USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 61
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The Ninth Street Day Nursery, from 1910 to 1923, has made its pres- ence a needed and a secure one in this city, and planted and cared for under the direction of the Fall River Branch of the Association of Col- legiate Alumnae, it has proven both a home and a home-maker for many scores of people who have required just the message and the gift that the institution has brought. The Nursery, instituted by the kindly college folk, has been supported by contributions of the generous people of Fall River, assisted by occasional special effort on the part of the board of managers. The first officers of the Fall River Branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae were as follows: President, Mrs. Randall N. Durfee; vice-presi- dent, Dr. Mary W. Marvel; secretary, Miss Grace Lincoln; treasurer, Miss Ina F. Covel, and with a board of twenty-six directors. Mrs. Charles D. Davol was the secretary in 1914, in which year the nursery building was marked with the blue cross of the District Association. In 1915 Mrs. Alanson J. Abbé was named as auditor, Miss Mary E. Nowell as branch treasurer, Miss Harriet T. Marvel as councilor; Miss Stella H. Baylies as branch director. Mothers' meetings and clinics were frequently held. Miss Harriet A. Durfee was named as councilor in 1916. Miss Mary C. Cum- mings was the secretary in 1917. Miss Alice T. Abbé was elected vice- president in 1919, and Mrs. Carl A. Terry branch director. During the epidemic, the nursery was used as an emergency home, and meals were served as needed. Ten nurses were accommodated for varying periods. The officers in 1920: President, Mrs. Owen Durfee; vice-president, Miss Marion T. Thompson; secretary, Miss E. Estelle Miles; treasurer, Miss Ina F. Covel. Miss Mary A. Parsons, who to this date had served as matron, resigned, and Miss Annie Miller was secured as matron. Mrs. Philip E. Tripp was elected vice-president in 1921. Miss Miller resigned as matron, and Miss Annie Dunphy, assistant matron from the first, took her place
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temporarily. In 1922, Mrs. Randall N. Durfee again returned as president. Miss Edith Farnham was elected vice-president, and Mrs. Harold S. Barker secretary.
The District Nursing Association has for its object primarily, to improve the health of the community, seeking to provide trained nurses to visit sick persons deprived of proper care, and to care for them at their homes, as well as to instruct members of the household in the simple rules of hygiene. The association was incorporated in 1912, and during the succeeding years there has been noted a constant and steady decrease in both the general and infant mortality rates of the city. Throughout its history there has been steady cooperation on the part of the Board of Health, the Red Cross, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Association for Com- munity Welfare, day nurseries, and other organizations. The year 1912 started with but two nurses, but before the year was over it was necessary to add nine, and in 1922 there were sixteen nurses on the staff, three of whom were doing child welfare work only; two pupil nurses from the local hospitals who came for part of their training during their third year; a superintendent and supervisor. While more than nine thousand visits were made in 1912, over 51,000 were made to homes to give service to the people in 1922. The Ninth Street Day Nursery was opened May 15, 1910, with forty-five children to be cared for. Miss Dorothy Smithson was the matron, and Mrs. Randall N. Durfee was president of the board. The Bishop Stang Day Nursery (Corporation), Third street, was opened August 15, 1911, the number of children to be cared for being sixty to one hundred and twenty- five. The St. John's Day Nursery, a Roman Catholic Bishop corporation, was opened in June, 1917, the number of children being from seventy-five to one hundred and forty.
Recognizing the need in Fall River of the teaching of good house-keep- ing and of right home-making, the District Nursing Association opened the King Philip settlement house in 1913, the only settlement house in the city. The Weetamoe House welfare station was opened in a model tenement in the north end of the city in 1917, where clinics are held, and there are continued many activities for the general social uplift of the community. Welfare stations besides the above-mentioned are those of the Neighbor- hood House, the Boys' Club building, the Portuguese Men's Club, the Ten- nessee Boys' Athletic Association. With general headquarters at the Boys' Club building, the general superintendents have been Miss Eugelia L. Eddy, R. N., Mary A. Jones, R. N .; supervisors of settlement work: Mrs. Ger- trude L. Tebbutt, Miss M. Guiditta Daley, Miss Florence L. Nye.
