In 1897, Jessie P. Forsythe opened a family-run rest home on the property.[1] Forsythe sold the rest home in 1908 to Charles A. Stonchill who “presented it to the Jewish public, with the provision, however, that it be dedicated solely to the care of patients with tuberculosis.”[2] The announcement of his gift was made at a joint meeting of the Baron Hirsch Women’s Club and the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society, after which the two societies joined with the Willing Works and organized and incorporated the Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanitarium.[3] The sanitarium was non-sectarian.[4]
Initially, the sanitarium was a two-story frame building, however, in following decades, more land was acquired and a new sanitarium was constructed on the site.[5] By 1914, eight buildings were added to the sanitarium, including the administration building, children’s cottage, cottage for adult male patients, cottage for adult female patients, and a main building consisting of three stories and a wing for private pay patients.[6]
Patients that were able to pay were accepted, however, in 1914, “the majority of these patients are absolutely unable to pay anything, and, were it not for the generosity and humanitarianism of these broad-minded dispensers of charity, would be forced to continue to work as long as possible, until the disease was so far advanced that nothing could be done except to alleviate the suffering of the moment, until death claimed its victims.”[7]
In 1962, as more treatment for tuberculosis was being handled by places like Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, the sanitarium closed and sold its property to citizens seeking to open a hospital in the area—that hospital became the Central DuPage Hospital.[8]
Institution Name and Type
Goal/Object
1914: “Primarily, the Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanatorium was organized for the care and treatment of patients in the curable stages of pulmonary tuberculosis, although now more advanced cases are admitted.”[9]
Type of Institution
Health : Hospital : Tuberculosis
Location and Building
Main Location
Address: 25 Winfield Rd
Locality: Winfield
County: DuPage
State: Illinois
Administration Information
Date of Founding
1909
Date of Total Closure
1962
Administration
1909: Private
1909: run by three societies—the Baron Hirsch Woman’s Club, the Jewish Consumption Relief Society, and the Willing Workers.[10]
Funding/Support
1914: support of the Associated Jewish Charities of Chicago and assistance of individual subscriptions[11]
1914: approximately 400 patients were cared for in the sanitarium each year with an average satay of three months.[19]
Records
It is unknown if there are surviving records relating to this hospital. It is recommended to contact the local historical societies and the charities that ran the institution.
Census Records
1930 U.S. Federal Census
1940 U.S. Federal Census
Sources
“Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanatorium.” 1914. The Chicago Medical Recorder 36(January-December 1914): 352-355.
Jacobs, Philip P. 1911. A Tuberculosis Directory. New York: The National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis.
McCormac, Alice H. 1912. “School Nursing and School Work of the Visiting Nurses of Hartford, Conn.” The American Journal of Nursing 12(8): 659-663. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3404558.
William Raymond Champlin Memorial Home. Image from 1913 Annual Report.
The All Saints Home for Boys opened on 1 November 1896 in Austin, Illinois.[1] Today, Austin is a neighborhood of Chicago. The home opened with six boys, who were, for about a year, boarded out.[2] The home owes its origin to Father John M. Chattin, a priest of the Episcopal Church who was connected with the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.[3] Chattin was a city missionary who visited the County Poorhouse, jail, and hospital (the Home for Incurables), as well as the Home for the Friendless and Bridwell frequently.[4] With consent but not the official aid of the Bishop he started the home by putting himself at the head of a household of four needy boys, which became six.[5][6]
In May 1897, the home was moved to Ohio Street in Austin and a year following that, the Home was moved to 19 Bishop Court in Chicago where it stayed for two years.
In 1900, the organization appealed to Mrs. George W. Champlin, who gave her home at 1508 West Adams Street to Rev. William E. McLaren for the purpose of maintaining a permanent home for boys.[7][8] Her donation enabled the institution to care for more residents than for in a leased building, so in 1903, a corporation was formed known as the “William Raymond Champlin Memorial Home for Boys.”[9] The home saw a lot of growth in the next few years, purchasing the two houses east of the Champlin home and, later, the third house east on the corner of Laflin Street.[10]
In 1906, a new corporation was formed, its objects being identical with the Champlin memorial home, called “Chicago Homes for Boys.”[11]
1913: “The Object of the Home from the first was preventative rather than reformatory, and any blameless boy was gladly admitted whether he could pay board or not.” [13]
Type of Institution
Dependent: Children
Location and Building
Main Location
Address:
511-517 West Adams Street[14]/1508 West Adams Street.[15] (today’s modern address)
The All Saints Home for Boys opened on 1 November 1896 in Austin, Illinois.[1] Today, Austin is a neighborhood of Chicago. The home opened with six boys, who were, for about a year, boarded out.[2] In May 1897, the home was moved to Ohio Street in Austin and a year following that, the Home was moved to 19 Bishop Court in Chicago where it stayed for two years. By 1903, the organization appealed to Mrs. George W. Champlin, who gave her home at 1508 West Adams Street to Rev. William E. McLaren for the purpose of maintaining a permanent home for boys.[3] Her donation enabled the institution to care for more residents than for in a leased building, so in 1903, a corporation was formed known as the “William Raymond Champlin Memorial Home for Boys.”[4]
Institution Name and Type
Object/Goal: “The object of the Home from the first was preventive rather than reformatory, and any blameless boy was gladly admitted whether he could pay board or not.”[5]
Dr. George E. Shipman and his wife opened the Foundlings Home in 1871. The Shipmans were, according to many newspaper accounts and primary sources, inspired by the work of George Müller in Bristol and Dr. Charles Cullis in Boston.
