USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
979
CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITY
Thus far in this chapter the attention has been directed mainly to governmental charities, those by the municipality as a political body, and to funds or gifts intrusted to public authorities for management and control. But the private philanthropies far outnumber those of both these classes and are too many to even be possible of complete list- ing, their number so increase and change month by month. "A Direc- tory of the Charitable and Beneficent Organizations of Boston" issued by the Associated Charities Society in 1880, divides the different organi- zations into twelve classes, and gives the total number as 487. Besides this, there are enumerated 187 charitable agencies, not coming under its arbitrary selection, making a total of 695; and all this some nearly fifty years ago. In 1924, the Boston Council of Social Agencies published a "Directory of the Social Agencies of Boston" which gave a more re- stricted list of the philanthropies of the city, but which numbered more than 1,200 such agencies. From one standpoint, there is nothing remark- able in these large numbers, for there have been years when as many as seventy private charitable institutions have been organized in Bos- ton. But from any viewpoint, the large number of organizations for social welfare is one of the wonders of modern civilization, and the place Boston holds in this activity is quite beyond its growth in popula- tion. The features of her expansion may account for some of this, at least for the need, since her growth has been by outside accession first from one race and then another, many of whom were immigrants and lacking in wealth, education and appreciation of what was best.
The Scots' Charitable Society, one that still survives, was the first to be founded, and preceded its nearest successor by sixty-three years. "In 1652 . . . . the ship 'John and Sara' arrived bringing two hundred and seventy-two Scotchmen who had been taken prisoners in the dis- astrous battle of Dunbar, where 4,000 fell and 10,000 became prisoners of war to Cromwell. As the shortest way of disposing of these, they were shipped off to the colonies, there to be sold for service." Five years later "Some Gentlemen Merchants and others of the Scots' Nation resid- ing in Boston, New England, from a compassionate concern & affection to their indigent Countrymen, voluntarily formed themselves into a char- itable Society, Anno Domini 1657, which did subsist some years . . This charitable design was again revived Anno Domini 1684; their Number and Abilities considerably increased .... This Society has ever since without interruption been continued & promoted to the Com- passionate and Seasonable Relief of many." It was in no sense a foreign society any more than are the associations now in the city which give relief to the peoples of seventeen different nationalities.
The founding of Harvard College, 1638, the Scots' Charitable Society and the Charlestown Poor's Fund comprise the benevolent organizations
980
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
dating prior to 1700. For the next hundred years, the list of additions include : The Stoughton Poor Fund, 1701 ; Quarterly Charity Lecture, 1720, which survived nearly two centuries ; the Charitable Irish Society, 1737 ; Poor Widow's Fund, 1759; Pemberton Fund, 1760, though founded on an earlier benefaction; Massachusetts Congregational Charitable Society, 1786; Jeffries Fund, 1786; Massachusetts Humane Society, 1786; Franklin Fund, 1791 ; Roxbury Charitable Fund, 1794; Massachu- setts Charitable Fire Society, 1794; Boylston Funds (2), 1795; Boston Dispensary, 1796; and the Mason Fund of 1798. To complete the list of philanthropic organizations founded at least a century ago: The Boston Female Asylum, 1800; Massachusetts Bible Society, 1809; Dex- ter Fund, 1811 ; Massachusetts General Hospital, 1811 ; Howard Benevo- lent Society, 1812; Widows' Society, 1816; Fragment Society, 1816; British Charitable Society, 1816; American Tract Society, 1816; City Missionary Society, 1816; American College and Educational Society, 1816; Society for Promoting Theological Education, 1816; Boston Fatherless and Widows' Society, 1817; McLean Asylum for the In- sane, 1818 (now a part of the General Hospital) ; Penitent Female Refuge and Bethesda Society, 1818; Devens Benevolent Society, 1819; Massa- chusetts Baptist Charitable Society, 1821; Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 1824; Young Men's Benevolent Society, 1827.
