Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 94

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 94

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The Home for the Friendless was incorporated and opened in Feb- ruary, 1868. It was originally located on the corner of Maryland and Seventh streets, and in its first year had twenty-six inmates and sup- plied 483 days' board. In 1872 the Home purchased a burial lot in Forest Lawn and in 1879 a granite monument was there erected. The original house was repeatedly enlarged, but finally became wholly in- adequate, and on July 11, 1884, the property at 1500 Main street was formally transferred to the institution for the sum of $25,000. Over $15,000 were expended on additions, and on March 15, 1886, the Home took possession of its new quarters. One of the most important objects of the Home is to extend relief to worthy indigent women and girls by affording them a temporary home, protection, employment, or assist- ance.

The Ingleside Home for Reclaiming the Erring was incorporated September 27, 1869, by thirteen women, six of whom composed the board of trustees. Its object was to establish and maintain " a home for erring women where they may be cared for and reclaimed and pro- vided with employment, instruction, board, clothing, medicine, etc." The Home was located at first on Seneca street, the property being given by George W. Tifft. In 1884 it purchased the present house and lot at 70 Harvard Place, where over 100 women are cared for annually.

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Between 1870 and 1880 a number of important charitable institu- tions were organized, one of the best and foremost in its distinctive line being the Women's Christian Association, which was founded November 1, 1870, and incorporated in April, 1874. It was organized with seventy-five members, the first president being Mrs. Emmor Haines, who was succeeded in 1894 by Mrs. J. J. McWilliams, Mrs. Haines becoming honorary president. The object of the institution was to promote the spiritual, moral, mental and physical welfare of women, to clothe destitute children, and to aid any poor adults; it also maintains a missionary and an employment department. The first win- ter it occupied a room on Pearl street, the use of which was donated by Rev. Dr. G. R. Heacock, and the next winter steps were taken to establish a boarding house for girls. In May, 1872, a larger house was taken and this branch of the work fully inaugurated. In January, 1875, the association purchased, for $8,000, the building on the south- west corner of Eagle and Ellicott streets which they occupied until June, 1889, when their new edifice at Niagara Square was completed This handsome structure cost about $55,000, and has accommodations for boarding and rooming over 100 young women, giving them all the advantages of a home.

The Buffalo Homoeopathic Hospital was incorporated in June, 1872, by Loran L. Lewis, John B. Griffin, Charles C. McDonald, Jerome F. Fargo, Benjamin H. Austin, sr., Mrs. C. C. Warner, Mrs. M. A. Ken- yon, Hannah Fargo, Charlotte E. Lewis, Anna Poole Hoxsie and Hattie E. Gregg. A house and lot were purchased at 74 Cottage street, cor- ner of Maryland, to which was added a wing in 1884, giving the hospital forty-six beds. A training school for nurses was organized in 1887. The hospital is free to all for homoeopathic treatment, and for many years has conducted a monthly paper.

One of the most beneficent charities of the city had its inception, in 1872, at a dinner given on Thanksgiving day, November 28, to the newsboys and bootblacks by the Young Men's Association of Grace M. E. Church, which resulted in the organization in 1873 of the Buffalo Children's Aid Society, with William P. Letchworth as president. Its object was the protection, care, shelter and saving of friendless and ignorant children, furnishing them with food, raiment, and lodging, aiding them to occupation and instruction in moral and religious truths, and making them useful citizens. Little was done, however, for several years for fear their efforts would not find the necessary 106

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support. In October. 1882, the name was changed to the Buffalo Child Saving Society, a house was rented at 55 Pearl street, and the first boy was received into the Home November 13. Mr. Letchworth was president and David E. Brown vice-president. It was incorpo- rated March 4, 1883, as the Buffalo Children's Aid Society, by E. C. Sprague, S. Cary Adams, Solomon S. Guthrie, David E. Brown, Og den P. Letchworth, Peter J. Ferris, Frederick L. Danforth, Ebenezer A. Rockwood, James B. Stafford, Albert J. Barnard, James Ash, Peter Paul, Robert Keating, George N. Pierce and George W. Townsend. On May 4, 1885, the society took possession of its present building at 29 Franklin street, and since then it has been popularly known as the "News Boys' and Boot Blacks' Home." The owner of this property, Dr. Hubbard Foster, asked $15,000 for it, but when he learned the use to which it was to be put he consented and did sell it to the society for $10,000. The institution is governed by a board of trustees and a board of women managers, among whom are the most prominent people of the city. The Home is liberally supported and has performed a noble work among homeless and friendless boys.

