The Arkansas Confederate Home was opened late in 1890 in a small remodeled residence on some sixty acres near Sweet Home (Pulaski County) through the efforts of the Ex-Confederate Association of Arkansas. This organization, composed of a group of philanthropic-minded Confederate veterans, founded the home to care for indigent Confederate veterans and their widows in Arkansas. In April of the next year, the organization persuaded the Arkansas General Assembly to approve an annual appropriation of $10,000 for the upkeep of the facility, and the organization deeded its property to the state.

A new building was constructed in 1892 and remodeled in 1911. By 1915, the home housed 130 veterans. However, by 1955, the number of residents had declined to the point that the old home was closed, and a new, smaller facility was built on the grounds of the Schools for the Blind and Deaf in Little Rock (Pulaski County). The old buildings were razed and the grounds turned into a bauxite mine.

By 1961, with only eight Confederate widows remaining as patients, the legislature decided to close the institution and transfer its remaining inmates to area nursing homes. The home finally closed its doors in 1963, and the building was transferred to the Schools for the Blind and Deaf, where it is still used for school purposes.

For additional information:
Gaither, Zella Hargrove. Arkansas Confederate Home, Little Rock. Little Rock: New Era Press, 1920.

Green, B. W. “The Arkansas Confederate Home.” Confederate Veteran 31 (February 1923): 48.

Morgan, Sarah Elizabeth. “Confederate Home Doomed.” Arkansas Democrat Sunday Magazine. September 5, 1943, pp. 6–7.

 Russell P. Baker
Arkansas History Commission and State Archives