As may be seen, several of these organizations became notable insti- tutions as the years passed. The General Hospital is not only the earli- est but possibly the largest of its class in New England. It was followed by other important like institutions such as The Eye and Ear Infirmary of 1824; the Institution of the Blind (Perkins Institute) of 1829; the Lying-in Hospital of 1832; the House of the Good Samaritan of 1860; the New England Hospital for Women of 1863 ; the New England Hos- pital for Women and Children of 1863; the Adams Nervine Asylum of 1877; the Homeopathic Hospital, chartered in 1855 but not active until 1876; the Carney Hospital of 1885; the Brigham Hospitals of 1914; and the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children of 1915. The histories of these and many other philanthropies of a like character are told in the chapter on Medicine.
Of another class are the many institutions and provisions started to care for the aged, the orphans, and the infirm, which take the place in private charity left unfilled by our city and State institutions. There are more than two hundred of such establishments in Boston who open their doors to, or place their means at the call of, the needy from helpless infancy to homeless age. Then there are hundreds of organizations look- ing toward the welfare of both man and beast, receiving and disbursing millions of dollars, and doing a work that cannot, or at least is not. done by other agencies.
981
CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITY
Even as far back as 1749, it was recognized that one of the wisest ways to aid the poor was to enable them to help themselves by providing employment for them. The effort made met with little success. In 1827 the Young Men's Benevolent Society was established under the restric- tion that no relief should be given without an actual visit first being paid by some member of a standing committee. In 1851, the Boston Prov- ident Association was organized, designed to embrace a larger field of operation and based upon the principle of careful investigation by visita- tion and inquiry. The city was divided into districts, with a "visitor in each by whom a limited aid was given and upon whose reports further action was taken." Robert C. Winthrop, then president, urged the erec- tion of a central building in which might be housed the overseers of the poor, and where might meet the voluntary charitable agencies of the city. This led to the finishing of the Charity Building on Chardon Street. This building was replaced in 1927 by a three-story structure that houses the still existent Provident Association, the Family Welfare Society, Con- fidential Exchange, Industrial Aid Society, German Aid Society, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Cooperative Work rooms. A spacious conference room provides a meeting place for various welfare organiza- tions.
A further advance was made in the handling of the philanthropies of the city in 1879 by the forming of the Associated Charities, designed to bring all the charitable agencies into closer cooperation, and especially to enable the citizens of Boston to make use of these agencies readily and wisely. Its object was to help the poor to help themselves, to guide them to needed relief, if possible by their own exertions, if not, then to sources of relief, and to detect imposture and prevent pauperism. Another for- ward step was taken when this association was reorganized as the Family Welfare Society.
The modern tendency is to soften the nomenclature of charity work, no longer do we hear of "paupers," but the change made in the new soci- ety was more than merely in title. The breadth of its outlook is indicated by the brief statement of its purpose: "The promotion of better family life." It aims to do this by the direct relief of distress, the encourage- ment of volunteer service, by fostering joint effort in social work, by endeavoring to interpret social facts so as to lead to the improvement of conditions by a thoroughly aroused public consciousness, and by other dependable methods. How great is its work can be judged by the num- bers engaged in it, rather than by its accomplishments, since many, pos- sibly the most of these, cannot be stated in figures or even estimated with any degree of accuracy. In 1927, the Family Welfare Society maintained a staff consisting of 33 professionally trained men and women, and 30
982
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
others who conduct the 14 district offices in the city and the Bureau for the Aged. Besides these paid workers, the society employs 421 volun- teers, and has the aid and advice of local committees in the various districts.
Into the manifold activities of the society we will not go. Its ancient foundation and its present height of attainment have been mentioned because of its important position as a clearing house as well as an agency of direct relief for the charities of the municipality. It mobilizes the many agencies for work in their respective fields in a way quite impos- sible except by such an organization. The business of the society in part is to know where relief agencies are to be found, and bring the needy in touch with them. A precautionary work is done by the social service exchange, which is the real clearing house for hundreds of organizations throughout the State, in the prevention of useless duplication of effort, by the having on file and the sending to inquiring agencies, the names of those who have applied for aid in Boston or elsewhere. There are more than 600,000 names on these files. Another organization which moves along similar but not along the same lines, is the Council of Social Agen- cies, whose directory has been mentioned. The common criticism of charitable societies, of which there are 250 in one class, is that they are inefficient and duplicate each other's work. The Council, formed but a few years ago, tries to prevent just such conditions ; and what is of equal import, endeavors to fill up the gaps which exist between the welfare agencies in any community.
