11 Most Endangered Historic Places
Eisenhower VA Medical Center
Year Listed: 2000
Location: Kansas
Significance
Today, the handsome red brick facilities on a bluff high above the Missouri River form the core of the National Home of the Disabled Volunteer Soldier Historic District. Constructed in Georgian and Romanesque Revival styles by master builder James McGonigle on grounds carefully landscaped by acclaimed designer Horace Cleveland, the architecturally distinctive buildings have remained essentially intact. That, however, could soon change. The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to demolish 39 of the buildings as part of a downsizing project in what is now known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center. In addition to McGonigle's buildings, other structures, including the famed Amusement Hall once visited by prohibitionist Carrie Nation, would go. The cleared land would be used for cemetery expansion.
