Congress allotted an appropriation of $200,000, while the Grant County residents provided a natural gas supply for the heating and lighting of this new facility.

Marion, Indiana was selected as a site for the new branch due to the availability of natural gas and the political efforts of George Washington Steele.

[3] During his last term, Colonel George Washington Steele introduced legislation for establishing a branch home in Grant County in the fiftieth session of congress, the measure coming up in December, and for seven months he watched the proceedings.

In a letter sent to Simon Goldthwait two days before Congress approved the measure, Colonel Steele said that the bill "was in real danger."

Approval of Steele's bill was received with great enthusiasm in Marion, where the local newspaper predicted that the expenditure for the branch would total at least $500,000.

By October 1888, a 220-acre (0.89 km2) tract had been purchased by a group of local citizens for donation to the Federal government for the National Home site.

The Federal Government only authorized up to $90 per acre, and therefore, local Grant County citizens donated the additional monies to ensure the construction of the Marion Branch.

By 1892 a request for two additional barracks was made due to the VA reaching its veteran capacity of 1,241 members.

The Marion Branch and all other homes were opened to both the white veteran and members of the United States Colored Troops.

On April 29, 1922, this agency assumed responsibility for fifty-seven veterans' hospitals operated by the Public Health Service as well as nine under construction by the Treasury Department.

For the most part, the World War I veterans were receiving medical treatment and returning to civilian life rather than entering the domiciliary program for the Home.

[5] A burial ground of 61.5 acres (249,000 m2) was set aside from the buildings in memory of the men who offered their lives in defense of their country.