A number of the larger philanthropies of Boston have already been mentioned in this chapter. In the chapter on the medical profession, something has been written concerning the medical institutions of the city, the most of which were founded and maintained by private bene . factions. To single out and tell about some of the agencies of social wel- fare tends towards invidious comparisons, but certain examples or sam- ples of classes of helpful organizations should be pointed out, if for no better reason than that they will indicate how manifold and wide-spread are the charitable and philanthropic activities of Boston. Some are very important, others are large, some cover fields quite unrealized by the average person, others seem always under the eyes, some are very novel, some very valuable, are curiously unknown.
There is the Morgan Memorial. It is a great religious, philanthropic, industrial organization with property valued at nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and giving direct aid to several thousands, and is of indi- rect benefit to many more thousands. Nevertheless the average Bos- tonian knows little about it. If he misses an old coat his wife may tell him it has gone into a "Morgan Bag," and perhaps surprise him by tell-
983
CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITY
ing that there are some 120,000 such bags in as many homes in the city. If he should happen to step into the department store on the first floor of the Industrial building on Shaw Street, he might be able to buy back his coat if he could find it among the numerous articles exposed for sale. Perhaps he might have to look in one of the branch stores operated in Roxbury, South Boston, East Boston, Charlestown, East Cambridge and the West End. The Morgan Memorial bags, into which go articles no longer of use to the family, are the bases from which this impressive institution works. All manner of stuff is received in this way, upon some of it, many needy are given employment, and from the sale of it, much of the income of the society is received. In 1926 the wages paid out by the Memorial amounted to $159,000.
The stores and the "bags" are but two of the activities of the institu- tion. The main divisions of the Memorial are the Children's Settlement, the Fred H. Peavy Seminary Settlement, the Industrial Building, the Eliza A. Henry Home, and the farm and vacation camp at South Athol. The work of the Children's Settlement is too varied to be outlined, ex- cept to state that it covers every conceivable end of such an institution. It reaches thirty nationalities, and is located in what were formerly some of the roughest, most immoral localities of Boston. The Peavy Settle- ment gives all classes of men and wandering boys a chance to regain and rebuild their manhood. The Industrial feature of the Memorial, the Goodwill work shops and the stores, not only give an immediate oppor- tunity to those who need it most, to earn money at once, but to receive training that will fit them for permanent and better paying employment. It is here that the 120,000 bags serve both to give work to the idle and clothing for the needy. The Eliza A. Henry Home in the Back Bay dis- trict, gives to the elderly working woman and married students com- fortable living quarters with a home atmosphere. The Morgan Memorial Cooperative Industries and Stores, Inc., to give this institution its legal title, is a many sided charity, and some of those who now stand high among their fellows have the Memorial to thank for their renewed hold on life and their bettered position.
The word "settlement" crops out in any discussion of welfare work, and there are a number of settlement houses, so called, in Boston. The term no longer means a building in the slums of a city where social workers, mostly untrained, try "to better conditions." If there were ever "houses" of this sort, they passed away before the modern times. The unsuccessful debutantes must find some work more within their range than patronizing the poor. The multiplication of welfare agencies relieved the "settlement" of many of the burdens which not only over- loaded it, but prevented its accomplishment of definite work. The set-
984
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
tlement of the present day is either a social centre in name and in fact, or a society that is specializing on some needed phase of helpful activity.