The German Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, founded by Rt. Rev. Stephen Vincent Ryan, was incorporated May 7, 1874, by Joseph Bork, president; Rev. J. Bellwalder, vice president; Richard Thomas, sec- retary; Francis Spoeri, treasurer; Rev. E. F. Schaner, Rev. William Becker, Rev. F. X. Koffler, Rev. Henry Feldman, Rev. William Gun- delach, August Hager, Stephen Reiman, George Baldus, Adam Wick, Martin Dickenherr, Peter Theisen and John Wild (Herman street). The old cemetery site between Best and Northampton streets, near the Parade, was purchased and a building erected in 1874; three additions were subsequently built, and the property now is valued at about $100,- 000. The institution is non-sectarian, is controlled by a board of di- rectors, receives and educates orphans under fifteen years of age, and is in charge of twenty Sisters of St. Francis. The average number of inmates is over 200.

The Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary was incorporated February 26, 1876, with Dr. James P. White, president; Dr. Thomas Lothrop, sec- retary; Josiah Letchworth, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, Dr. Thomas F. Rochester, Sherman S. Rogers and Dr. Lucien Howe as trustees. It is free to the poor, being supported by voluntary contributions and ap- propriations from Erie county. It is located at 671 and 673 Michigan street.

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CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.

The German Evangelical Church Home for the German Evangelical church of Buffalo and vicinity was incorporated in April, 1877, by Rev. Frederick Schelle, Philip Debus, Rev. George S. Vogt and others, for the care of old, infirm and indigent people of that religious faith, and to provide for their bodily and spiritual welfare. Rev. Mr. Schelle has been the president since its organization. They purchased a house and fifty acres of land at Forks Station, in the town of Cheektowaga, for the sum of $10,000, and in 1855 tore down the old building and erected a new one at a cost of $12,000. Since then various modern im- provements have been made and about twenty-two acres sold off for railroad purposes.

From the foregoing it would seem that almost every branch of char- itable work had been worthily and adequately covered, but the needs of a large and growing city presented other fields in which one of the most useful institutions in the country was about to take up its noble career. On the 11th of December, 1877, the Charity Organization So- ciety of Buffalo was founded, and was the first institution of the kind in the United States, a fact in which every citizen in the city may feel a just pride.' Following is a copy of the incorporating certificate of this society, with the names originally appended thereto:

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of the State of New York, of full age, being desirous of forming a corporation for benevolent and charitable purposes, un- der and in pursuance of the act of the Legislature of the State of New York, passed April twelfth, A. D., 1848, and the acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, do hereby certify as follows:

I. The name of the society so to be incorporated shall be "The Charity Organiza- tion Society of Buffalo."

II. The particular business and objects of the said society are declared to be, (1) to systematize and organize, and bring into harmonious co-operation the charities and almsgiving of the city of Buffalo; (2) to reduce and prevent pauperism in said city ; (3) to detect and guard against imposters and unworthy applicants for assist- ance, street beggars and persons who receive charitable aid from two or more inde- pendent sources; (4) to promote by all lawful means, social and sanitary reforms and habits of thrift, saving and self-dependence among the poorer classes; (5) to estab- lish and maintain, or to assist in establishing and maintaining a Creche or Creches, which shall afford accommodations for the children of working parents during hours of labor; to provide a home or homes for indigent women or children; (6) to estab- lish and maintain or to assist in establishing and maintaining provident dispen- saries.

III. There shall be a Board of Trustees of the said Society, consisting of nine

1 There are at the present time more than 100 similar organizations in the country, which are accomplishing in a thoroughly systematic and effective manner the ever-difficult task of minister. ing to the needy.

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members; and the names of such trustees, for the first year of the corporate exist- ence of said Society, are: John Allen, Jr., Abraham Altman, James H. Dormer, Ed- win T. Evans, Sherman S. Rogers, Francis H. Root, Dexter P. Rumsey, Solomon Scheu, and E. Carlton Sprague.

In witness whereof, we have hereto set our hands at Buffalo this twenty-seventh day of November, A. D., 1879.

F. M. HOLLISTER, JAMES O. PUTNAM,

J. N. LARNED, EDWIN T. EVANS.

GEORGE P. SAWYER, JOSIAH G. MUNRO,

JOHN G. MILBURN, SOLOMON SCHEU,

THOMAS CARY, E. C. SPRAGUE,

ROBERT KEATING,

ANSLEY WILCOX,

JAMES H. DORMER,

A. ALTMAN,

FRANK WILLIAMS, DAVID GRAY.

SHERMAN S. ROGERS.

The object of this society are as follows;

1. To bring into harmonious cooperation with each other, and with the Over- seer of the Poor, the various churches, charitable agencies, and individuals in the city, and thus, among other things, to check the evils of the overlapping of relief.

2. To investigate thoroughly and without charge the cases of all applicants for charity which are referred to the society for inquiry, and to send the persons hav- ing a legitimate interest in such cases full reports of investigation.

3. To obtain from the proper charities and from charitable individuals suitable and adequate relief for deserving cases; to provide visitors who shall personally at- tend cases needing counsel and help; and to procure work for poor persons who are capable of being wholly or partially self-supporting.

