"Setting the Course for a Century of Success"

First Congressional District - Tennessee

JOHNSON CITY, TN.    September 2, 2003

From 1896 until 1910, Walter P. Brownlow served Tennessee's First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Amazingly a century after his service, the legacy established by Brownlow's Congressional work remains important in the First District. This article is posted in tribute and memory of the extraordinary career of Walter Preston Brownlow.

At the time of his death in 1910, the total of federal appropriations secured by Brownlow for his District was estimated at $8 million. No member of Congress, particularly from the South, had previously matched this level of influence over federal appropriations.

How did this man acquire such extraordinary influence and power? Nephew of a former Tennessee Governor, Walter P. Brownlow was a leader who keenly understood the value of constituent services and his career reflects the often wild and wooly political era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Prior to being elected to Congress, Brownlow served as "Doorkeeper" for the House of Representatives, a post which controlled entry and exit to the House floor, supervised publishing of government documents, and had direct contact with the President as well as Members of Congress.  This unique experience allowed him to "hit the ground running" as a Congressman and have extraordinary influence as well as advance his ideas almost immediately upon taking office in 1896.  An example of Brownlow's vision was his proposal for a "Bureau of Public Roads" which was the first bill initiated in Congress for a unified system of national, state and local roads.  Congressman Brownlow's concepts helped lay the groundwork for the Veterans Administration hospital system (established in 1930) and the Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration) which was established six years after his death with the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. 

Founding of National Soldiers Home at Johnson City

The pinnacle of Brownlow's career was the establishment of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers near Johnson City, Tennessee by an Act of Congress dated January 28, 1901. Forty years after the Civil War, the "Soldiers Home" was developed on an unprecedented scale and modeled after the European tradition of institutions providing care for disabled soldiers of Europe's numerous wars during the 1700s and 1800s. Remarkably, Brownlow secured the ''biggest project that ever came south" somewhat as an act of post-war reconciliation between North and South.

In securing passage of his proposal for the Soldiers Home, Brownlow encountered numerous difficulties. At first the Congressionally-appointed Board governing veterans benefits refused to hear him, stating that the policy was to discourage homes established by the federal government and supporting only those developed by the states.

Brownlow's proposal for a federally-funded project of a European scale was unprecedented but his sense of timing was perfect. Congressman Brownlow sensed the national conscience and sensitivity to the plight of thousands of elderly men maimed during the Civil War and basically homeless. Many were reduced to begging in towns and cities and had no means of support with disabling war injuries.

Brownlow asked to appear before the Veterans Board for five minutes to present his proposal. He told the Board members of the thousands of men in the South and particularly in the First District of Tennessee that risked their lives and fortunes supporting the Union. He reminded the Board that not a single institution of the kind was under consideration except in Virginia, which did not have a "single Union soldier on record." Brownlow stated that the federal government had recently approved a large sum of money for the establishment of a prison at Atlanta so that southern prisoners would not suffer the rigors of the cold and unfamiliar northern climate.

Brownlow concluded his argument with the point that the old soldiers were certainly entitled to as much consideration as were convicts. At the end of his plea, the Board informed him that the members unanimously endorsed his plan for a million-dollar appropriation.

In a report submitted by the Military Affairs Committee, Brownlow reminded Congress that many important Civil War battles were fought within Tennessee. Brownlow proclaimed that Tennessee had furnished more troops to the northern army than any southern state, with the eastern counties furnishing practically all the volunteers. "Had these soldiers gone with the South, there was doubt as to what might have been the success of the Confederacy." Although situated in the heart of the Confederacy, Brownlow noted that counties of his Congressional District furnished nearly 30,000 soldiers to the federal army. Brownlow submitted 18,250 residents of the eastern Tennessee counties who were Union pensioners as evidence of his claim.

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Returning home, Brownlow suggested to the Johnson City Board of Trade that 10,000 copies of the Military Affairs Committee report be sent to each Grand Army of the Republic post in the country urging resolutions from each in support of his bill. Within a few hours, the Chairman of the Johnson City Board of Trade secured funds to pay for printing costs from "cheerful citizens" and sent the money to Brownlow. In response to the committee report, Brownlow received 7,000 petitions from soldier organizations in every state. These were used to good advantage when he presented the bill to Congress.