The Frances E. Willard Settlement started in 1894 by Miss Caro- line M. Caswell, who until 1926 was the president, was one of the first of the settlement organizations in New England, and for a long time confined its efforts to a somewhat haphazard program of general neigh- borhood benefit. As time went on, the work narrowed, but strengthened to an organization for the care and help of women. The three small rooms in Hanover Street, where the settlement had its first quarters, have expanded into the Chambers Street house, once Vincent Hospital, purchased in 1907, the chapel and clubhouse adjoining, a farm home in Bedford and a small hospital in Northboro. Plans have been drawn for a larger and better home for incurables at Bedford, to be erected at a cost of $200,000. This is to be named the Homestead, and will do its part in solving the problem of the women of modern means, sick with an incurable disease. The Bedford farm, 185 acres with a large house, was purchased for a rest home for elderly women. This is Llewsac Lodge, to which has been added another building, the Nellie Evelyn Cook Hall, both intended for the able-bodied. The hospital at North- boro was formerly Miss Caswell's home, given by her in 1925, for the care of the crippled and invalided. There is also the Marrietta Worthen Memorial at Bedford, and a vacation camp at North Conway, New Hamp- shire. All these homes involve a business annually of $100,000, two-thirds of which is borne by the residents who pay what they are able. The values of the properties, beyond all indebtedness amounts to more than a quarter of a million dollars.
Such is the outline of the change and development of what was first a small settlement activity. There are others in the city which, if not in size, have made as great a change in policy. The Norfolk House Centre is an example of a settlement operation that also has expanded its original purpose. This house in Roxbury was once the most fash- ionable suburban hotel near Boston. It rose full five stories in height and marked the terminus of the Roxbury horse-car line. Before that the Norfolk House was the first stage-stop on the run from Boston to Provi- dence. Today, the automobile hurries by and few slow down enough to enable the occupants to see that the hotel is the community centre for the Highland district. The organization that founded the work here, started in 1883 as the South End Industrial School at 45 Bartlett Street, but so extended its program that when the Norfolk House was put on the market in 1914, it was bought and the present name given to the work. It is not only an effective community centre in all that the name implies, with many-sided activities, but is also the district headquarters
985
CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITY
of the Community Health Association, the Family Welfare Association, the Milk Fund and the North American Civic League for Immigrants.
The Family Welfare Association needs no further explanation, the purpose of the Milk Fund is self-explanatory, while the Civic League follows the line of such leagues to be found in most of our cities where the Americanization of our foreign new-comers is a vital necessity. The Community Health Association is a thoroughly modern attempt to cre- ate a healthy community-not merely by making the sick well but in the prevention of illness. It represents the combination of the Instruc- tive District Nursing and the Baby Hygiene associations, which with a force of 125 nurses and other trained workers conduct a city-wide serv- ice along both of the above mentioned lines. Besides attendance is provided, but what is probably of greater importance is teaching of mothers and children how to retain good health. That two large life insurance companies pay half of the expenses of this association to care for its policy holders does not lessen the value of the service rendered by the organization, or make it any the less one of the finest of the philanthropies of the city. Of the 240,000 visits paid by the nurses and others of the association during 1926, only the small majority were policy holders in these companies. For 1927, more than $320,000 was to be expended. Of this $28,000 was to come from endowments, $148,000 from the insurance companies and fees, the rest from citizens of Boston who believe in a healthy and healthful community.
There are many "homes" in Boston for the unfortunate of many classes, for the blind, crippled, destitute of all ages, sexes and nationali- ties. Homes for the aged are numerous, the Home for Aged Men at 133 Springfield Avenue and the Home for Aged Women at South Hunt- ington Avenue and Jamaica Way, being the most notable. The Home for Aged Men dates from 1860, although not opened until the next year. Until 1870 it was housed at 17 South Street, moving from thence, 1870, to the present building which had been a hospital and soldiers' home. The lack of room has determined the requirements for entrance which are: The payment of $150 and age of 55 or more, and the possession of good physical and mental health. About fifty may be accommodated at one time, but aid is yearly given to double that number. The Home for Aged Women is very much larger, accommodations even in the past years being provided for about a hundred persons. It antedates the Men's Home, having been founded in 1849, and quite surpasses it in nearly every respect, now, 1927, that it has moved into its splendid modern quarters.
