USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 56
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On the 14th of July, 1914, the old property was sold and the Ella Lewis property, one door north of the postoffice, was purchased for $8,200. At that time the following trustees were elected : Mesdames J. II. Brown, Rebecca Vickers, M. L. Dines, Mary Edwards and Josie Lummis, Miss Sarah Thrush and F. W. Lyford. At this time Mrs. Josie Lummis is both president of the board of trustees and head of the organization as a whole. Miss Agnes Cormeny is the recording secretary and Mrs. Rebecca Vickers, treasurer. The society has 120 enrolled members.
During the more than forty years of its activity, the Union has accomplishment much varied and practical good. In the earlier period it established the first publie reading room in Quiney, which was later merged into the public library. The society also assisted in furnishing the rooms for the first Young Men's Christian Association organized in the city. Hundreds of women and girls have been sheltered in the rooms of the Home, and untold numbers of fallen women have sought comfort and help from the Christian women who compose the membership. The Women's Christian Temperance Union of Quiney is the only organization of women in the city who own the building in which they meet and which is the center of their activities. Re- corded on the pages of the history of this organization are found many
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deeds of kindness, aets of charity, and works for the protection and safe-guarding of the home, of which the world will never know.
THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES
The Associated Charities of Quincy was organized in 1885. Wil- liam MeFadon, an able lawyer of that city and later of Chicago, was its first president. It is n sort of a clearing house of all the charities and philanthropies of Quincy. It seeks, by a thorough system of registration and visitation, to learn of the true condition of all appli- eants, helping, or causing to be assisted, all worthy ones, discouraging the unworthy and exposing imposters. It has preserved its organiza- tion all these years, and has done more to alleviate poverty than any other outdoor charity in Quiney. Its present officers are: Judge Lyman MeCarl, president : Rev. George A. Butrick, vice president ; Mrs. O. F. Schullian, secretary ; Mrs. Frances Lubbe, treasurer ; Mrs. Eugenia H. Dudley, friendly visitor. The officers named and the following constitute the board of directors: D. F. Wileox, George A. Binkert. Ira Calkins, Dean W. Cone, Mayor J. A. Thompson, Mrs. J. A. Stillwell, Miss Mary Anderson, Mrs. Charles M. Gill, Mrs. C. Lawrence Wells, Rev. L. M. Greenman and Charles M. Rosenheim.
THE CHEERFUL HOME SETTLEMENT
The main purpose of the Cheerful Home on Jersey Street, formerly the Wells residenee, has always been to afford a pleasant gathering place for boys and girls where they might be instructed and enter- tained. The general effort, which has extended over more than thirty years of consistent work, has been in the line of prevention- endeavoring, by education and recreation, through the provision of cheerful and comfortable quarters, to keep the minds and bodies of the young fully and healthfully ocenpied, thus shielding them from temptation and helping them to form good habits. In other words, as stated in the by-laws of the Cheerful Home Association : "To pro- mote right living, thrift and happiness by means of instruction in useful knowledge, industrial training, wholesome recreation and friendly visits."
The management of the Home is composed of a board of directors of nine men, who hold the property, and an executive board of man- agers (women), who are responsible for all the activities which are carrying out the objects of the association. Miss Mary Bull served as president of the latter for ten years; was followed by Mrs. Lewis Boswell, for two years and by Mrs. JJohn Stillwell (present incum- bent) for the five years just past. The head-resident of the Home is Miss Gay Braxton : visiting nurse, Miss Lyla Biddinger ; kindergart- ner, Miss Nellie Graves. They all reside in the building. The physical director, Miss Mary Alexander, lives in Quincy as one of the active workers, but does not reside at the Home. The settlement hns no
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1 ST. ALOYSIUS ORPHANS HOME
2 WOODLAND HOME FOR ORPHANS
3 CHEERFUL HOME SETTLEMENT AND DAY NURSERY
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endowment and is supported entirely by voluntary subscriptions. Its departments may be said to include a day nursery. a kindergarten, gymnastics and general athletics, an employment bureau, legal advice, juvenile protective work, visting nursing and summer work, including the supervision of playgrounds, outings and a vacation school.
