John R. Moses Hall – Groundbreaking Day

On January 21st, 2013, I authored a bill in the Wisconsin State Legislature which amended the 2013−15 Authorized State Building Program to add the construction of the John R. Moses Skilled Nursing Facility at the Wisconsin Veterans Home - King.

Assembly Bill 733 passed out of the Assembly on March 20, 2014 on a bipartisan vote, and unanimously out of the Senate on April 1, 2014.  On April 4, 2014, with Governor Walker’s signature, the bill became law as 2013 Wisconsin Act 187.

Six years later, I was honored to pick up a ceremonial shovel for the John R. Moses Hall groundbreaking. In a home like setting, Moses Hall will have private rooms with views of Rainbow Lake. The 192 bed building will be a state of the art facility providing innovative nursing care. Moses Hall is projected for completion in 2021.

Every named hall at King honors a veteran with Wisconsin ties. Appointed by Governor Gaylord Nelson, World War II veteran John R. Moses served as Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs from 1962 until he retired in 1982.  During his tenure, Secretary Moses led the revitalization of King. 

The Veterans Home at King is a state operated facility for Wisconsin veterans and their spouses.  Building and maintenance for the campus is a 65% - 35% split between the federal and state government.

From its original enrollment of 50 members in 1887, King has grown to a community of approximately 600 members.  With four separately licensed 5-star nursing homes, it is one of the largest and most independent skilled long-term care facilities in the United States. King also has a chapel and an activity center that contains a post office, theatre, bowling alley, museum, and library. 

Once completed, residents of other buildings at King will be relocated to Moses Hall.   Because long-term care delivery and technology has changed greatly over the years, providing quality care is becoming more and more difficult to certain members in the older outdated facilities. The new 192-bed replacement skilled nursing facility accords the state the means to fulfill its mission of caring for our veterans.

Generation after generation of veterans risked their lives, giving all of us the opportunity to live our lives as we choose.  Moses Hall will continue King’s exceptional tradition of ensuring our heroes live their final years protected in comfort and dignity.