4. To assist from its own funds, so far as possible in the form of loans, all suitable cases for which adequate assistance cannot be obtained from other causes.

5. To repress mendicity by the above means, and by the prosecution of im- posters.

6. To promote the general welfare of the poor by social and sanitary reforms, and by the inculcation of habits of providence and self-dependence, and to these ends to establish and maintain, in whole or in part, the following provident institutions, viz. : One or more crêches: some practical means of encouraging the saving of small sums of money by the poor; one or more provident dispensaries, which may include arrangements for the temporary treatment of persons injured in the neighborhood, and unable to be carried to the general hospitals; and such other provident institu- tions as shall tend to the physical, moral, and intellectual improvement of the poor, and as shall be within the corporate powers of the Society.

On May 20, 1881, in order to more effectively prosecute the work of the society, the number of trustees was increased to fifteen, the names at that time added to the board being as follows: Edward Bennett, Josiah G. Munro, George P. Sawyer, T. Guilford Smith, Sheldon T. Viele and Ansley Wilcox.

It is impossible to estimate the pecuniary benefit conferred upon the

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city of Buffalo at large by this institution, particularly through its con- trol and maintenance of the charities established by the benevolence of the late Benjamin Fitch, who on January 1, 1880, deeded to the Charity Organization Society property on the corner of Michigan and Swan streets, on which was erected, in 1893, the present Fitch Institute, connected with which are the Fitch Creche, the Fitch Provident Dis- pensary, the Fitch Accident Hospital, and other branches of the So- ciety.

On the 15th of April, 1881, the Legislature passed a law authorizing Mr. Fitch to convey to the society certain other property " for the pur- pose of founding and maintaining in Buffalo a public institute for the physical, moral and intellectual benefit of the worthy poor of that city, without distinction of creed or sex." The same act empowered the society to execute the trusts and powers created by the deed and to hold and use the property conveyed to it. This deed was dated May 2, 1882, and gave the society various parcels of land, most of which were subsequently sold and the proceeds used in the erection of the Fitch Institute building. A condition of this trust was the payment to Mr. Fitch during his lifetime of $300 annually. The purpose that he de- sired should be carried out by the society are stated in the deeds as follows:

1. To maintain in the said hall a course of lectures each year, on scientific and other instructive topics. 2. A free reading room. 3. A provident coffee and soup room. 4. A dispensary for supplying medicines and medical attendance. 5. A training school in domestic work for girls. 6. A hospital for temporary treatment of persons injured. î. A place of deposit for small sums of money (not exceeding for any one person fifty dollars) by working people, to be drawn out by them as their needs may require, or to be made good to them in orders upon stores with which economical arrangements may be made by the said Society for the purchase of the necessaries of life for such depositors. The perpetual use to which said building and institution are to be devoted is herein described, and they must, as a condition of this grant, never in any degree be diverted therefrom.

The following property is now owned by the society :

Southwestern corner of Swan and Michigan streets, 1121% feet on Swan by 108 on Michigan, on which stand the Fitch Institute and Fitch Crêche. Assessed valution of land. $33,280 00

Assessed valuation of buildings. 75,000 00

Northwestern corner of Seneca and Michigan streets, 11212 feet on Sen- eca by 198 on Michigan (including No. 304 Michigan street, 25 by 62 feet). Assessed valuation of land. 44,800 00 Assessed valuation of buildings 30,000 00

$183,080 00

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

The gross annual income from this property is about $13,000.

To further fulfill the purposes of Mr. Fitch's benevolence the society established the Fitch Provident Dispensary, in 1883, which is open every morning, and which supplies medicines at a normal price. Three physicians prescribe for patients without pay and a salaried prescrip- tion clerk is in daily attendance.

The society also established, in 1886, the Fitch Accident Hospital. which now has five resident physicians, seven visiting surgeons, five trained nurses, and two ambulances. In 1896 the hospital treated 3,888 cases and responded to 1,054 ambulance calls. It is one of the most important accident hospitals in the country.

.The Fitch Creche, which was opened in 1880, was the first institution of the kind established in this country. It maintains a day nursery for the children of working women, a training school for nursery maids, a labor bureau for women, a kindergarten, and a course of lectures upon simple hygiene, cooking, sewing, etc. There are twelve resident em- ployees. In 1896 the crêche received 8,800 children and obtained em- ployment for about 380 women.