In 1874, the organization moved to a four-story building at 115 South Wood Street in Chicago, later 15 South Wood Street—when Chicago changed its street numbering systems (one of the times—this happened quite a few times in the city’s history).[1] The Home was near the Brown School and developed a partnership with the school. Frances Shipman, the daughter of Dr. Shipman, taught sixth grade at the Brown School. “When the Home was opened, its main object was to save the forsaken children, and it was not considered best to give any way. But it was not many months before it was made apparent to us that such was not the will of our Heavenly Father, and since then the children have been given to those who offered them Christian homes; and who can estimate the blessings which these little ones have carried with them into the homes of their adoption… More than three hundred children have been given into professedly Christian families.”[2]
In 1971, at exactly 100 years old, the Home closed because of pregnancy prevention, the number of babies born out of wedlock, and the greater acceptance of single motherhood. The following year, the building was sold to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center for use as a mental health treatment center.
In 1960, a new home was built at 1720 W. Polk.[3] By 1962, the Foundlings Home “provides a maternity home for unwed mothers, a nursery and a detailed adoption program, among other services.”[4]
The charity is still active as the Chicago Foundlings Home. Currently, the organization works to support charitable organizations that provide education, care, and other services in communities to expecting mothers, mothers, children, and infants.
Institution Name and Type
Alternative Names:
Chicago Foundlings Home
Chicago Foundlings’ Home
Goal/Objects:
1905: “To care for abandoned infants and homeless mothers with infants.”[5]
Type of Institution:
Dependent : Children : Orphanage
Dependent : Homeless : Women
Dependent : Women : Mothers
1905:
Class II. Relief for Destitute, Neglected and Delinquent Children—Division I. Asylums, Homes, and Cheap Lodgings for Children[6]
Dates of Name, Place, Mission Change, or Merger: 1874
Moved to Wood Street
Successor: Chicago Foundlings’ Home Charity
Administration:
1910: Private Corporation
Funding and Support: Supported by voluntary contributions.[10]
The Ladies’ Union Aid Society of the Chicago Foundlings’ Home was established in the first year of the homes’ history and were a group that raised money, knitted and sewed clothing for the infants, and more.
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society often donated to the home.
Carter H. Harrison, Cook County Commissioner, donated his entire salary to the Foundlings’ Home in July 1873.[11]
People
Matilda B. Carse, social reformer, leader of the temperance movement, and donor to the Foundlings Home for many years.
C. H. Chase, member of the board in 1879.
E. G. Clark, president in 1905.
Thomas C. Dickerson, one of the corporators of the home.
John Dillingham, one of the corporators of the home.
Dr. T. C. Duncan, served as a physician throughout the 1870s and onwards.
Dr. R. N. Foster, assisted as a physicians in the 1870s when called on.
Rev. C. D. Helmer, one of the corporators of the home.
William G. Hibbard, Esq., one of the corporators of the home and served as President in the 1870s and 1880s. Treasurer in 1905.
Dr. Henrietta A. Howe, resident physician since 1888-at least 1910.
S. A. Kean, one of the corporators of the home and served as President in 1880s.
A. E. Kittredge, one of the corporators of the home.
W. C. McCallum, member of the board in 1879.
Dr. J. P. Mills served as physician throughout the late 1870s and onwards.
Emma A. Peck, matron in 1905.
J. L. Pickard, one of the corporators of the home and President of the Board of Corporators before 1879.
Rev. H. N. Powers, one of the corporators of the home.
Frances F./C. Shipman, Superintendent in 1905, 1910 and 1916.
George E. Shipman, founder and superintendent.
Dr. H. N. Small, assisted as a physicians in the 1870s when called on.
