Lot 107 - Antique Boarded Occupational Photograph Of Construction Workers Building The New Hampshire Veterans Home, Tilton, New Hampshire, Photographed By Sanderson, Circa 1890

Antique boarded occupational photograph depicting fifteen construction workers building the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, New Hampshire, the facility shown nearly complete. On the right side of the image, a worker poses with a saw as he completes finishing work on the front steps. Verso stamped "Sanderson, Artist, Tilton, N.H." The building, originally known as the New Hampshire Soldiers’ Home, was established following 1888 federal legislation supporting state-operated veterans’ homes and was dedicated on December 3, 1890. Water staining to left side of board and image. Other staining and general wear consistent with age.

Fast Facts and History From NH.gov (www.nh.gov/veterans/about/fast-facts.htm):

"New Hampshire Veterans Home History

The first legislation directing assistance in establishing and providing operational costs for state-operated Soldiers' Homes was passed by Congress in 1888. In 1889, to take advantage of the federal legislation, Governor David H. Goodell established a veterans' Board of Managers, made up of prominent citizens, to select a site for a Soldiers' Home for Civil War veterans unable to care for themselves by reason of wounds, old age, or other infirmities.

Various properties throughout the state were examined and on November 8, 1889, the Board of Managers accepted the offer from one of its members, Charles E. Tilton, to give the State a site, known as the Savage Farm, of approximately 30 acres in Tilton.

The New Hampshire Soldiers' Home was dedicated during ceremonies on December 3, 1890.

Three days later, the first veterans of the Civil War were admitted to the Home. They formed a corps of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of Union veterans of the Civil War, and lived out their lives in dignity in the the red-brick Victorian "Fortress" in the Highlands of Tilton.

In 1890, the Woman's Relief Corps raised $5,000, which almost entirely furnished the Home. Prior to the dedication, they spent three days cleaning the facility and arranging the furniture. In 1899, electric lights and a laundry plant were installed and an addition to the farmhouse (infirmary) was constructed in 1913.

The farm operation ceased in the 1950s, and in 1971 the farmhouse was demolished and a new 50-bed nursing care addition (the Welch Unit) was built. Another 50-bed addition (Tarr North) was constructed in 1978, replacing the 1890 main building."