The Animal Rescue League of Fall River has a home, a mission and faithful helpers that have assured a place for its continuous work in the Border city. An independent society, incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1914, it first began its important work as a committee of the civic department of the Fall River Woman's Club, its object being to provide a temporary shelter for lost, injured and unwanted animals. Under its direction, one thousand and eighty-four animals were taken care of the first year. The first meeting was held May 5, 1914, at the residence of Mrs. Edward B. Varney, with A. N. Lincoln, Esq., as attor- ney, to organize the Animal Rescue League of Fall River. The first officers
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were: President, Miss Helen Leighton; vice-presidents: Mrs. Clarence M. Hathaway, Mrs. Edward B. Varney, Rev. John B. W. Day, William E. Ful- ler, Jr .; secretary, Miss Annie E. Allen; assistant secretary, Mrs. W. Frank Shove; treasurer, Miss Gertrude M. Baker. In 1916, Rev. Everett'S. Her- rick was elected a vice-president, and Mrs. Walter Irving Nichols assistant secretary. Lectures were given and stereopticon talks concerning the aims of the League and its plans and purposes were presented by competent speakers before many local clubs and organizations. During these first years, twenty-seven hundred animals had been given needed care. In the year 1919, Chief of Police William H. Morey was elected one of the vice- presidents of the league; and in 1920, Miss Meredythe Wetherell was elected assistant secretary. T. F. McCarty, special dog officer for the city, has been the efficient agent of the league from the first.
The Fall River District of the Massachusetts Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Children was instituted in 1910, to prevent physical injury, to prevent physical neglect, to rescue children from immoral sur- roundings, to protect wives and dependent children from non-support and desertion, to secure suitable guardians for children. In 1922 the Taunton branch was combined with the Fall River district, which added the city of Taunton and the towns of Berkley, Raynham, Rehoboth and Seekonk. This territory was formerly covered by an agent from the central office in Bos- ton, who gave two days a week to the work. The society in its twelve years of existence here has filled its place among the social agencies of the district. It carries on a work vital to the children and the community. The officers in the Fall River district for 1923: President, Israel Brayton; vice- president, Mrs. Jonathan T. Lincoln; secretary, Thomas Chew; treasurer, Miss Harriet E. Connell; district agent, John F. Hallahan.
The first call for the organization of a W. C. T. U. in this city was made January 9, 1882, when sixty-three women met at the Central Congre- gational Church and subscribed to the constitution of the society, Mrs. Emma Mclaughlin presiding at the meeting. The charter membership was shortly afterwards increased to one hundred and twenty-two. The Union since that time has had two presidents-Mrs. Phebe Aydelott, who served in that capacity for nineteen years, and Mrs. Ella F. Stafford, who in 1923 closed her twenty-second year of faithful service. Mrs. M. E. War- ing, the secretary, tells the story :
The first work undertaken of any wide extent was the opening of a coffee house. Its purpose was to furnish wholesome food at a reasonable price to the operatives in the mills, but the location chosen was not con- venient for the class it was intended to benefit, so it seemed best to turn the attention of the Union to other lines of helpfulness, and after a year it was sold to another party who conducted it on strictly temperance prin- ciples. For some years a paper, The Holiday Advertiser, was issued and was a valuable medium for disseminating temperance facts, as well as an aid to the treasury.
At the municipal election of 1886 our women stood at the polls through- out the day for the first time, with two at each precinct, and distributed the "no" ballots. Our city was carried for prohibition. The scoffs and ridicule of the liquor element were not easy to endure but by such means as these temperance sentiment was created. In 1889 the Union entered with spirit
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into the campaign to secure the Prohibitory Amendment to the Constitu- tion of the United States. The means used to arouse public sentiment were lectures, distribution of literature, the public press, and work at the polls. Sixty-five thousand leaflets alone were at this time carried person- ally into the homes of voters by the systematic districting of the city.
The present membership is about 160, and various departments of work are well superintended. For the past sixteen years the Union has employed a worker whose work carries with it much of comfort and help- fulness to the class of girls who through defective training in the home or the temptations of the street have fallen from the path of pure and honest lives and have come under the claims of the law. The worker has met girls at the police station or wherever they may be found in need of Chris- tian help, she learns their peculiar trials and gives effective help to them in their attempt to regain a useful and respectable life. Letters of encour- agement have been written, calls have been made in homes and institu- tions that girls may be kept in touch with the worker, some girls having no home have been secured a comfortable and safe home in which to earn an honest living. Services have been held in New Bedford House of Cor- rection and the City Home of Fall River. At Easter and Christmas time simple gifts have been taken to show love and kindness. These have been accepted with deep appreciation by the women unfortunate and alone. Mrs. Ada C. Rogers has been the devoted worker in this capacity for a number of years and is greatly appreciated by the Fall River Union.
