decline. The Board based this on the belief that any veteran who needed the Asylum had already entered it and that, as members regained their health or learned new work skills, they would leave the Asylum. In 1868, the Board adopted a resolution that limited the number of branches to the three existing ones. Problems with construction of the Main Building at the Northwestern Branch, and concern over the harsh winters at both the Northwestern and Eastern branches, led the Board to open a fourth branch in 1870 at a site in a warmer climate; it had existing buildings available for immediate use. In addition, an increasing number of veterans applied for services. The Southern Branch of the National Asylum was established in October 1870, with the Board's purchase of the Chesapeake Female College at Hampton, Virginia. What became the main building of this new branch was built in 1854 and used as the principal facility of the college. The building was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate troops. In the economic downturn following the Civil War, the women's college did not reopen. Acquisition of the property by the National Home followed the precedent four years earlier of the purchase of the Togus resort. The Southern Branch was founded to provide a facility in a milder climate for the benefit of older veterans, to house Southern black members whom the board believed would be more accustomed to a southern location, and to be associated with Fort Monroe, adjacent to the new branch site. The Federal troops at Fort Monroe and Union veterans at the Southern Branch would establish a strong Union presence near the strategic city of Newport News in the former Confederate state of Virginia. On January 23, 1873, Congress passed a resolution changing the name of the institution to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, reflecting the increasing permanence of the institution and its membership. In 1875, the Board's report to Congress stressed the need for construction of larger accommodations as quickly as possible. The Broad projected an eventual decline in the population as of the early 1870s, due to an increase in death rate with aging, but also said that it expected more aging veterans to apply for admission in the late 1870s and early 1880s. In 1875, major construction projects were started at the four branches, in part to provide more housing,