C. A. Weirich, resident physician in 1910.
Dr. C. A. Werrick
Past Residents
Percilla, a blind girl who was in the home since infanthood attended school in 1916
An Infant, 1879. “An infant, wrapped up comfortably and lying in a basket, was left early last evening on a rear veranda of the residence of Lyman Baird, No. 336 North La Salle Street. It was sent to the Foundlings’ Home.”[12]
Frances Alice Johnson was an infant who was taken to the Foundlings’ Home in 1877 after her mother, who is unfortuanately just named “Mrs. Johnson” in newspaper articles disappeared: “Mrs. Johnson, late of 540 Wabash avenue, whose disappearance was noted in The Inter Ocean of yesterday, has not turned up. The babe she left behind her was taken before Justice Summerfield, who christened it Frances Alice Johnson, and then consigned it to the Foundlings Home. Say, Mrs. Johnson, nobody believes that you’ve been and gone and done what you threatened to do, so please come out of your hiding place and take your baby, and nurse it like a sensible woman. The Foundlings’ Home is pretty full just now, and it can’t be any great satisfaction to you to look in the monthly report and see such an item as: ‘Dec. 13. ‘Nother baby found in the basket to-day. A big policeman flung it in, rang the bell, and run away. Such a sweet little creature, etc.’ There’s no solid comfort in anything like this, Mrs. Johnson, so please go and get that baby.”[13]
Unfortunately, looking at the newspaper article from the day prior, it gives an account of what may have happened to Frances’ birth mother: “Four weeks ago a woman giving the name of Mrs. johnson took furnished room at 560 Wabash avenue. She was a woman about 33 years old, rather tall, had dark hair and eyes and high cheek bones, and usually wore—and did when last seen—a brown stuff dress and light-colored scarf. She paid her rent regularly, and though not very communicative, referred at times to her husband, Frank Johnson, whom, she said rather vaguely, was a patent right’s man, and at present travelling in Iowa. Ten days ago Mrs. Johnson required the services of a medical man, and the result was an addition to the house of Johnson of a healthy female child. The young one throve, and the mother, it is said, seemed attached to it, and got along nicely herself. About 11:30 o’clock yesterday morning Mrs. Johnson left the house, and not having returned late in the afternoon her room was searched, where the child was found, and also a note laid on the table, which stated that the writer would never return, as she had gone out to commit suicide by drowning. While there is a possibility of the woman’s mind having become unsettled, the affair is also suggestive of a case of child desertion, and the police are investigating.”[14]
Intake Information and Requirements
Intake Gender/Sex:
1880: Adult females
Adult females who served as wet nurses, called “nurses” in the Ninth Annual Report: “The most of these have come to us in great sorrow; many entirely disowned by all who once loved and cared for them, were glad to find shelter anywhere… When they can no longer act in the capacity of wet nurses, the most of them go out to service or to work at their trades… but, if, for any cause, they are thrown out of a place, they return to the Home till they can find another place.”[15]
“Including the latter, and exclusive of the eighty one nurses, fifty friendless or homeless women have been admitted during the year.”[16]
Adult: Female
Children: Female, Male
Intake Age:
1923: Adults, Children from birth to 5 years
Intake Ethnicity/Race:
1910: All
1923: All
Intake Specifics: Few commitments by the court; many foundlings placed through Illinois Children’s Home and Aid Society; 1910: Foundlings, and homeless mothers with infants
1880: “The most of these [the babies] are taken in during the first month. None older than this would be taken in, if we could help it… sometimes it is left in the vestibule in the middle of the night; sometimes a policeman brings it from a remote part of the city… As far as possible, they are given to wet nurses. It happened once or twice, during 1879, that we had wet nurses enough for all the babies, but it was only for the short time. Generally, we have from five to twenty little ones whom we attempt to bring up by hand. The babies are mostly born in Chicago, though a small proportion of the mothers, as far as they are known to us, are residents of the City. They come from all parts of the State and from other States even, so that, so far as the beneficiaries of the Home are concerned, it is far from being a Chicago Institution.”[17]
Number of Residents:
1871: 117 foundlings were received of whom 82 died, 11 were given away, 1 was sent to the County house, 4 were returned to the parents. At the end of the year there was 19 foundligns in the home. Of the residents, 67 were boys and 50 were girls.[18]
Week of 22 September 1875: Five died at the Foundlings’ Home in the past week.[19]
1880: 81 adult women, who served as wet nurses, admitted in the past year.[20]
1880: 50 friendless or homeless women admitted during the year.[21]
1880-1881: During 1880, the Home took in about 400 babies, mostly under one month old.[22]
The Chicago Foundlings Home website states that they are in the process of digitizing their collections, but people are welcome to email them on their contact page, and “we will send you a note when our information page is updated and we will share additional resources for you to find the relevant records.”
Chicago Foundlings’ Home Account Book [Manuscript] 1884-1922
Note: this report begins after the Ninth Annual report in this digitization.
Shipman, George E. 1884. God’s Dealings with the Chicago Foundlings’ Home: Being a History of The First Four Years of the Home, from January 30, 1871, to January 30, 1875. Chicago: The Foundlings’ Home. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report/CV0nAQAAMAAJ.
Other Publications
Newspaper articles from the 1870s point to a publication called Record, or the Foundlings’ Record, which was the publication of the home. Much of it is published in The Chicago Tribune.
Faith’s Record was the alumni publication of the Foundlings’ Home since 1877.[25]
Shipman, George E. 1884. God’s Dealings with the Chicago Foundlings’ Home: Being a History of The First Four Years of the Home, from January 30, 1871, to January 30, 1875. Chicago: The Foundlings’ Home. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report/CV0nAQAAMAAJ.
Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1912. Sixth Annual Report of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Board of Administration of the State of Illinois, For the Year Ending December 31, 1911. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_for_of_the_Department_Visitation/e1I9AQAAMAAJ.
[2] Shipman, George E. 1884. God’s Dealings with the Chicago Foundlings’ Home: Being a History of The First Four Years of the Home, from January 30, 1871, to January 30, 1875. Chicago: The Foundlings’ Home. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report/CV0nAQAAMAAJ. 5-6.
[3] “New Home Realizes Dr. Meyer’s Dream.” 1960. Suburbanite Economist, 27 January 1960. Page 13.
[4] “Foundlings Home Exhibit Feature.” 1962. Arlington Heights Tribune, 28 June 1962. Page 5.
[23] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1912. Sixth Annual Report of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Board of Administration of the State of Illinois, For the Year Ending December 31, 1911. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_for_of_the_Department_Visitation/e1I9AQAAMAAJ. 173.