Miscellaneous .- The Young Men's Protestant Temperance and Be- nevolent Association has a large membership and accessible headquarters, as well as an excellent social and charitable programme. The officers are: Peter Devitt, president; William B. Russell, vice-president; Robert A. Mac- farlane, recording secretary; Herbert Shaw, corresponding secretary; Wil- liam H. Platt, financial secretary and agent; William T. Brown, treasurer.
In 1915, the county building on Bay street was purchased as a City Home, at a total cost of $165,000, and equipped for the housing of about four hundred inmates.
Ligue De Tempérance has its headquarters at Temperance Hall, 10 St. Joseph street, and its officers in 1923 were: President, Pierre R. Picard; vice-president, Zenon D. Barrette; secretary, Louis P. Gamache; treasurer, Edmee Picard.
St. Joseph's Portuguese and Benevolent Society has its headquarters at 208 Bank street. Its officers in 1923: President, Julia R. Medeiros; secre- tary, Manuel C. Carvalho; treasurer, Seraphim J. Pontes.
CHAPTER XVII.
CLUBS AND MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS
A leading aim of this history is to make due exploitation of today's various expressions of the social development within the community. This ingathering of the story of the clubs is a very necessary and significant chapter of the city's complete history. A token of modern social usage is the club, which among all sorts and conditions of people is exponent of their social aspirations and beliefs. Municipal betterment, city and sectional
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improvement, legitimate sport-these in the main are the scope of such local groups, whose history follows:
Men's and Boys' Clubs .- The Quequechan Club is looked upon as the leading one in Fall River, with its location at the homelike headquar- ters, 306 North Main street. Succeeding the Commercial Club of an earlier day, it was formed in 1893, receiving its charter December 15, 1894. The names of the men who thus associated themselves for the purpose of form- ing a corporation were: William F. Hooper, Frederick O. Dodge, James T. Milne, William B. M. Chace, Daniel A. Babcock, Rufus W. Bassett, Charles B. Luther, Oliver S. Hawes, Edward B. Jennings, Stephen B. Ash- ley, Charles M. Shove, James F. Osborn, George A. Ballard, Benjamin S. C. Gifford, David Beattie, Frank S. Stevens, George S. Hawes, Richard Borden, Charles C. Buffinton, James Marshall, James F. Jackson, Edward Barker, Rienzi W. Thurston, William W. Hawes, Simeon B. Chase. The incorporators and new members purchased the William Mason mansion on North Main street, and, making many improvements and additions, began to occupy it in 1895. Here have been welcomed most of the prominent military men of the World War who were visitors to the city and speakers before great audiences. The seal of the corporation is circular in form, with the words "Quequechan Club, Fall River, Mass.," around the circum- ference, and the words "Incorporated 1894" in the centre. The annual meetings of the club are held on the second Friday of October in each year, for election of officers. Past officers: Presidents-William F. Hooper, 1894- 1919; James E. Osborn, 1919. Vice-presidents-George A. Ballard, 1894- 96; James T. Milne, 1896-98; James E. Osborn, 1898-1919; Oliver S. Hawes, 1919. Secretaries-Richard P. Borden, 1894-96; Philip E. Tripp, 1896-99; Edward B. Varney, 1899-1902; P. Augustus Mathewson, 1902-09; Israel Brayton, 1909-12; Edward B. Varney, 1912-16; Thomas B. Bassett, 1916-20; Charles D. Davol, 1920 -.
The Fall River Country Club, which was originally known as the Fall River Golf Club, was founded June 26, 1899. These eight charter members signed the article of agreement: Spencer Borden, Jr., Edward B. Jennings, L. Elmer Wood, Nathan Durfee, Charles D. Burt, Charles L. Holmes, Roy H. Beattie, W. C. Wetherell. The first president was Nathan Durfee, who has continuously served the club as an officer from the time of its incor- poration. L. Elmer Wood has been a member of the executive committee for the entire period, as has also Charles L. Holmes. N. B. Borden, Jr., was the first secretary of the club, as well as chairman of the Greens com- mittee, and it was due to his untiring efforts and never-flagging interest that the club early gained a name in New England for its excellent course. The length of the course is 3,251 yards, and the par for the course is 37. The club numbered more than five hundred members in 1923, and had just com- pleted a remodeled course considered one of the finest nine-hole courses in the country. It has entertained many prominent players, including the several-times world champion, Harry Vardon, who played the course in 1901. Its attractive clubhouse is the scene of many social gatherings, and the beauty of its location and surroundings is pronounced wonderful by all visitors.
