost all Spanish or Mexican. This is the only epidemic known of.” Otherwise, most major diseases were rarely found to have occurred in the region, though it was acknowledged that “the present system of sewerage is inadequate,” but plans were in the works for improvement, namely drainage work and a major outfall system to empty into the Pacific. It was concluded that, “in every way Los Angeles is the healthiest city in the world, and Southern California is unsurpassed in a sanitary point of view as a place of residence and home for invalids.”
New proposed locations sprung up soon, with the Herald of 5 August printing a letter from a reader known only as “B” that “an offer of three hundred acres has been made . . . at Fulton Wells,” this being today’s Santa Fe Springs, southeast of Los Angeles.” The correspondent continued that “your recommendation of a site on the Centinela,” soon to be partially subdivided for the town of Inglewood, “is excellent, but the city owns Elysian Park and by donating it . . . [the Home] can have a grand park made and preserved for nothing,” while “as a business proposition it should commend itself to every taxpayer in the city.”
The 17 August issue of the Times noted the intense efforts by sections of greater Los Angeles to secure the site for the Home and remarked,
Los Angeles should not rest in this matter, nor be content with what has already been proposed. Other sites aside from that [those] already suggested should be brought forward, and substantial offers in the shape of the most desirable lands should be made, if the National Board is to be induced to locate the Home in this city. There is no question but what [that?] it is a prize worth striving for, and Los Angeles, the metropolitan city of Southern California, with her incomparable climate and superior advantages, ought to be able to secure it.
Meanwhile, a National Home office was established in San Francisco and Manager William Blanding sent out a 30 July communique about the requirements for a branch facility in advance of a board meeting to be held in that city in November. The size of the tract was to be no less than 160 acres and have the proper soil and other descriptive features for the managers to consider; be shown in terms of location near towns or cities as well as railroad and port facilities; have “capacity for perfect drainage and sewerage;” have the ability to provide at least 100,000 gallons of water daily; and other information provided relative to the price of land and water rights, and more.
The 5 September issue of the Herald added two more potential sites to the growing list of those offered, though it first commented that sandstone from quarries in the Santa Susana Mountains “has been offered free to the United States government for the building of a Soldiers’ Home in this city on Elysian Park,” which seems to have been the favored locale within the Angel City.
It was further asserted that the Home at the site would “give at least 10,000 men a home where they can be more comfortable than elsewhere, give a thousand men constant employment in preparing the grounds and erecting the buildings, and secure 50,000 visitors to the city every year.” Should the City Council not act on that proposal, it was suggested that Griffith J. Griffith be approached about his large holdings on the Rancho Los Feliz or that Moses L. Wicks be contacted about his property at the nearby northern edge of the city. Another Civil War veteran, Albert B. Moffitt resided at San Fernando and it was averred that his fellow citizens “will gladly” support a site “and make a glorious spot that will enclose the place.”
Less than two weeks later, the paper recorded that San Fernando area landholder, George K. Porter “will also offer a site for this institution,” while a notable far-flung locale was mentioned, as “the proprietors of Hesper Valley, formerly known as Hesperia, have made an offer of five hundred acres of land as a donation for a site for the soldier’s [sic] home.” The Herald further noted that “this is certainly a proud offer for the Hesperians, of a fine track of mesa, with water from the east fork of the Mojave [River], and the California Central Railway running through it.” A High Desert location seemed extremely unlikely, but the attempt was certainly a spirited one!
As noted above, there were plenty of other Golden State sites being promoted, though perhaps none in a way so novel as that of “The Soldiers’ Home Tract of Grantville,” situated adjacent to the Mission San Diego and managed by William H. Holabird, a well-known real estate figure throughout Southern California. An ad run in Los Angeles newspapers asserted that “every loyal man and woman should have an interest” in the project, which preferred Grand Army of the Republic agents in every town in California.
When the NHDVS managers came to the Golden State in late November, they spent about a week in San Francisco, where Blanding kept his Pacific Branch office, staying at the upscale Palace Hotel and visiting many potential sites. When it was learned that the managers only planned to visit one day in Los Angeles, the Times was more than displeased, as was the Board of Trade, which held a special meeting, “it seeming that the commissioners proposed to cut this city off with a shorter visit than had been practically promised, and shorter than would suffice to consider the offers of sites that have been and will be made,” there being seven under seal and not available for public knowledge.