The needs of children have been given probably more attention by the philanthropic agencies of the city than any other class. Few mu-
986
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
nicipalities in this country have made finer or more complete provisions for its youth than has Boston. Its children's hospitals, asylums, homes, are often the models after which other places pattern. The phases of activity are too numerous to be described, but some record should be made of the Boys' Club of Boston, one of the first and among the largest of such organizations. It began its career in 1893 over a grocery store at 402 Main Street, Charlestown. After five years, it was for two de- cades at 10 Wood Street, in a building that in 1914 was more than a century and a quarter old. In that year $150,000 was secured for the main building on Green Street. In 1925 this clubhouse was doubled in size by· the addition of a large auditorium and a very large gymnasium. So much for the material advance in a third of a century. Its members in 1927, numbered 6,000, and membership is confined to those between 8 and 21. The highest dues required is $1.50, the average being a dollar. The difference between the less than $6,000 received for the boys and the $60,000 expended during 1926 was given by those interested in the organization. It was of this club that President Coolidge said : "Here let them learn self-reliance and self-control, the foundation of that self- support and self-government on which alone rests the great ideal of America, the rule of the people."
The sentence of the President very nearly sums up the motive that has been behind Boston's many philanthropies for the young. If the churches have been prime movers in this activity, and the word "Chris- tian" is often included in the titles of some institutions, it is but natural. One of the first organizations formed among young men is seventy- seven years of age. It was started as a group of young men who wished to engage in the various fields of philanthropic and benevolent work in the city. The name chosen was the Young Men's Christian Union, be- ing so incorporated in 1852. Its avowed purpose was altered somewhat just before the Union moved into its present quarters at 48 Boylston Street, a half century ago, and is better stated as being an endeavor for the upbuilding of young men in body, soul and mind. The Union is a purely local institution, its home being a place of hospitality, com- panionship and mental and physical training for the youth of the city. The building has a fine air of restraint, gentility and intellectualism that is thoroughly Bostonian. The membership has stood about 5,000 for a third of a century; the Gymnasium class attendance for 1926 totaled 67,132. Evening classes covering a variety of subjects began as early as 1868. Since the increased opportunities given by public and pri- vate institutions for study, instruction given in the Union is of a spe- cialized character. The society was a pioneer in the fresh air move- ment for providing vacations for needy children. In 1875 it inaugurated
987
CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITY
"country week" through which thousands of boys and girls have been privileged to enjoy vacations on farms; in 1926, nearly 2,500 such va- cations were provided. So quietly has the Union held its place in the life of the city that only those who are in direct connection with it realize how valuable an institution it is. For a number of years the Union has realized its need of larger quarters, and has secured a large property in Park Square, on which is being built its new and finer home, commensurate with its importance as a down town centre for the young men of the city.
On Huntington Avenue, in the Back Bay, centre of one of the largest and most varied group of students in any city other than New York, is the splendid headquarters of the Young Men's Christian Association. It was organized a year later than the Union, celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary on December 13, 1926. A link of the great chain of Christian institutions scattered all over the World, it was the first to be formed in the United States. Nowhere has it made a more phenomenal growth, the present membership being nearly 17,000, being limited only by the lack of facilities, although housed in an unusually large and modern building, the sixth in its history, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1912 by William Howard Taft, President of the United States. Further advance must be made rather by means of branches in the different sections of the city, rather than by any attempt to enlarge the present central plant. Such branches are being started ; since 1923 work has been done in Dorchester without the advantage of a building. Plans are under way (1928) for structures fitted for its purposes in downtown Bos- ton, which would include Charlestown and the East Boston districts, South Boston, Roxbury-Uphams Corner, Dorchester-Milton, Jamaica Plain-West Roxbury, Brighton-Allston-Brookline, South End, and Hyde Park. These buildings will cost several millions of dollars, and may take a decade or more for their construction, but their possibilities seem very real as this is written. They are, in fact, but a part of a great build- ing program that contemplates a Y. M. C. A. hotel, an international student-house, and a separate home for the Northeastern University, its very successful educational department.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.