The officers for the year 1923: Charles B. Chase, president; Nathan Durfee, vice-president; Thomas B. Bassett, treasurer; Albert A. Harrison,
F
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YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUILDING- FALL RIVER
HOTEL MOHICAN-FALL RIVER
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secretary and chairman of the Greens committee. The Executive Commit- tee : Charles B. Chase, Nathan Durfee, L. Elmer Wood, Charles L. Holmes, James B. Kerr, Albert A. Harrison. George H. Emerson is assistant treas- urer and secretary.
Well up in front of every forward movement instituted in the city of Fall River, is its Young Men's Christian Association, a captain among those Christian enterprises that are intended to direct the way to good citizen- ship; and all its plans, purposes and work indicate that it is here to stay. Housed in one of the finest of Y. M. C. A. buildings in the country, with its working force directed by a tireless secretaryship, its influence is an element in the progress of the city. As a live modern instance of what the "Y" performed during the World War, this one association served over 300,000 soldiers, sailors and marines in their building. Practically the first floor and basement were given over to those uniformed men for that period. Sleeping accommodations were provided, as well as baths, writing material, caring for their money and valuables, entertainments, personal advice, loan- ing small sums of money, etc .-- in a word, the Fall River Association was an Army and Navy "Y" instead of a city "Y" during the years of the war. Thirty-four "Y" secretaries were sent overseas from Fall River. These men served in Scotland, England, France and Italy. Since the war, one of the secretaries has died as a result of the exposure he incurred with the Italian army. Twelve other men served as "Y" secretaries in home camps. The general secretary travelled twenty thousand miles in this country, visited fifty camps, and delivered one hundred and eighty-five addresses. In 1911 two stories were built over the gymnasium for dormitories, giving thirty-eight additional rooms. Other parts of the building were remodelled and all the building was thoroughly renovated. Because of the hard usage during the war, it was necessary to remodel and renovate the building, which was done in 1921, at a cost of $15,000.
It was in the spring of 1857 that such men of the time and the hour as John C. Milne and John D. Flint, Robert K. Remington, Walter Paine (3rd), Alexander T. Milne, Elihu Andrews, and Walter C. Durfee rallied to the support of a Y. M. C. A. in this city. Those early endeavors took root for the time being, surviving, however, only until the Civil War, when, as so many young men were leaving for the front, it was thought best to await a new opportunity. Robert K. Remington was the first president, Charles J. Holmes the secretary, and James B. Pearson the treasurer. With George B. Durfee as president, reorganization was brought about in 1868, and the presidents in succession were : E. C. Nason, 1870; Leroy Sargent, 1873; and Ray G. Huling and J. H. Pierce up to 1880, when "Y" work again halted for a space. Then, in 1883, with the rent-free donation of the Slade house, where now stands the Public Library building, the enterprise was resumed, to continue uninterruptedly to this hour. The officers at that time were: James F. Jackson, president; Andrew J. Jennings, vice-president; W. Frank Shove, recording secretary ; and Enoch J. French, treasurer. To the gener- osity of Mrs. Mary B. Young is accorded the gratitude of the institution for much of its success at this period, Mrs. Young having provided the Slade house for the home of the "Y." But with the removal of that house, to make room for the library building, the Y. M. C. A. was given tem- porary quarters at the storeroom at the southeast corner of Main and Pine streets.
