Texas. Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools

The Texas Woman's Confederate Home was initially established and operated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In 1903 the organization created a Wives and Widows Home Committee, which raised funds for the home and oversaw its construction. The UDC purchased property in north central Austin for the home, and in 1906 A. O. Watson was hired to design a building on the site. In 1905 the 29th Legislature passed a bill to transfer the home to the state but it was vetoed by Governor Samuel W.T. Lanham (House Bill 387, Regular Session). In 1907 a constitutional amendment providing for state ownership of the home was rejected by Texas voters (Senate Joint Resolution 12, 30th Legislature, Regular Session). The Confederate Woman's Home was opened in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to care for widows and wives of honorably discharged Confederate soldiers and other women who aided the Confederacy. Residents were required to be at least sixty years of age and without means of financial support. Some of the women had been residents at the Texas Confederate Home, residing with their husbands, and transferred to the Woman's Home. The United Daughters of the Confederacy operated the home until 1911, relying solely on donations to cover expenses. The State of Texas assumed control of the Home on March 10, 1911 by provisions of Senate Bill 275 (32nd Legislature, Regular Session). The property was deeded to the state and the facility was placed under a six-member board of managers. At the time of the transfer, the institution had eighteen residents. The two-story facility, constructed in 1906-1907, had fifteen bedrooms. At its opening on June 3, 1908, three women were admitted to the home; by 1909 it housed sixteen. In 1913 the state constructed a large two-story brick addition, designed by Page Brothers, architects, which included twenty-four new bedrooms. A brick hospital building was built in 1916, with a hospital annex added eight years later.

The institution was placed under the Texas State Board of Control in 1920 by the 36th Legislature (Senate Bill 147, Regular Session). The Board appointed a manager for the home and was responsible for appropriations and maintenance. The Home housed between eighty and 110 residents from 1920 through 1935. From 1938 to 1945, the population of the home fell from eighty-seven to fifty-five. In 1949 administration of the Home was transferred to the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools (House Bill 1, 51st Legislature, Regular Session). In 1963 the last three residents were moved to private nursing homes at state expense, and the facility was closed. The state sold the property in 1986. During its fifty-five years of operation the Home cared for over 3400 women.

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