The founder of the Cheerful Home was Miss Cornelia A. Collins, who, in 1886. engaged Miss Mary MeDowell, of Chicago, to teach normal classes on the kitchen garden system in the parlors of the Presbyterian Church. Two of these classes were afterward started for young girls, taught by members of the normal classes. In the following year a room on the second floor of a building on North Fourth Street was rented and other branches of work undertaken for boys and girls. Evening work for boys was begun in January, 1888, and other activities were added. The headquarters of the settle- ment were transferred to South Fifth Street in 1892, where larger gymnasium facilities were available, and in 1901 Lorenzo Bull bought the Wells residence on Jersey Street. Ile presented the property to the Cheerful Home Association, which was reorganized and incor- porated in June of 1901. The other leading events in the development of the enterprise were: The establishment of the kindergarten under Miss Annette Kimball in 1902: the advent of Miss Clara L. Adams. first resident worker and the opening of the gymnasium, Imilt on the rear of the lot by Lorenzo Bull, in 1903; the organization of the Woman's League, in 1906: establishment of the day nursery in 1907, and the title to the Cheerful Home property and the commencement of the visiting nurse's work in 1914.
The presidents of the Woman's Executive Board of the Cheerful ITome since its organization have been as follows: Miss Cornelia Collins, 1886-1901 : Miss Mary Bull. 1901-10; Mrs. Lewis Boswell, 1911- 13: Mrs. John Stillwell, 1913-
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
The original body was organized about 1867. with about thirty- five members. The association first occupied handsome quarters in the Wells & MeFadon (Library) block on Sixth Street between Maine and Jersey. Both an audience hall and a reading room were opened, and for years daily prayer meetings and Sunday services were maintained. The members, who at one time numbered 100, also established the Levee Mission Sunday School. Such enterprises for the publie good crippled the association financially and within a decade it was so heavily in debt that its work was suspended. In 1876 an unsnecessful effort was made to permanently reorganize, but for many years it had only a nominal existence. About 1892 a more substantial organization was perfected. Soon afterward Jacob Kessler of the North Side Branch of the St. Louis Young Men's Christian Association visited Quiney and organized a branch in that city, long known as the German Young Men's Christian Association. It would
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seem that the branch outgrew the parent trunk, and not long after the organization of the German society the original association dis- banded. Henry Fischer was elected president of the German Young Men's Christian Association. H. C. Sprick was the first secretary and held the position for many years. He writes: "We did not incorporate, but simply organized as a German Y. M. C. A. Under the state ruling, however, we could only act and operate as a branch, since the Y. M. C. A. had a real organization at that time, which, to our sorrow, was compelled to disband soon after our organization. We operated as such branch for many years.
"The erection of the building on Ninth and State streets was undertaken during the panic of 1893, and a great deal of anxiety was expressed by those carrying the burden at that time in trying to finance the building. Had the panic not come at that time, no doubt the building might have been erected free from debt; but, as it was, there was an indebtedness of some $10,000 which had to be carried for many years; in fact, up to the time the new organization was effected and the new building was planned. Then the parties who were carrying the debt for the branch took over the building in lieu of the debt, at quite a sacrifice on their part."
In 1911 the massive and handsome four story and basement brick building at the corner of Fourth and Jersey was completed and no establishment of its kind is better adapted to the uses to which it is dedicated. With site and equipment, the total cost was more than $103,000. Of late years J. R. Pearce and T. Chester Poling have been presidents of the association. J. A. Hanna, who was general secre- tary for some time, was replaced by the present incumbent, George B. Cawthorne, in October, 1917. V. G. Musselman is vice president and secretary and F. W. Crane, treasurer. S. N. Gabel is serving as physical director. Approximately 700 young men are taking ad- vantage of the various accommodations, comforts, training and recrea- tions provided by the association. There are fifty-two sleeping rooms in the building, or accommodations for about seventy dormitory mem- bers. A large and light reading room, billiard tables, a fine gymna- sium with all the modern apparatns. a large swimming pool and prac- tical courses in mechanical drawing, salesmanship, and bookkeeping are all provided, with opportunities for out-of-door recreations, as well as religions instruction-thus meeting the requirements of all tempera- ments and constitutions.
QUINCY HUMANE SOCIETY AND HENRY P. WALTON
The Quincy Humane Society has been doing a good, if quiet and modest work, for many years past. Organized as the Quincy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in July, 1880, its first of- ficers were : T. M. Rogers, president ; J. R. Stewart, secretary ; Henry Root, treasurer, and Dr. H. W. Hale, superintendent. On June 20, 1882, the name was changed to the Quincy Humane Society. Anna
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E. Brown died on October 28, 1893, and bequeathed about $15,000 to the society, although the fund did not become available until two years afterward. It was the means by which the work of the organization was greatly enlarged.