The House of Representatives passed Brownlow's bill to establish the Soldiers Home at Johnson City unanimously while in the Senate, Tennessee Senators William Bate and Thomas Turley led the successful effort. The Tennessee legislature thanked Brownlow and the other Tennessee Congressmen for an incredible accomplishment. Eligibility for admission to the Soldiers Home was established by Congress as follows:

"That all honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who served in the war of rebellion and the Spanish American War, and the provisional army and the volunteer solders and sailors of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, who are disabled by age, disease, or otherwise, and by reason of such disability are incapable of earning a living, shall be admitted into the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Approved: January 28, 1901."

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Construction of Soldiers Home

Soon after Congressional approval of Brownlow's bill, 475 acres were purchased west of Johnson City on an open site with an unrestricted view of the mountains. A national competition was held to select the prime architect and the French Renaissance style submitted by Joseph H. Freedlander, of New York was accepted and work began. For over two years, 1,000 men worked to build the initial 37 buildings comprising the institution. The initial contract was for $1.2 million with the eventual cost totaling around $3 million.

Brownlow achieved his goal of creating the finest Soldiers Home on the North American continent matching the best ever built in Europe. Treatment of the grounds received all the landscape architectural skill of the time. Two lakes were formed with fountains in the center. Many varieties of trees and shrubs were planted in artistic arrangements and there were miles of wide paved streets. Aside from the contract for buildings and equipment, the grading, gardening, botanical displays, fountains and other treatments cost $250,000.

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After completion of the Home, Brownlow never rested in gaining improvements for the facility. He wrote Andrew Carnegie explaining the need for a library for the veterans. The famous industrialist responded with a check for $25,000 from which a splendid building was built. To obtain books for the library, Brownlow wrote to the nation's leading publishing houses who responded with 16,000 volumes of literature. He wrote to leading art firms describing the Soldiers Home, its purpose, and the need to decorate the walls of the hospital. Many valuable works of art were received in response to these requests.

Brownlow wrote to music firms and requested they contribute to his grand cause. In response to this appeal, musical instruments were delivered from which enabled a band to be formed that conducted open-air concerts three evenings a week during the summer months. Among other items, a baseball field, zoo, opera house, and chapels for worship were organized and erected.

Original accommodations at the Soldiers Home were for around 3,500 veterans of the Civil War and all other wars. Soldiers were organized into companies and those able to work were assigned various jobs in the self contained community under development.

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Economic Impact

The Soldiers Home effectively changed Johnson City from an ordinary village to a prosperous town. The assessed value of the City of Johnson City in 1901 was $750,000 and the Soldiers Home cost more than three times to construct than the town was worth. The population which was only 5,000 when the Soldiers Home was established, more than doubled in two years. Officials estimated that $30,000 annually were spent by visitors to the institution. In addition, the soldiers received over $40,000 per year in pensions, the greater part of which was spent in Johnson City. Farmers of the area had opportunity to provide food for the new population and provide other services. Johnson City's citizens were truly elated with Congressman Brownlow's bold and beautiful architectural creation.

Brownlow's legacy of leadership was followed by two succeeding Congressmen, Carroll Reece and James H. Quillen, who along with Brownlow represented the First District of Tennessee a combined 80 years during the twentieth century.  Brownlow was succeeded in Congress by David Massey who was elected to serve the unexpired balance of the term following Brownlow's death in 1910.  Sam R.Sells of Johnson City served as First District Congressman from 1911 until 1921 and was followed by Reece (1920 Carroll Reece campaign poster).  

Today Brownlow's vision lives on with the nation's third largest VA Medical Center as well as the James H. Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University being housed on the grounds of the National Soldiers Home.  Without question, this beautiful historic campus will be equally as important to citizens of the 21st Century as it was over the past 100 years.

Primary Source Information:  Helen Still Beeson, Master of Arts Thesis, ETSU, 1967.
Web Transcription:  Alan Bridwell

Link to Department of Veterans Affairs' site " National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers".

The Political Graveyard Web Site.