Togus VA Medical Center

Togus VA Medical Center is a facility operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Chelsea, Maine.

[1] The 134-room Togus Springs Hotel was built on the site in 1858 by Rockland granite dealer Horace Beals.

[1] Beals constructed a stable, large pool, bathing house, race track, and bowling alley on the site in an effort to duplicate the success of the Poland Spring Hotel.

[1] Togus began operations on October 6, 1866 (1866-10-06) as the Eastern Branch of the National Asylum For Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

[6] President Ulysses S. Grant visited Togus on August 13, 1873 to review the men who had served with him during the Civil War.

[7] Large crowds arrived on weekends to observe baseball games, military band concerts, opera house performances, and a zoo including antelope, bear, buffalo, deer, elk, chimpanzees, and pheasants.

On July 8, 2010 a veteran, with ongoing health issues, had an armed confrontation with police and a Maine game warden in a wooded area of the campus after calls were placed to authorities regarding gunshots.

1891 poster of the Eastern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
Togus in c. 1906