[24] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1914. Seventh Annual Report of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Board of Administration of the State of Illinois, For the Year Ending December 31, 1913. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. https://books.google.com/books/about/Annual_Report_of_the_Department_of_Visit.html?id=yR11ZIBTRwIC. 30-31.
[25] “Foundlings Home Exhibit Feature.” 1962. Arlington Heights Tribune, 28 June 1962. Page 5.
The Metropolitan Children’s Home was organized in 1903 by the Metropolitan Church Association. It was located at 1541 Franklin Boulevard.
According to 1908 newspaper articles, the Metropolitan Church Association sold property at the northwest corner of Franklin boulevard and Kedzie avenue, 50×150 feet, to Edwin S. Mason in July 1908.[1] Thus, the home likely closed in 1908 or before.
Institution Name and Type
Object/Goal: “Care of orphan and needy children.”[2]
The Beulah Home and Maternity Hospital was founded in 1896 by Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Richards. It was located at 2142-2144 North Clark Street in Chicago. Oddly enough, the area itself is notorious in Chicago History, as two doors down from the Home, seven members and associates of Chicago’s North Side Gang were murdered in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre (14 February 1929).
The Beulah Home and Maternity Hospital is not only connected to the dark side of Chicago history through its geographical relationship to the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre but was also the place of suffering for many women who came to the home seeking help.
In 1913, the Curran commission, a committee created by the Illinois State House of Representatives to inquire into the methods and actions of charitable institutions and organizations licensed by the State of Illinois, visited the home. They found that in 1913, the women and expectant mothers were living in deplorable conditions and having to do difficult physical work, such as scrubbing floors, cleaning, etc. all the way up to giving birth and shortly thereafter.[1] “In order to force the girls to work, even when they are in no condition to do work, they are threatened with being thrown out. At least one girl was forced out under this rule, and she sought refuge in the Chicago Maternity Hospital.” “We find that these conditions exist because of the attitude of the superintendent, Mr. Richards, as they all seem to exist by his direction or acquiescence. We do not believe that any of the directors are cognizant of any of these conditions.”[2]
During the Curran legislative committee, Dr. Macy B. Weinberg charged O. H. Richards with cruelty, stating, “I think that Richards is mentally unbalanced… He has two hobbies, illegitimacy and the Bible. He talks of the first and quotes the second to the girls constantly. He recites passages of the Bible to them that I would not even repeat. He tells the girls that they put on tight skirts to attract men and that they deserve all they get. He tells them they should lie down on the floor and lick up the crumbs like dogs. Besides that, Richards shows a peculiar interest in the identities of the men responsible for the condition of the girl. Some of the girls believes he uses this knowledge for his personal interest.”[3]
When Weinberg was asked about Richards’ financial condition, she answered, “I know that he now lives in luxury in a beautiful home… Whereas, before he took charge of the Beulah Home, he lived in apparent poverty.”[4]
Shortly after this investigation, Richards departed as superintendent of the Beulah Home.
In addition to this investigation, it came out in the 1930s that a doctor connected to the Home operated what could be called a “baby farm” in Michigan—Rev. Edward L. Brooks operated out of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In Beulah, Michigan, he faced harsh criticism, “Those neighbors never did approve the resort for unmarried mothers and baby bastards which this retired Congregational clergyman operated at Beulah. They suspected that Brooks let poor babies die or even had them killed, that he buried them in the dune sand among the second growth birches of his 80-acre place where brambles and goat tracks quickly erased all trace of the graves.”[5] He faced murder charges for his baby farm in Beulah, Michigan. He was cleared on the charges brought in Chicago.
After the death of a mother and child at the Home in 1927, the hospital faced extreme scrutiny, however it was not until 1934 when its license was revoked. In 1935, the president of the Chicago Board of Health said “the revocation followed receipt of complaints that conditions about the hospital were insanitary and that unwanted babies were disposed of.”[6]
Institution Name and Type
Alternative Names: Beulah Home; Beulah Home and Hospital; Beulah Home for Girls; Beulah Home for Unfortunate Women
Type of Institution: Maternity, Orphanage
Location and Building
Address: 2142-2144 North Clark St.
Locality: Chicago
County: Cook
State: Illinois
Notes on the buildings: No longer exists.
