After years of waiting, the Southwest Montana Veterans Home broke ground today in Butte.
A crowd of veterans, Buttians, and state and federal political figures gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the more than $18 million project. The 10-acre plot will host a 60-bed living center for aging and disabled veterans that is scheduled to open next year.
The first proposal for the homes came in 1993.
Among the crowd was Bill Willing, chairman of the Montana Board of Veterans Affairs. He described the coming construction from on top a mound of dirt just overturned by shovels.
“It’ll be like a campus," he said. "It’s going to have individual cottages, five 12-member cottages."
"It’ll be more like a home for veterans, their own home, instead of being like a giant college dormitory, which is what we have in Glendive, it’s like a large hospital. But this is designed to be more of a home."
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services says the targeted opening date of the veterans home is in the late summer of 2020.
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