The late Henry P. Walton, who was president of the society for over twenty years, was the most notable local force in the movement for the alleviation of the hardships and sufferings of the helpless, whether brute or human. He came of an old, fine New England family, born in Massachusetts himself, first locating at Kentland, Indiana, and becoming a resident of Quiney in 1873. There he lived for more than forty years, a successful merchant. a friend to the suf- fering : long president both of the Humane Society and the Woodland Cemetery Association : a promoter of the City Beautiful ; superintend- ent of streets for fifteen years, serving the city in that capacity with- out pay, and all-in-all one of the largest, most tender and disinterested sonls interwoven with the higher progress of the community. Mr. Walton's death, on December 27, 1915, brought widespread regret to a broad eirele of friends and admirers and a quiet sadness, shot through with bright strands of cheerfulness and thankfulness, that the world had been so long blessed by the ministrations of such a man.
YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
The movement for the organization of the Young Women's Chris- tion Association of Quiney commeneed in January, 1905, but it did not take definite shape until the following month. On February 9th a meet- ing of those interested was held in the Vermont Street Methodist Epis- eopal Church, at which a committee previously appointed to canvass the situation reported that over 400 had pledged themselves to be- come members of the association and about $1,000 had been actually contributed. The officers finally elected were: Mrs. Nelson Funk, president : Miss Ida Stewart, vice president : Mrs. C. A. Osborn, seere. tary : Mrs. J. Y. Lewis, treasurer. Mrs. Funk served as president from 1905 to 1907; Miss Stewart, 1907-1910; Mrs. Russel Barr, 1910-11; Mrs. Seymour Castle, 1911-13; Mrs. George Wilson, 1913-16 : Miss Ida Stewart, 1916-18. The secretaries who have served the association are as follows: Miss Mary Parker, 1905-06; Miss Franees Mills, 1906-08 : Miss Grace Channon, aeting. 1908-09: Miss Ruth Wheeler, 1909-12: Miss Grace Channon, 1912-15 : Miss Mary B. Hyde, 1915-18.
The association has always rented quarters either in the Newcomb Building, the Williamson Building, or at the present location, all of which have been near the corner of Fourth and Maine streets. The present membership is 893, the largest in the history of the asso- ciation.
When times are more propitions than the present, it is anticipated that the Young Women's Christian Association of Quincy will com- mence the erection of a suitable home of its own. As it is, its re- ligious, educational, social and physical departments are busy. A Vol. 1-34
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cafeteria is also maintained which serves a noon meal to both men and women.
Present offieers of the Young Women's Christian Association of Quincy : Miss Ida C. Stewart, president : Mrs. J. W. Wall, first vice president ; Mrs. Al Ellis, second vice president ; Mrs. Susan Hill, sec- retary ; Mrs. J. M. Winter, treasurer; Miss Helen Osborn, correspond- ing seeretary.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The Quiney body, known as the Polly Sumner Chapter, was or- ganized January 14, 1910, with the following officers: Regent, Mrs. A. N. Turner; vice president, Mrs. E. F. Bradford; secretary, Mrs. S. L. Justice; treasurer, Mrs. S. W. Eldred: registrar, Miss Julia Sibley. As is generally known, the Daughters of the American Revo- lution is strictly a patriotic society and its work is to instil into the minds of the young, bravery, loyalty and the love of liberty. Its members are therefore educated to accomplish that great work in molding the sentiment of the future. Some line of study is taken up each year, covering such subjects as Revolutionary Times, Colonial Days, History of Illinois, Quiney and Vieinity. Last year (1917) the History of Adams County was under consideration; also the life of John Quincy Adams and other subjects leading to the State Centen- nial of 1918. In that connection the chapter presented to the county courthouse a large portrait of the President who has been so signally and completely honored in this section of the state. Flag cards and slips containing flag lore were also distributed among the schools and other public buildings of the city, and this feature of patriotie propaganda was later extended through the county. The Daughters have been in the thick of all special war work, such as the raising of funds for the Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association and Liberty Loans.