The building sat two doors from the garage where seven Chicago bootleggers were massacred on St. Valentine’s Day in 1929.[7]
The Beulah Home was comprised of four three-story brick buildings.[8]
Administration Information
Date of Founding: 1896
Dates of Name, Place, Mission Change, or Merger:
Date of Closure: 1934
Related to: Brooks Farm, Beulah, Michigan
Administration: Private (founded by Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Richards)
Support/Funding: north side churches and North Side Women’s Club.[9]
Notable People
Rev. Edward L. Brooks
Dr. Alice Lindsay Wynekoop, Chicago doctor who was convicted and served time for murdering her daughter-in-law and sent many cases to Dr. Brooks from Illinois.[10]
Dr. S. M. Todd, woman physician who served as house physician and resident doctor around 1916.[11]
O. H. Richards, superintendent and founder of the home.[12]
1913: Expectant mothers of illegitimate children are sent to this home by courts, the United Charities, and by pastors of churches.[16]
1916: Mother must remain at the home and care for her baby for at least 6 months. Girls are received from the Juvenile and municipal courts, charity organizations, police, “responsible individuals,” etc.[17]
Placement Specifics:
1910: Placement of babies through Illinois Children’s Home and Aid Society if necessary.[18]
1913: In the 18 years of its existence only three children have been placed in family homes.[19]
Number of Residents:
1913: 10 expectant mothers were in resident during the committee’s visit.[20]
1916: Five children and 13 girls were residents at the time of an inspection in June 1916.[21]
Past Residents:
Evelyn Smith was a resident of the Beulah Home and Maternity hospital in 1925. She gave birth to a child on 20 December 1925. At the time of the child’s birth she was attended to by only Miss Frances McCleary, a self-trained nurse. The child only lived 40 minutes and Evelyn passed away on 29 December 1925.[22]
Ethel Tilbury, also known as “LittleEthel”was a 12 year old girl who gave birth to a baby in Beulah Home in 1910.[23] According to a 1913 investigation, “The home acquired a great deal of advertising and contributions through the exhibition of Ethel Tilbury, a little twelve year old mother. Pictures of her and her baby were taken and these were used to advertise her very much to her detriment. People who came to the home were always shown Ethel Tilbury.”[24]
Irene Carr was 15 years old when she came to Beulah on 5 January 1912. The day after arriving she was “required to scrub six flights of stairs in four apartment buildings, the third floor of the hospital, the chapel, and the dining room floor. She then waited on 52 girls, set the table, cut all the bread… The day before her baby was born she scrubbed eight flights of stairs in the above institution, swept out the chapel, cleaned out the store room and lifted heavy trunks. She had been sick in bed, but she was taken down the stairs and had to wait on all the girls, and later scrub the chapel. While weak with labor pains she had to sit through a sermon delivered by the superintendent. The next day she was on the table eleven hours and the instruments were on the baby five or six hours. She could not be given chloroform on account of her weak heart, and accordingly heard all that was said. In delivering the baby one of its eyes was punched out, but the eye was put back into place. On the eleventh day she got up, swept thirteen rooms and scrubbed on her hands and knees, and the stitches broke, and after the wound was sewed up again she left the home. Richards [the superintendent] made no effort to prosecute the man that caused her ruin.”[27]
Mary Lapalla gave birth to a daughter at Beulah Home in May 1907. She confessed on 30 May 1907, that she had killed her two week old daughter by throwing her into the lake.[28]
Evelyn Frechette was the lover of bank-robber John Dillinger. A few years before she met Dillinger, she gave birth to an infant son, William, in the Beulah Home in 1928. The infant was taken to Brooks’ Michigan farm and died at the age of 3 months.[29]
Records
1916: “The books of the institution are carefully kept by the treasurer… Most of the records are kept in large envelope on the outside of which is a brief and yet comprehensive record, consisting of date, nativity, name and children, if any, sex, name of girl’s parents, brothers and sisters, occupation, by whom sent and from where sent, church, condition, city, county, date of baby’s birth, sex and disposition made of child. All correspondence is kept in these envelopes. Clerical records are kept in each and every case and are filed for future reference.”[30]
Archives and Museums
Chicago History Museum
“Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago records, 1914-1978”
Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1917. Biennial Report for 1914-1915 of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Including Reports of Inspection of Institutions for 1916, For the Year Ending in December 31, 1915. 1917. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Department_of_Visit/04eICtl2WFwC?hl=en&gbpv=1.
[1] “Maternity Hospitals.” 1913. Found in Journal of the House of Representatives of the 48th General Assembly of the State of Illinois: Regular Biennial Session. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 1238-1239.
[6] “Trace Chicago Clews in Baby Farm Inquiry,” Chicago Tribune, 25 January 1935, p. 1, col. 5.
[7] “Rev. Edward L. Brooks, Brooks Farm and Beulah Home.” 1935.
[8] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1917. Biennial Report for 1914-1915 of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Including Reports of Inspection of Institutions for 1916, For the Year Ending in December 31, 1915. 30.
[9] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1917. 32.
[10] “Rev. Edward L. Brooks, Brooks Farm and Beulah Home.” 1935.
[11] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1917. 31.
[12] “Maternity Hospitals.” 1913. Found in Journal of the House of Representatives of the 48th General Assembly of the State of Illinois: Regular Biennial Session. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 1238-1239.
[13] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1917. 32.
[14] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1917. 32.
[15] “Maternity Hospitals.” 1913. Found in Journal of the House of Representatives of the 48th General Assembly of the State of Illinois: Regular Biennial Session. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 1238-1239.
Dixon Correctional Center is a medium security adult male prison administered under the Illinois Department of Corrections in Dixon, Illinois. It was opened in July 1983. It also operates a maximum-security Dixson Psychiatric Unit, which serves as the primary psychiatric correctional facility for the state, and a Special Treatment Center for those with mental illness or developmental disabilities, as well as a healthcare unit.
Institution Type
Type of Institution: State Penitentiary
Location and Building
Address: 2600 N. Brinton Avenue
Locality: Dixon
County: Lee
State: Illinois
Administration Information
Date of Founding: 1983
Date of Closure: Not applicable, still in operation.