The paper, moreover, reprinted a telegram sent to Gen. Franklin by Mayor Workman, General Nelson A. Miles—who played an important role in local promotion of a site while commanding forces against Geronimo and the Apaches in Arizona Territory and who later became the Commanding General of the United States Army—and merchant Edward Germain, the Board of Trade president. They proposed that the managers stay a night, including site visits on the first day followed by a banquet and then a review of more locales on the following day, as “it will be impracticable for the commission to see but part of what have been proposed in one day.”
It was on the eve of the arrival of the NHDVS officials that a last-minute offer was made, as noted by the Herald of 29 November:
One of the new propositions to be presented, it was stated, would be an offer of 300 acres of the Santa Monica ranch [the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica] by Messrs. Baker and Jones, free of all charge, the land to be picked out by the committee.
The 33,000-acre rancho was granted in 1839 to Francisco Sepulveda and sold more than three decades later to Robert S. Baker, who then sold three-quarters of it to United States Senator from Nevada John P. Jones, whose interest in Panamint mines in eastern California led him to this area for both ocean-bound shipment of copper and silver ore and the idea, developed with Baker, for a new seaside town, Santa Monica. The creation of the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad by F.P.F. Temple and others was followed by Jones’ assumption of a majority of stock so the line could not only ship Panamint product, but allow for service of a branch line, built first (and the only completed portion of the line) to Santa Monica.
When the NHVDS managers arrived in the Angel City and reviewed locales in the area, a meeting was held at the Nadeau Hotel, after a dinner at Jerry Illich’s well-known restaurant, with Franklin opening the confab by stating that he and his colleagues were “ready to see what donations the people have to offer in land and money.” Mayor Workman followed and simply commented that “the propositions should be made at once,” upon which a debate ensued about whether these should be presented in limited or more open fashions.
The latter being chosen, attorney Walter Van Dyke, representing Jones, Baker and the latter’s wife, Arcadia Bandini Stearns Baker, commented that he had a written proposition, though not yet signed by an unnamed party and not available for such until the following morning, that was thus a verbal offer of 600 acres, half from the Wolfskill ranch or Rancho San José de Buenos Ayres adjacent on the east to San Vicente y Santa Monica and committed by its trustees. A third party was the Santa Monica Land and Water Company. Van Dyke told the assemblage:
We know that the site is well located. You know we have the best climate in the world. We will give you good land and we will throw the climate in. It is the very place for the old veterans, as they will not be burned by the heat or pinched by the cold . . . There are large springs on the ranch, which will supply the home with plenty of pure water . . . Our tract is in sight of the ocean, and there is no better location on the coast for such an institution.
Judge Robert M. Widney, a prominent real estate figure as well, represented the Hesperia offer, while a “Prof. Willhartitz” spoke for a friend who “would donate 5000 acres of land on Catalena [sic] Island,” this being someone in the Banning family, which owned it, though Franklin was doubtful and then a local figure, John R. Brierly “described its beauties in rather a sarcastic fashion, stating that it lacked population and fresh water.”
The “Englewood” site on the Centinela ranch was touted by William H. Bonsall, with Mayor Workman adding that $50,000 would be raised by citizens for that locale, if needed. Another strange proposition was for “396 acres in San Gabriel Cañon,” though this almost certainly meant at the mouth of it,” one-and-a-half miles from the Southern Pacific railroad station at El Monte probably in modern Duarte.
Further offers came from 160 acres two miles north of the Los Angeles Plaza; 300 or more acres off Pico Boulevard at Arlington Heights just 1 1/2 miles west of downtown or another site of similar size between Adams and Jefferson streets to the south; the Occidental Improvement Company tract two miles from the Southern Pacific station at Norwalk in what was just opened as Santa Fe Springs; and 160 acres six miles north of Anaheim owned by Edward Record in the vicinity of modern Placentia and Brea in what soon became Orange County.
While the NHVDS managers went on to San Diego and even made an unscheduled stop at Hesperia, the decision was quickly made to accept the offer of Jones, Baker, the Santa Monica Land and Water Company and the San Vicente y Santa Monica interests for the 600 acres in today’s West Los Angeles/Westwood area. On 7 December from Hot Springs, New Mexico, as the board headed home, Blanding briefly telegraphed the Board of Trade as well as Van Dyke, cabling the first, “Santa Monica Ranch selected as site for Soldiers’ Home” and the latter “Jones and Baker offer accepted by managers.”
The rejoicing in the local press was noteworthy, but we’ll save that and some of the history of the building and opening of the Home for next year’s Veterans’ Day post, so be sure to look for that a year from today!