ADAMS COUNTY RED CROSS CHAPTER
In April, 1917, through the efforts of Dr. C. A. Wells, of Quincy, steps were taken to form a Red Cross chapter in Quincy. application to obtain a charter for the same being made to the Red Cross Head- quarters at Washington. The charter was received on the 30th of the month, a board of directors was chosen, who, in turn elected the following officers : D. L. Musselman, chairman : Joseph J. Freiburg, first vice president : Dr. C. A. Wells, second vice president : H. C. Sprick, treasurer; Mrs. Edward Fawcett, secretary. The executive committee appointed by the chairman consisted of the following : Mrs. E. J. Parker, chairman of the surgical dressings committee ; John Korn, chairman of the civilian relief committee ; Doetor Wells, chairman of the first aid committee, together with the secretary, treasurer and chairman of the chapter. Mrs. Fawcett was chairman
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of the membership committee as well as secretary, Mrs. O. G. Mull, later being appointed to the chairmanship of the committee, as Mrs. Fawcett found her combined duties too heavy. By the first of March, 1918, the membership of the Adams County Red Cross Chapter, through splendid "drives," had reached 12,809, over 20 per cent of the entire population of the county. The Chamber of Commerce kindly granted the use of the entire third floor of their building, free of rent, to the Red Cross, besides giving them an office on the ground floor.
The workshop has been open three days each week with an average daily attendance of fifty people. The committees having in charge surgical dressings, hospital supplies, knitting, general supplies, can- teen and publicity work, and the eanvass for junior membership, have made marked progress. In February, 1918, a meeting of the chapter was held and its activities, by change of name, were made legally to include the county instead of Quincy alone. The main chapter is located at Quiney and its twenty-six branches spread over the different townships. In addition, Quiney has a colored auxiliary which is doing efficient work.
HOMES AND HOSPITALS
Quiney's good heart and the practical helpful bent of her charities are forcibly seen in the numerous homes and hospitals which have been established. Some have been founded to provide a haven for men and women in their old age; others for the protection of young men and women, coming as strangers to the city, without domestic anchorages; and still others shelter those who have sinned against society and themselves. The generosity of private individuals gave birth to some; religious organizations established many, and all are the outcome of the Christianity which acts as well as preaches the Word.
FIRST ORPHANAGE OF QUINCY
First in the list, chronologically considered, is St. Aloysius Orphan Home, at Twentieth and Vine streets, established by the German ('atholies in 1852, as a direct result of the ravages of the cholera which had bereft so many children of the community of cither father or mother, or both parents. Although the Sisters of Notre Dame had active charge of the orphanage, as it was the only institution of the kind at the time of its establishment. no sectarian lines were drawn during the carlier years of its existence. The building now occupied was constructed in 1865, additions and interior improvements having been since made.
THE WOODLAND HOME
In the meantime the ladies of the First Congregational Church of Quincy had started a movement looking toward the founding of a
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home for orphans, destitute widows, and friendless children which should be more specifically supported by the Protestants of the city. In January, 1853, they organized a society under the name of the Ladies Union Benevolent Society. That organization gave the impetus to the establishment of the Woodland Home for Orphans and Friend- less. The original board of managers consisted of one member ehosen from each church in the city which contributed to the cause. Two years later, the following citizens contributed $100 each, and five aeres south of the city was purchased as a site for the Shelter : Frederick Collins, Joel Rice, Samuel Holmes, O. H. Browning. Newton Flagg, Charles A. Savage, William Caldwell, John Wheeler, Hiram Rodgers, Nathaniel Pease, John Blatchford, Elijah Gove, John W. McFadon, John Wood and Willard Keyes.
On February 14, 1855. the Woodland Home for Orphans and Friendless was incorporated by special act of the State Legislature, and the fifteen gentlemen named were appointed trustees for life, with the power of filling vacancies. This self-perpetuating board of trus- tees has for many years appointed an executive committee of women, who have managed the domestie affairs of the institution. The first body of that nature comprised Mrs. J. T. Holmes, first directress ; Mrs. F. Collins, second directress ; Mrs. C. H. Church, secretary.