Administration: Illinois Department of Corrections
The Alexander County Poor Farm was founded in 1870 to serve the poor, paupers, destitute, and needy of Alexander County, Illinois. The Poor Farm was first located on five acres in Thebes. By 1886, the almshouse located at Thebes was “abandoned” and “the poor who need house care are sent to St. Mary’s Infirmary, Cairo.”[1]
In 1891, Alexander County purchased a farm at Beach Ridge, containing 440 acres, and erected a 1.5 story frame building to be used as the almshouse. “The house was opened for the reception of paupers about January 1, 1892. The number of paupers present was twelve.”[2]
By 1929, Alexander County closed the Poor Farm and rented out the property. The property was later sold in 1959 to John A. Stelle and Russell T. Stelle, sons of the former governor John H. Stelle.
Institution Name and Type
Alternative Names: Alexander County Farm and Almshouse; Alexander County Poorhouse; Poor Farm in Alexander County; Poor Farm
Type of Institution: Almshouse
Location and Building
Location #1: Thebes (from 1870-around 1886)
“Beginning at the southeast corner of the north half of the southwest quarter of the southwester quarter of section nine, township number fifteen, south range three, west, running along the south line of said tract to the Thebes and Unity road, thence along said road to the east line of said tract, thence along that line to the beginning, containing five acres, more of less, lying in the southeast corner of the north half of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section No. nine, township fifteen, south of range three, west of the principal mereidian.”[3]
Location #2: Beech Ridge (from 1892-around 1929)
Beech Ridge was founded in 1878. It was located in the center of section 32, township 16 south, range 1 west. It was about four miles north of Cairo. A post office was established there in 1879 and it was a station on the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad (later called the Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad). In 1906, tracks for the Cairo & Thebes Railroad were laid from Beech Ridge to northwest. Most citizens in the town were African Americans. The post office was closed in 1914 and the town no longer exists.
Information taken from “Ghost Towns and Settlements, Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails.” Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails. Accessed 27 September 2023. https://genealogytrails.com/ill/alexander/ghosttowns.html.
Mr. Thomas A. Brown: caretaker and in charge of the almshouse from about 1873 to at least December 1884.[7]
Benjamin Jones: superintendent of the Poor Farm in September 1913.[8]
J. Raymond. Bunch: superintendent of the County Farm in 1914-1915.[9][10]
William J. Childres: superintendent of the county farm in 1910.[11]
Intake Information and Requirements
Intake Gender/Sex: Female, Male
Intake Age:
1880: Adults, Children
Intake Ethnicity/Race:
1910: white and colored individuals admitted
Intake Specifics:
1880: Adults ($7/month), Children ($4/month for under 16 years of age); “when visited, there was only one insane inmate;” “the county requires all paupers to go to the county farm.”
1912: “Insane, crippled, feeble-minded and aged inmates share the same conditions…”[12]
Number of Residents:
1892: 12
1910: 19 residents, 6 deaths
Previous Residents:
R. Talleofeus: resident in 1872 who passed away at the almshouse on 18 October 1872.[13]
Mrs. Sarah Burkhart: resident at the Poor Farm for 10 weeks in 1913. Her board was paid by Mrs. J. W. Coy. She was the widow of a union soldier.[14]
Pearl O’Rourke: a blind girl who resided in the Poor Farm from 31 May 1913-9 September 1913.[15]
Records
“An almshouse register has been kept since 1870.”[16]
According to Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails, there was a Alexander County Poor Farm Cemetery located at Route 3 and 127. There was also another one at Thebes.
—. 1880. Sixth Biennial Report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, November 1880. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/OobIAAAAMAAJ.
[1] 1886. Ninth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, November 1886. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. 123.
[2] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities. 1893. Twelfth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, October 1892. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. 129-130.
[3] “The voters in the county are very much…” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 25 October 1881, p. 1, col. 5.
[4] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities. 1870. First Biennial Report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, December 1870. Springfield: Illinois Journal Printing Office. 119.
[5] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1893. 129-130.
[6] “Stelles Buy Poor Farm to Hunt Geese,” Mt. Vernon Register-News (Mt. Vernon, Illinois), 11 May 1959, p. 2, col. 9.
[7] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1880. 228.
[8] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[9] “Raymond Bunch Again Appointed as Manager of County Poor Farm,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 5 January 1915, p. 1, col. 2.
[10] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 28 May 1914, p. 7, col. 1-2.
[11] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 31 August 1910, p. 2, col. 4.
[12] “Poor Farm Said to be Disgrace to this County: The Bulletin Has Consistently Labored for Years to Correct Many Abuses,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 31 December 1912, p. 1-2.
[13] “To the Honorable County Court…” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 10 January 1873, p. 4, col. 3-4.
[14] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[15] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[16] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1880. 228.
The Bethel Home for Women and Convalescent Children was founded around 1911. However, it appears to have been organized prior to 21 April 1910, as the building was enumerated in the 1910 Census.
In May 1913, The Day Book (a publication in Chicago) ran a story about the Bethel Home for Convalescent Women and Children and Mrs. Evangeline Barron, the matron and superintendent of the home. In the article, it describes how the United Charities organization refused to endorse the Bethel Home, forcing Barron to shut it down.[1]
There are few clues to the history of Bethel Home besides those in newspaper articles.
