By Jane Rhett Homelake Veterans History Center Museum is located on the site of the Colorado Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, now the Colorado State Veterans Center at Homelake just east of Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley. The Home was established in 1889 at the behest of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) by an act of the state legislature to provide a home for the aging Civil War/Mexican War veterans. The first resident came in 1891 when the hospital building opened. More than 1,500 Civil War veterans came to the home from all parts of Colorado and ...