Fenton Illinois Soldiers' & Sailors' Home Blue Souvenir Commemorative Plate

This was purchased on eBay in 2014 from Gary Newton of Oregon. He explained it had come from the estate of a Portland, Oregon glass collector. He took it right off the wall of her home and left the old hanging wire still attached.

I can only imagine this beautiful commemorative plate was lovingly hung on the wall by its original owner. Perhaps they had a loved one who served his country and came home and spent time at this facility over one hundred years ago. What better way to show their love and support by proudly displaying this in their home.

Now, when I purchased this and witnessed the artist's painstaking details, it made me wonder if this building still exists and what it looks like today. I put the address into Google Maps as 1707 N. 12th Street, Quincy, IL and there I went! I clicked on the "street view" option, where you can actually take a drive in that neighborhood and see photos of everything.

At first, I was looking at a really wide, two-story, brick building. It was a Veterans Home alright. It looks like the vintage one where I live in New Hampshire but I knew it wasn't old enough to be the one I was looking for. The one on the plate was built and completed from 1886 to 1887. So, with a click of my mouse, I took a left and headed down the street. I saw an old Victorian era trolley stop building and I knew I was on the right track. I took a left down the next street and there it was! It was very exciting to be able to identify it from the image on my plate. I could see cannons on the lawn in front of this white stone-faced building. Yes, it's still there today, but it looks different now. Only one section of the building on the plate is still standing.

This home was established for ex-soldiers and sailors who enlisted from Illinois in the U.S. Army and Navy who served in the Mexican War and Civil Wars, and later on, after 1899, the Spanish-American War. Each soldier was assigned a registry number, starting with eleven, and they could use that number to re-admit themselves for the rest of their lives. This home was for those Veterans who had become disabled through their service and for those who also, because of old age or other disabilities, could not earn a living on their own. The registry records show 4,418 separate admissions to this home from March 1887 to June, 1898. Today it is for all Illinois Veterans from WWI to the present.

The name was changed in 1973 to the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy and it sits on 210 beautiful acres. It's actually a campus, which includes a bank, chapel, coffee shop, cemetery, barber, beautician, guest house, post office, doctors, therapists, a museum with over 5,000 artifacts, the works! It even has a Deer Park where animals run free for everyone to enjoy. It's a city within a city with the feel of country. It is truly, Land of the Free and "Home" of the Brave.

John Resnik notes in his book, The Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass Lettered Pieces, that "the tower depicted at the left hand side was mysteriously destroyed by a wind storm on April 12, 1945. This is the day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. No absolute information was found to indicate the purpose of this item, but since the Home was apparently always short of funds, it is possible that it was sold at the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in 191, as a fund raiser."

Mr. Resnik further commented that it was interesting to note that the flag used on this plate has only eleven stripes and nine stars and it is the very same flag used on the State House of Indiana plate. He could not find any significance about the flag's features. I think it does tell us the same artist must have made both moulds for these two patterns of commemorative plates.

In closing, I would like to say that if you have the chance to see one of these plates in person, please check out the amazing details the artist put into this pattern. It is no less than amazing and a joy to hold. I've heard people say our soldiers don't die...they just fade away. I say, they only fade away if no one talks about them to keep the history alive, much like this organization in Quincy, Illinois is doing. Also, these amazing memorial plates have done their job through the years to remind us what a great country we live in, that our freedom was not free and we have our wonderful brave soldiers and their families to thank for it every day.

This small plate measures 8" across and is found in only blue or marigold. The back pattern, called Berry & Leaf Circles, adorns the Indiana State House and Indiana Soldiers & Sailors Monument plates as well.

The Christina Katsikas Collection