Texas Veterans Land Board
The Texas tradition of providing her senior veterans a place of comfort and peace in return for their service dates back to 1886, when the Texas Confederate Home was established along the 1600 block of West Sixth Street in Austin. Public donations bought the 26 acres and paid for the operations until 1891, when the state took over.
Veterans and their spouses were well cared for in the Confederate Home until 1963, when the remaining residents were transferred to the Kerrville State Hospital and the Texas Confederate Home closed its doors forever.
By the 1990s, Texas' lack of a veterans home had become an embarrassment. The state woefully lagged behind others participating in the Department of Veterans Affairs State Veterans Home program. Veterans took the issue to Austin. Jerry Patterson, a retired Marine and longtime veterans advocate, had just been appointed by lieutenant governor Bob Bullock as the first chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Military Installation committee.
Patterson was also the great-grandson of Confederate veteran James Monroe Cole who was a resident of the original Confederate Veterans Home in Austin. Patterson convinced Bullock that Texas taxpayers would not have to pay a dime to support the Texas veterans homes and his bill, SB 1060, was passed authorizing the Veterans Land Board to participate in the VA State Veterans Home Program.
By December 2000, the Land Board had completed two Homes in Temple and Floresville and began admissions. The homes in Big Spring and Bonham began accepting residents in March and June, 2001, respectively. McAllen opened in July 2005 and El Paso opened in August 2005. The VLB's seventh facility, Amarillo, opened in May 2007. Texas' eighth new state of the art home in Tyler opened in November 2011.
