My apologies to those of you who subscribe to all the lists I'm forwarding this to! This is a great site if you have Civil War ancestors with connections to the Soldiers Home in Dayton. The virtual tour has tons of pictures and quite detailed narrative. This article appeared in the Wright-Patterson AFB paper, Skywrighter, 17 Nov 2000, p 29. Tour Explores History of Dayton VA by Jeff Hull and Tracey Rasmer, Dayton VA Medical Center DAYTON- Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center officials announced Monday the opening of a virtual museum on the Internet that honors the history of the medical center. The Dayton campus was originally known as a the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Central Branch. With its origin as one of the original three national homes authorized near the end of the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln, the accomplishments of the home include being a forerunner in health care service to veterans since 1867 and a provider of medical education since 1884. The virtual museum, including an 1885 virtual tour and exhibit gallery, can be viewed at http://www.daytonvamc.com/museum/index.html The home provided Civil War soldiers with health care, a home, and the opportunity to learn a trade so they could return to work. The exhibit gallery and statistics enable users to better understand a day in the life of American Civil War veterans at the national home. Take a walk through the grounds and gardens, and see what life was like on a typical day in June 1885. In addition to providing state-of-the-art medical care, the Central Branch became a major tourist attraction and the number of visitors swelled to 669,059 in 1910. The Central Branch was a large facility even by today's standards. Home Hospital, which opened in 1870, went through several expansions bringing the number of inpatient beds to 840. Home Hospital was acknowledged to be the best constructed and best adapted in America. The largest number of veterans present in all levels of care was 5,033, in 1897. The Central Branch was a busy place for veterans with numerous workshops, a large farm and dairy operation. Six of the original structures dating from 1868 to 1875 still remain on the Dayton campus. The Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Veterans Heritage Center and the Dayton community have accepted the challenge of restoring four of the historic buildings. The Veterans Heritage Center's mission is to preserve and protect the significant history and culture of the structures, focusing on the historic preservation of the patient library, the headquarters building, the barracks building and the home chapel. The chapel, built by veterans using limestone they quarried on the grounds, was the first permanent place of worship ever constructed by the US government. The Veterans Heritage Center aims to allow the buildings to serve their original purposes when possible (especially the chapel and the library), and to preserve the buildings for future use as museums, educational centers and conference facilities. As one of the original branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, the Dayton campus has had a major role in establishing what has become the largest integrated health care system in the United States.