New book about the Old Soldiers Home

Dayton, Ohio (WDTN) - A new book published by American Veterans Heritage Center, called The Mother Home: A History of the Dayton Soldiers’ Home in 3-D , tells the story of the Central Branch.

An unusual feature of the book is the extensive use of over 150 stereoviews as illustrations.

When viewed through a set of glasses, included with the book, the stereoscopic view brings out an astonishing amount of depth and clarity, allowing the reader to feel as though he or she have stepped back in time.

With the author, Curt Dalton, acting as tour guide, you are instantly returned to the Dayton VA Campus as it was in the last third of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth.

The Central Branch was a unique campus, a city within itself, with thousands of residents, its own hospital, churches, hotel, zoo and menagerie, with an aviary, monkey house, deer, alligators, antelopes and the like, in addition to a full complement of livestock and a nationally famous grotto, the scenic centerpiece of the facility.

Profits from the sale of The Mother Home will go to American Veterans Heritage Center, a non-profit organization, whose mission includes restoring the Dayton VA Campus to its former grandeur.

The book contains 134 pages, with over 220 black & white and color illustrations and sells for $50.

For more information on the book or other titles by the author call (937) 267-7628.

The book will be available at Carillon Park this weekend.

Please call 293-2841 to order for pick-up at the park.