For a few years the children cared for by this charity were boarded in families. Then a house was rented on Tenth Street between Maine and Jersey. In 1867 the property on the northwest corner of Fifth and Washington was purchased and occupied until May, 1893. In the month and year named the Woodland Home was installed at Twenty- seventh and Maine streets, the land and buildings which represented it costing about $17,000. The institution has received gifts and be- quests from time to time, the income from which go far toward meet- ing the operating expenses of the Home. Homeless children are received and cared for until they may be placed in worthy families. Children of worthy working mothers are also received as boarders, and often widowers place their motherless ones at Woodland Home, knowing that they will there receive faithful and affectionate care.
The present board of trustees of the Home is as follows: O. B. Gordon, president : W. A. Richardson, vice president ; George Wells, treasurer; E. K. Stone, secretary.
Woman's Executive Committee: Mrs. J. W. Gardner, president ; Mrs. Harry Bray, first president ; Mrs. Thomas A. Brown, second vice president ; Mrs. E. K. Stone, treasurer ; Mrs. W. Emery Lancaster, recording secretary ; Mrs. Dean Richardson, corresponding secretary.
ST. VINCENT HOME FOR THE AGED
On the 4th of April, 1885, the Catholic order of Sisters known as Poor Handmaids of Our Lord sent a little band from the mother house in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to establish a home for the aged at Quincy. At first they took up their residence in the old Cox home-
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stead at Tenth and Sycamore streets. A year before, at the sugges- tion of Rev. Joseph Still, then pastor of St. John's Church, the Sisters had purchased a plot of ground north of the city and built as an addi- tion to the old Cox homestead a three-story structure 42 by 60 feet. Into that unpretentious home came the first of the Poor Handmaids of Our Lord to eare for their charges, three aged persons. Four years later they were caring for forty-three, and more Sisters were sent to continue the good work. A third story was added to the home build- ing, and in 1897 another building and a chapel were erected. The latter is on the second floor of the east wing. For the past twenty years the improvements, both without and within, have been almost continuous, an important addition being made to the north side of the main building in 1911. Nearly 160 inmates are now (spring of 1918) being accommodated.
Perhaps the most elaborate celebration which ever occurred within the walls of St. Vineent Home was that which marked the silver jubilee of its founding. It extended over two days, April 4-5. 1910. At 10 o'clock A. M. of the first day a solemn mass was celebrated by Rev. Joseph Postner, rector of St. John's Church, with a German sermon by Rev. A. Zurbonsen, rector of St. Mary's, and one in English by Rev. Edward Luney, of St. Francis College. Eleven priests were present at these ceremonies. During the afternoon, hundreds of callers were received, who were desirous of extending their greetings to the Sisters. On the next day (April 5th), at 10 o'clock, a solemn requiem mass was said for the repose of the souls of deceased Sisters, members and benefactors of the Home, and during the evening the honse was again thrown open to callers. In the evening a jubilee entertainment was rendered at St. Francis College Hall by the St. John's Dramatie Club, with presentation of the jubilee gifts: the latter included over $2,000 which represented collections made by the St. Vincent Home Jubilee Committee.
Another noteworthy occasion was the dedication, or blessing, of the beautiful statue of St. Vincent de Paul at Calvary Cemetery, on July 19, 1916, that being the feast day of the Home's patron saint. Serv- ices were first held in the chapel, after which the Sisters and inmates were conveyed to the cemetery in autos, the sermon being preached by Rev. JJ. J. Driscoll, of St. Peter's Church, and the statue blessed by the Very Rev. Dean HI. Degenhardt, pastor of St. Boniface Church, also of Quiney.
The first chaplain of St. Vincent Home was Rev. Henry Frohboese, who, having retired from the active ministry, lived in the neighbor- hood. After his death Rev. Joseph Still, pastor of St. John's Church, ยท ministered to the Home until a successor could be appointed. From 1890 to 1895 Rev. Joseph Lochner exercised these duties. After his appointment to St. Mary's, the Franeiseans had charge of the institu- tion until January, 1906. At that time Father F. X. Sturm was appointed assistant at St. John's and, as such, assisted Father Still in the work at the Home. In November, 1896, Rov. August Gorris
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became his assistant and in 1899 the latter was succeeded by Father F. J. Stengel. Rev. Joseph Still died in 1907, when Rev. Joseph Postner succeeded him, with Rev. August Hohl as his assistant. Father Hohl assumed charge in 1915; was soon succeeded by Rev. Joseph A. Reis and by the present incumbent, Rev. Bernard Zehnle, O. F. M., in December, 1917.
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