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
About the year 1892, the sum of $19,000 was raised for the purpose of building a new structure for the Y. M. C. A., the site of the present build- ing was purchased therewith, and the house that stood there at the time was first occupied in the fall of 1896. Rev. Percy B. Grant succeeded Mr. Jackson as president from 1891 to 1893, and when the old building on the new site was first occupied, in 1896, W. D. Fellows, of Erie, Pennsylvania, became the secretary. From that time onwards, a new impetus was given every phase of "Y" work in Fall River, Mr. Fellows' active assistant being Arthur Redman, who in 1904 accepted an invitation from the International Y. M. C. A. headquarters to take up work in the Philippines. The fund for the present structure was started with a gift of $10,000, and a gymnasium was constructed in the old building at the time the organization resumed its work there, in 1896. With the building fund brought up to $77,000, work was started upon the present structure in 1901, and the cornerstone was laid September 21, that year. The building was dedicated April 19, 1903, with prominent Y. M. C. A. and city officials as speakers. Three years later, in 1906, the plant was entirely free of debt, the main structure, the gymnasium and the land having cost $125,000. A copy of the French renaissance in style, the façade adds much to the general excellence of the structures on the entire street, with the North Main street frontage of ninety-six feet, and with a depth of seventy-five feet on Pine street, to eighty-seven feet on the north extension. The building is four stories in height, of Fall River granite and gray Roman brick. Remington Hall, so named in honor of Robert K. Remington, the first president of the asso- ciation, whose widow gave generously to the building fund, is an auditorium with a seating capacity for more than five hundred people, and is located in the east half of the second and third floors, with its notable oil painting of Mr. Remington. The association has the largest boys' department in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the west half of the second floor of the building is devoted to that work. The third floor has kitchen, dining- room and dormitories, and the basement has a swimming pool, bowling alleys, lavatories and locker room. Hon. A. J. Jennings was elected presi- dent in 1893, and he has held that office since; Leonard M. Slade was elected vice-president; Charles D. Buffinton, treasurer; Ralph B. Smith, re- cording secretary. The secretaries have been: George M. Stowell, 1889-91; A. N. Lowe, to 1896; W. D. Fellows, to 1905; D. M. Spence, to 1908; A. T. Stratton, to 1910; H. E. Dodge, 1910 -.
The Boys' Club of Fall River opened on February 1, 1890, and the officers were: President, Rev. E. A. Buck; vice-president, Geo. A. Chace; secretary, Miss Harriett H. Brayton; James W. Bence, treasurer; John D. Flint and Mrs. A. B. French. The first home was in an ordinary store on Third street, and Thomas Chew was chosen superintendent. The equip- ment consisted of an old piano, twelve tables with benches, a small library of two hundred volumes, and sixty-five games. The attendance the first evening was one hundred and forty-one boys. About October, 1890, the club was moved to a new building, the Vermont block, on Pocasset street The club grew in numbers and equipment. A start was made in manual training, classes in printing, carpentry and shoe repairing. In 1897 the or- ganization moved into its new home on Anawan street. This new club- house, probably the first boys' club building designed for boys, was the gift
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of M. C. D. Borden, the owner of the American Printing Company, of Fall River. This clubhouse has a gymnasium, swimming pool, library, class rooms and a miniature theatre, with stage, and chairs for an audience of five hundred. It was formally given on Christmas Day, 1897, and dedicated with much ceremony on January 12, 1898. The cost of the building and all its furnishings was not less than $100,000. As the boys' club movement was comparatively new, the above sum was probably the largest amount given by any one person up to that time. With a new building finely equipped, the club membership grew, and many new forms of work for boys and with boys were attempted. It received much publicity, and many of its activities were commended and copied by others. One investigator from Stockholm, Sweden, carried the principles and methods to her own country, and started clubs patterned after the Fall River Club.
The activities of the club not only drew the boys to the club, but held them year after year, so that every room was fully occupied, and it became a question what to do with the older boys who had grown up in the club and refused to leave even when their privileges were curtailed. This was the pressing problem for several years. One afternoon, at a regular meet- ing of the directors, a start to raise a fund for a modest building for the older boys was made. The directors decided to confer with M. C. D. Borden before proceeding further, and sent the superintendent to explain their plans and needs to him. Mr. Borden listened to the messenger's outline of the hopes and plans for a modest building, to cost probably $15,000. He said: "The building you have is not big enough. Go back and tell your directors that I will make it big enough. Make arrangements to buy land, get an architect to draw up plans for the kind of building you want, and then come and see me again." This was done, and Mr. Borden erected the first and only building used exclusively for older boys, at a cost of about $150,000, on Pocasset street, in the year 1907. This new building is usually designated as the men's department of the Boys' Club. Only those who are employed can become members. It has a large gymnasium, shower baths, billiard rooms, bowling alleys and other recreation rooms. The locker accommodations are for seven hundred men. The two depart- ments, boys' and men's, continued to flourish until the entrance of the United States into the great war, and then, through enlistments in the army and navy, the membership fell off to about two hundred. These were men who were exempted or youths too young to enlist. Some of the em- ployees were called away, and the finances were reduced so that the club activities were much curtailed. After the war it was felt that new members should be added to the board of directors. Up to this time, the directors had been a mixed board of men and women. The women thought it would be better if they retired, and an all-men directorate was chosen. This was done, but with an expression of appreciation of the work the women had done for the club in their years of service.
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