The Maywood Home for Soldiers' Widows was built in 1924, sponsored by the Daughters of Union Veterans society to provide maintenance, nursing, and care for elderly widows of fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War and their children. Before this larger home opened, the widows had been housed at the Logan Home, named for Illinois Civil War general John Logan, in the former mansion of Maywood founder Colonel William Nichols. The new building provided 34 individual bedrooms, communal bathrooms, a family gathering room, and a large dining room with a kitchen that served daily meals to residents until 1978. It was designed by prominent Maywood architect Francis E. Dunlap, who was born in Maywood, served as a Maywood Trustee, sat on the Maywood Library Board, designed the Maywood State Bank building on the southeast corner of 5th Ave. and Lake Street, and died in 1927 at age 32. His stately Federalist-style design featured red brick, arched windows, limestone accents, and classical detailing inside and out. The structure remains a solidly built, highly fire-resistant building of extraordinary character and great memorial and historic significance, is believed to be one of only two such structures still standing nationwide, has been determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, has been owned by the Village of Maywood since 2008, and has stood vacant since 2003 as restoration and redevelopment efforts moved forward.