The Ladies' G.A.R. Nursing Home
The front facade of the abandoned Ladies G.A.R. Home in Swissvale, PA
Updated February 15, 2020 | By Matthew Christopher
The Ladies G.A.R. Home (G.A.R. stands for Grand Army of the Republic) was originally built in 1890 on the border of Swissvale and Braddock, roughly nine miles east of Pittsburgh. According to the University of Pittsburgh USL Archives, “The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) was a fraternal organization comprised of men who fought for the Union during the Civil War… created to strengthen fellowship among men who had fought to preserve the Union, to honor those killed in the war, to provide care for their dependents, and to uphold the Constitution of the United States.” The facility was built as a 12-room home for Civil War widows and mothers, several of whom had previously lived in the Allegheny Almshouse – the Ladies G.A.R. Home provided a “high-minded alternative to the poor house for women whose husbands, brothers and sons had served their country”, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
When the original Ladies G.A.R. Home burned in 1900, it was rebuilt with 53 rooms and another 30 rooms were added in 1937. Judging by an undated postcard, it was a pretty place, with its entrance facing the Hawkins Station on the railroad tracks below it instead of the road on the hill above it. In 1960 the requirement that residents must be direct descendants of Civil War veterans was dropped, transitioning the facility to a standard retirement home.
An undated postcard shows the front of the Ladies G.A.R. Home in better days
The Ladies G.A.R. Home closed in 1996 and the remaining residents were moved to a home in Turtle Creek. The building was purchased in 2001 for $50,000 by the Holy Temple of God In Christ Church in Braddock with plans to turn it into “a residential shelter for abused children as well as for such social services as family therapy, day care and programs for single parents” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). While the church intended to be in the building in two months, it appears the project was too much for them: in 2008 the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale to Time Out Ministries for $67,423. It’s unclear what, if anything, they did with the building. They filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and by the time of the home’s demolition in 2018 there were $2 million in liens on the property.
In researching this property, I was surprised by how little information was available on it; the newspaper articles mentioning it were either fund-raising events (such as one for a Jubilee event in 1988 featuring a Bavarian band, a barbershop quartet, square dancing, pony rides, and crafts), job postings for nurses and volunteers, or death notices for residents. One would think that at very least the construction or the fire in 1900 would have been newsworthy, but the only articles I’ve found mentioning any actual stories about the place when it was open were a brief clipping in 1964 about a drunken 29-year-old man who was charged with burglary, aggravated assault, and battery after stumbling into the home and punching an 85 year old woman in the head, and a 58-year-old man who was arrested in 1980 for phoning in bomb threats.
When I visited the Ladies G.A.R. Home in October 2017, the interior was barren and badly deteriorated. Empty rooms had been stripped of identifying details and many were covered in graffiti. The once-manicured front yard was overgrown to the degree that getting an unobstructed view of the front façade was nearly impossible, with the awning-covered staircase extending through brambles like the snout of a dragon. Hidden away down a hillside from Woodstock Avenue, it had clearly been forgotten about for quite some time. As with so many abandoned places, the majority of its past, including the details of the lives of its residents, had slipped quietly away into oblivion.
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