However, it is unclear as to how long Bethel Home was closed. One strange article about Mrs. Barron was published in the Chicago Tribune in 16 September 1913, “Mrs E. Barron in Wisconsin: Reports that she mysteriously disappeared prove to have been unfounded—Now at Lake Geneva,” which states, “Mrs. Evangeline Barron, former matron of Bethel home, 522 East Thirty-Fourth Place, who was reported as having disappeared in a letter sent to The Tribune, was located yesterday at Lake Geneva.”[2] This indicates that the home was either closed or Barron was no longer matron of the home sometime before 16 September 1913. Yet, just days later on 28 September 1913, the Chicago Tribune published a brief about the Calendar Club of the Bethel Home and states, “The Calendar club was organized last week at a meeting of philanthropic women at the Blackstone hotel, the society to work for the good of the Bethel Home for Convalescents, of which Mrs. Evangline Barron is head resident.”[3] It seems that the home could have been temporarily closed between May and September 1913.
Activities of Barron and Bethel Home resumed in late September 1913, as evident in newspaper articles, including the news story “School of Eugenics Planned for Bethel Home,” which describes that Mrs. Evangeline Barron was planning “to start a school of eugenics in connection with the Bethel Home for Convalescent Women and Children. Mrs. Barron is head resident of the home.”[4] Additionally, the Calendar Club, which was a society of women that raised money for the Bethel Home, was in the process of securing funding to purchase the home’s property in October 1913.[5]
In 1914, it was a certified orphanage.[6] However, there are no mentions of Bethel Home in Chicago’s Social Service Directory of 1915, or any other sources consulted after 1915.
1911: “Commitments: During the year of 1911 one colored boy was committed to their care.”[10]
Intake Specifics:
1911: “Only convalescents are admitted to this institution, and no males over eight years of age. Will admit from any institution, or upon recommendation of any reputable physician, unless suffering from contagious disease. An exception was made recently in the case of a man and his wife, once wealthy, discharged from the Cook County Hospital friendless and without money. The man is now a cashier in a restaurant on a small salary, and is in the home only at night. His wife is a very capable helper about the home.”[11] 1 child was committed by the court, 18 others were received otherwise or present at the beginning of the year. 16 children were discharged with their mothers. 2 men were admitted, and 78 females were admitted.
Number of Residents:
1911: 1 child was committed by the court, 18 others were received otherwise or present at the beginning of the year. 16 children were discharged with their mothers. 1 was present at the end of the year, and 2 were placed in other institutions. 70 adults were residents throughout the year. 2 men were admitted and remained until the end of the year. 78 women were admitted (10 of whom were present at the beginning of the year), 75 of which were discharged throughout the year.
Records
1911: “a fairly good record of each inmate is entered. Records are not kept in fireproof receptacle.”[12]
Unknown if records exist. No collections found through online internet searches.
1910 U. S. Census
Chicago Ward 3, Enumeration District 0221
522 East 33rd Place
Name
Relation to Head of Household
Sex
Race
Age
Marital Status
Occupation
Barron, Walter A.
Head
M
White
33
M
Can Salesman / Advertising Company
Barron, Evangelina M.
Wife
F
White
30
M
Superintendent / Charity House
Barron, Benois F.
Son
M
White
6
S
Slocharick, Annie
Lodger
F
White
19
S
Houseworker / Charity house
Slocharick, Ethel
Lodger
F
White
0
S
Mills, Julia P.
Lodger
F
White
16
S
Nielsen, Julius P.
Lodger
M
White
23
S
Houseworker / Charity House
Heslen, Theresa M.
Lodger
F
White
25
S
Expediter Dipper / Candy Factory
Heslen, Josephine M.
Lodger
F
White
0
S
Sources
Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1912. Sixth Annual Report of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Board of Administration of the State of Illinois, For the Year Ending December 31, 1911. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_for_of_the_Department_Visitation/e1I9AQAAMAAJ.
“Mrs. E. Barron in Wisconsin,” Chicago Tribune, 16 September 1913, p. 4, col. 1.
“School of Eugenics Planned for Bethel Home,” Chicago Tribune, 6 October 1913, p. 14, col. 5.
“Tells Curran Commission How United Charities Prosecutes Those It Does Not Like,” The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois), 16 May 1913, p. 27, col. 1-2.
“The Calendar club was…” Chicago Tribune, 28 September 1913, section 5, p. 8, col. 2.
[1] “Tells Curran Commission How United Charities Prosecutes Those It Does Not Like,” The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois), 16 May 1913, p. 27, col. 1-2.
[2] “Mrs. E. Barron in Wisconsin,” Chicago Tribune, 16 September 1913, p. 4, col. 1.
[3] “The Calendar club was…” Chicago Tribune, 28 September 1913, section 5, p. 8, col. 2.
[4] “School of Eugenics Planned for Bethel Home,” Chicago Tribune,6 October 1913, p. 14, col. 5.
[5] “School of Eugenics Planned for Bethel Home,” Chicago Tribune,6 October 1913, p. 14, col. 5.
[6]The Institution Quarterly: An Official Organ of the Public Charity Service of Illinois. 1914. Volume V. Springfield, Illinois: State Board of Administration, State Charities Commission, and State Psychopathic Institute. 105.
[7] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1912. Sixth Annual Report of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Board of Administration of the State of Illinois, For the Year Ending December 31, 1911. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 39-40.
[8] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1912. 170-171.
[9] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1912. 170-171.
[10] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1912. 41.
[11] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1912. 40.
[12] Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, 1912. 41.
