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From 1938 to 1945, the population of the home fell from eighty-seven to fifty-five. In 1949 the home fell under the jurisdiction of the Board of Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools. During the late 1950s, the nine remaining residents were consolidated into one hospital wing. In 1963 the last three residents were moved to private nursing homes at state expense, and the facility was closed.
Would it be better just to ignore certain minor cases like this one? Possibly, but no policy change is ever conducted perfectly, and even if removing this historic marker is an overreaction, it does nothing to invalidate the move to remove the statues that celebrate the Confederacy. I think if the Confederacy wasn't still commemorated and romanticized today, the text on the marker wouldn't be an issue, even if it would be worded differently if erected now. The Chronicle welcomes opinion pieces on any topic from the community.
The Confederate Women’s Home
Why doesn't this monument tell us how many laborers worked to clear the land for this building? (I don’t know what the Black Codes of the time allowed but I suspect black men did some of the labor.) Instead, it tells us about the work of an organization that supported white supremacy and the Confederacy. This building would not have stood without either contribution, but this “factually accurate” monument only memorializes the latter group.
Hallways that were once filled with senior women were now filled with children playing in the halls. CONFEDERATE WOMAN’S HOME The home was opened “to all wives and widows of honorably discharged Confederate soldiers who either entered the Confederate service from Texas or came to live in... The UDoTC is literally a propaganda organization for the Confederacy. Does this plaque exist to white wash the history of a propaganda arm of the Confederacy and advance their image? Texas Confederate Women's and Men's Home Historical Markers (3710 Cedar St. and 1600 W. Sixth).
The Ghosts of The Confederate Women’s Home
The last Confederate veteran, Walter W. Williams, was 114 years of age at a time of his death December 19, 1959. Of the three documented burials in this plot, two were later moved to family plots elsewhere and one moved to rest beside her husband in Confederate Field in the Texas State Cemetery. You can use the hashtag #HM1WOK in tweets, and any other place where you might refer to this marker, including when searching on this site. But, like the aging widows, there were some children who moved in and never moved out. Although the building has undergone major renovations during its 111-year history, it is believed that some of the original occupants remain.
By act of the Forty-eighth Legislature, "senile" mental patients from other state institutions were transferred to the Confederate Home. After 1939 disabled veterans of the Spanish American War and World War I, as well as their spouses, were admitted. In 1963 the remaining patients were sent to Kerrville State Hospital, and the Austin facility was transferred to the Austin State Hospital as an annex. The buildings on Sixth Street were razed in 1970 to make room for University of Texas married students' housing. Applicants were required to be 60 years of age or older, physically unable to live by themselves, and without adequate financial resources.
Historical Marker Project
The facilities then served as a residence for nurses of the nearby Austin State Hospital and later as an annex for the State School for the Blind. In 1970, the vacant part of the original building became the headquarters for various local charitable groups assisting elderly citizens. The Home was run on donations until 1891 when the State of Texas assumed control. The campus was located at 1600 West Sixth Street in Austin’s Clarksville neighborhood.
A free hour-long public tour, Murder, Mayhem & Misadventure, will be offered from 10 am to 4 pm. The tours feature costumed actors at grave sites and highlights the cemetery's "residents" who died untimely deaths from the 1860s to the 1910s. Today, the AGE of Central Texas offices are housed on Cedar Street, providing caregiving workshops and other free opportunities for the senior population in Travis County to grow and thrive as they age. AGE also provides critical services for a consortium of nonprofit agencies serving seniors, including Meals on Wheels, Lutheran Social Services, and Hospice Austin.
It is,as the name says, a memorial to the Texas Confederate Women's Home and all the widows and daughters of the Confederacy. The Home continued to be used even after the last Confederate veteran, a Thomas Riddle, died in 1953. Veterans from World War I and the Spanish American War stayed there until the Home closed in 1961. It was given to the University of Texas in 1971 and is married student housing still today.
Sometimes all we have is the information on their headstones which is the case with Everett. He served in the Eighth Texas Cavalry, also known as Terry’s Texas Rangers; it was the most well-known Texas Confederate unit in the War other than Hood’s Texas Brigade. Terry’s Rangers was organized in Houston early in 1861 and that’s where Everett joined them.
To commemorate campgrounds built to house and care for the widows, wives, and veterans of the Confederacy. The marker seems to accurately and objectively reflect an historic building’s history. It does not seem to glorify the Confederacy, other than perhaps to note a Confederacy-related group’s effort to help women in need of help. This monument is located within a fenced-in area of the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas.
Controversial treatments such as electroshock therapy were used to battle even the most common diseases such as dementia. Once the site of electroshock therapy, the Confederate Women’s Home is haunted by its former inhabitants. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law.
Many of these women were related to men at the Texas Confederate Home in Austin. Residents were required to be at least sixty years of age and without means of financial support. The home was initially acquired and operated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In 1903 the organization established a Wives and Widows Home Committee, which raised funds for the home and oversaw its construction. In 1905 the organization purchased property north of Austin, and in 1906 A. The two-story facility, constructed in 1906–07, had fifteen bedrooms.
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