President Abraham Lincoln signed an act to create the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1865 near the end of the Civil War. The first veteran was admitted to Togus the following year, and since then, the nation’s oldest health care facility dedicated to serving the needs of veterans has served thousands of men and women. This year, the sprawling campus east of Augusta marks its 150th year.
A map of Togus from 1885 shows the location of various buildings on the campus.
Togus firefighters posing with a horse drawn fire engine in 1895.
This news item from the Daily Reporter Journal in 1896 recounts the daily schedule at Togus.
The mess hall decorated for Christmas in 1905.
The carriage in front of the hospital in the early 1900s.
People gather at the headquarters of the Togus home in this photo taken circa 1906 from a book about Eastern Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Soldiers living on the Togus campus, described as Companies E & H Barrack, drill in this image captured on a postcard that was sold at Pierce's Bookstore in Augusta, sometime in the early 1900s.
The barracks at the National Soldiers Home at Togus is shown in this postcard that dates to the early 1900s.
Soldiers passing in review circa the early 1900s.
Veterans sitting on a hospital porch across from the bandstand around 1903.
Cover from a circa 1906 book about Eastern Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Togus.
Members of the National Home Band are featured in this photo from a circa 1906 book about Eastern Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Togus.
Soldiers pose by a cannon in this photo from a circa 1906 book about Eastern Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Togus.
The general mess hall, with a seating capacity of 1,272, is shown in this photo from a circa 1906 book about Eastern Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
A soldier plays Taps during a burial at Togus in this postcard from the early 1900s.
The Memorial Day parade at Togus in 1924.
The Daily Kennebec Journal reported on the purchase of $1 million in equipment for veterans' care at Togus in this article from Oct. 18, 1933.
The front plate from The U.S.S. Kearsarge sometime before the 1930s when the new hospital was built. The ship fought a Civil War battle against the C.S.S. Alabama off the coast of France. Williams said that the front plate is no longer on the campus.
A Togus baseball team from 1930s or 1940s.
The ground breaking for the new main hospital in 1932 that is still in use and known as Building 200.
The hospital and nurses home is shown in this postcard of Togus from the time period after 1930s.
Undated postcards of Togus
In this 1934 The Daily Kennebec Journal article, the newspaper recounted a devastating fire that hit Togus in 1868. The secondary headline on the story reads "Driven out into the cold winter night, disabled soldiers were brought to this city in sleighs and sheltered in Old Waverly Hall — "Disgraceful debauch" resulted when two barrels of whiskey intended for horsemen, were rolled out."
The Togus campus in 1973. The main hospital building, Building 200, is at top right. The baseball field at top left was torn down for parking lots.
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