James H. Quillen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the construction of ten homes and medical facilities for Union Veterans of the Civil War. In 1901 funding was available for building the Mountain Home Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The building project was completed in 1903 and accepted the first resident in October of that year. In 1920 Congress provided authority to change the Home into a sanatorium or hospital for the treatment of disabled WWI Veterans who returned with tuberculosis (TB) and influenza. The rationale at the time was the cool mountain air cured TB so screened-in porches were added to the buildings to treat Veterans. In 1989, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation making the VA a cabinet-level facility known as the Department of Veterans Affairs which laid the groundwork for the outstanding care we see today at the facility.