At the end of the Civil War, the country faced the unprecedented challenge to care for the tens of thousands of disabled veterans who fought to preserve the Union. Due to president Abraham Lincoln’s appeal to Congtress following the Civil War (1861-1865), several National Homes for Union veterans were established across the country to provide domiciliary care, meduical and hospital treatment for all injuries and diseases. Indigent and disabled veterans received care at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers located four miles north of the new Moraine Historical Marker. The National Home was built with great architectural buildings and grand gardens for not just recovering soldiers, but for patriotic tourists who traveled from near and far to pay respect to the veterans.
Many veterans traveled Soldiers Home Road to reach the “Soldiers Home”. Population at the Gettysburg Soldiers Home peaked in 1884 with 7,146 resident veterans. Over 600,000 tourists visited the home in 1910. Other Civil War road names in Moraine include Union Road and Infirmary Road.
Several Moraine pioneers fought in the Civil War including the Holderman family who lived just north of the Moraine Historical Marker on Caylor Road. Seven men from the Holderman family joined Ohio regiments for the Union Army. One son, Jacob, spent two years at the Soldiers Home recovering from war injuries and weather exposure. The land that Caylor Road is on was originally owned by the Kaylor and Holderman families. Over time the spelling of the road became Caylor instead of Kaylor. In the woods just past where Caylor Road dead ends into WC-Soldiers Home Road is the small Kaylor Family Cemetery (Photo #3 & #4).
The Moraine Historical Marker “Soldiers Home Road” was installed in September 2019 and is located along the Deer Meadow Park To Possum Creek Metropark Bike Connector just south of the intersection of Shank Road and West Carrollton-Soldiers Home Road.