The Anna Ross Sanitarium was founded in 1900 by Dr. W. F. Briney as a home for pregnant mothers. It operated both as a maternity home and an orphanage for infants.
In 1913, under the guidance of Lieutenant-Governor Barrett O’Hara, a committee of state legislators investigated several medical institutions in Chicago, including Anna Ross Sanitarium. It was found that Dr. W. F. Briney, the administrator and proprietor of Anna Ross, admitted that he had given $20 to physicians for each patient sent to him.[1] The Curran Commission, as it was called, investigated the Anna Ross Sanitarium on 14 April 1913, finding that the “mothers who go to the sanitarium are induced to sign contracts giving away their children before the children are born. Five unmarried women were found in the place. The rates charged by the sanitarium depend on how much money the mother has.”[2]
In the investigation, and testimony to the House of Representatives by Dr. W. F. Briney, it was discovered that the institution pays a commission of 33.5% to each physician sending women to them but has no agreement with physicians.[3] Additionally, “If a mother should come back in later years and endeavor to secure information about the child placed out by this institution no information could be given as they do not aim to keep in touch with the child.”[4]
In 1914, The Day Book published an article that stated, “The report of the investigator of the commission showed that the Anna Ross Sanitarium has placed three babies with people who gave the addresses that proved to be vacant lots. Dr. W. F. Briney was unable to explain this.”[5]
In 1915, the Anna Ross Sanitarium merged with the Illinois Maternity Hospital and became the Maternity and Infant Hospital of Chicago.
Advertisement from: Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of North America. 1904. Volume II. Eighth Revised Edition. Detroit: R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. 2273.
Advertisement from: Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of the United States and Canada. 1908. Tenth Revised Edition. Detroit: R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. 2193.
Institution Name and Type
Alternative Names: Anna Ross Lying-In Sanitarium
Type of Institution: Maternity, Orphanage
“A Maternity Home which is run in an ethnical and Christian manner. We do no abortion work. Our home is run in a quiet and orderly manner. We assist patients in keeping their baby when they are in a position to do so. If not we find the infant a home and keep full records as to its disposition, and in all things comply with the law and ordinances. We invite Physicians to visit our place. We make full investigation before sending us patients. We meet patients at the train and look after them carefully while under our care.”[6]
Location and Building
Address: 1900 South Kedzie Avenue
1908: 901 S. Kedzie Ave.[7] (Chicago changed a lot of street numbers in 1909, including this address).
1914: 47 children placed and replaced by institution.[15]
1915: 13 children placed and replaced by institution.[16]
Previous Residents:
Bonnie Hoyt passed away in October 1902 at the Anna Ross Sanitarium. There was a large search for family members after she passed so that they could claim her body and give her a proper burial. She was a chorus girl in the “Prince of Pilsen” company for several months prior to her passing. She had joined the company in Boston. She ended up in the Anna Ross Sanitarium after becoming ill from peritonitis. On 27 October 1902, it was decided that she had to have surgery, however, she “immediately became unconscious and never recovered her senses.”[17]
Records
“If a mother should come back in later years and endeavor to secure information about the child placed out by this institution no information could be given as they do not aim to keep in touch with the child.”[18]
Unknown if records exist. No collections found through online internet searches.
Illinois Department of Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes. 1917. Biennial Report for 1914-1915 of the Department Visitation of Children Placed in Family Homes, Including Reports of Inspection of Institutions for 1916, For the Year Ending in December 31, 1915. 1917. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Department_of_Visit/04eICtl2WFwC?hl=en&gbpv=1.
[2] “Find Shameful Conditions in ‘Homes’ for Foundlings,” Chicago Tribune, 15 April 1913, p. 6, col. 1.
[3] “Maternity Hospitals.” 1913. Found in Journal of the House of Representatives of the 48th General Assembly of the State of Illinois: Regular Biennial Session. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 1237.
[5] “Curran Commission Turns the Searchlight on Methods of Probation Officers in the Juvenile Court,” The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois), 29 April 1914, p. 12, col. 1-2.
[6] “Department of Progressive Advertisers.” 1911. The American Journal of Clinical Medicine 18(6): 103.
[7]Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of the United States and Canada. 1908. Tenth Revised Edition. Detroit: R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. 494.
[8]The Institution Quarterly: An Official Organ of the Public Charity Service of Illinois. 1913. Volume IV. Springfield, Illinois: State Board of Administration, State Charities Commission, and State Psychopathic Institute. 92.
[9]Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of the United States and Canada,1908. 494.
[10]Chicago Medical Recorder: January-December 1915.1915. Volume 37. Chicago: The Medical Recorder Publishing Company. 487.
[11]Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of North America, 1904. 2273.
[12]Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of the United States and Canada,1908. 494.
[13]Polk’s Medical Register and Directory of the United States and Canada,1908. 494.
[15] Illinois Board of Administration. 1917. Sixth Annual Report, Seventh Annual Report: October 1, 1914 to September 30, 1916, Inclusive. Volume I. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 141.
[16] Illinois Board of Administration. 1917. Sixth Annual Report, Seventh Annual Report: October 1, 1914 to September 30, 1916, Inclusive. Volume I. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Journal Co. 141.
[17] “Chorus Girl Dies Unknown.” 1902. Chicago Tribune, 29 October 1902, p.1., col. 5.
Institution Guide by Katharine Korte Andrew 