The aim of the Charity Organization Society is not to actually dis- pense alnis-which must in most cases be wholly inadequate to give permanent relief-but to improve existing conditions among the poor. The annual cost of carrying on its work is about $28,000. It operates several labor bureaus and work-yards for both men and women, and employs seven permanent agents, who, in 1896, made 17,996 visits among the poor. Through the efforts of a committee it established the Provident Loan Association, which enables the poor to obtain loans at small rates of interest. It was also through the efforts of the society that the free baths of Buffalo were introduced, and through its influence that salutary tenement house ordinances were adopted by the Common Council. The organization maintains also a free sociological library, and in 1892 established a Penny Savings Fund to encourage small savings, the books of which are kept at various stations in dif- ferent parts of the city. The savings thus accumulated by children amount to nearly $2,000 annually.

In carrying out its purposes as a whole, the society devised a method of work which has been very effective and has acquired the commenda- tory title of "the Buffalo plan." This method involves the division of the city into about 150 church districts and the assignment of each dis- trict to the immediate care of a church. More than seventy five of

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these districts have been accepted by as many churches. The plan in brief is this: A church voluntarily accepts a district and agrees to become responsible to the society for all persons therein who are poor and neglected, yet its charitable work is not confined to that district, and it need not give up the care of any family outside. This plan although not inaugurated until late in 1894, has already demonstrated its utility, and has resulted in a larger activity and a closer knowledge of the conditions of the poor.

The officers of the Charity Organization Society point with pride not alone to the far-reaching measures of relief to the poor inaugurated and maintained through its efforts, but also to the financial results as shown in the reduced cost of providing for the poor of the city Upon this aspect of its work the following is taken from a public announce- ment of the society :

In the year 1876 the population of Buffalo was 140,000. Incredible as it may seem, more than ten per cent. of the inhabitants of the city were receiving poor aid, and the sum spent for out-door relief from the Poor Department was $112,000, or 63 per cent. of the entire expenditure of the city government. The Charity Organi- zation Society was formed in 1877, and at once began a review through its com- mittees of all the city poor aid. In 1878 the amount spent in the city poor aid fell to $61,000, and in 1880 to $29,000. Since 1876 the amount spent for public out-door relief has never been as much as $100,000, even in the recent years of unusual dis- tress. In the year 1896, with a population of nearly 350,000, the amount given by the city for out door relief was $82,000.

Another institution of which the citizens of Erie county may well feel proud, and which is one of the fifteen in the United States having the same general purpose in view, is the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Buffalo, which began its work on March 27, 1884, in rooms in the Fitch Institute building. In less than two years it had 200 members; now there are over 1,000. Its aim is to increase fellow- ship among women in order to promote the best practical methods for securing their educational, industrial, and social advancement, and gives constant endeavor in behalf of justice and morality. The Union is, in effect, "clubs within a club," each chapter working along its special line. It maintains a domestic science department, which trains children and older girls in all kinds of household, nursery and maternal duties; an employment department with a free bureau of registration for the benefit of employer and employee; a department of hygiene and physical culture for training young women for the care of convalescents, chronic invalids and children; a department of protection, organized

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to defend the legal and social rights of women; the Mary A. Ripley Memorial Library, with reading rooms, open from 9:30 A. M. to ? P. M. ; the Noon Rest, which provides luncheon at low rates; and a: educational committee having charge of free classes in penmanship. typewriting, and arithmetic, and tuition clases in stenography, French and German. This latter committee also has charge of a civic club for the study of municipal affairs and a Girls' Union Circle for literary and social purposes. The protective committee has not only secured the collection of $11,000 unjustly withheld from working women, but has been instrumental in placing matrons in three police stations, a woman on the Board of School Examiners, and two women on the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo State Hospital. It has also been a power in securing legislative action, especially in connection with a compulsory law placing women physicians on the medical staffs of all our insane hospitals and statute making every married woman the joint guardian of her children with her husband, with equal powers, rights, and duties with him in regard to them. More than 200 of the most prominent women in the city are serving on the various committees. The Union began its work with only $65, received from membership dues, and was incorporated May 15, 1885. It is entirely non sectarian. It soon outgrew its original quarters, and on March 1, 1886, purchased the Potter-Babcock mansion on Niagara Square and an adjoining lot ; the first reception was given there October 3, and on May 14, 1889, was celebrated the " freedom-from-debt festival." In 1892 the old building was torn down and a handsome new brick and stone structure erected. which was opened October 29, 1894; this was dedicated, free from debt, October 27, 1897. It cost $66,523. The Union has received a number of important gifts, notably one on September 17, 1891, of $10,000, and another on October 12, of the same year, of $5,000, and still another from Mrs. Francis H. Root, whose name is perpetuated on a tablet bearing the following inscription.

" A bequest of $10,000 from Mrs. Delia Spencer Root, November 10th, 1895, ma 'c possible the completion of this building and its dedication free from debt, October 27th, 1897."

Closely following the formation of the foregoing institutions came two others in which women were the prime movers. The first was the District Nursing Association, which was organized in 1885 and incor- porated in 1891. It was founded by Miss Elizabeth C. Marshall, an : since her death in 1892 has been controlled by a board of managers.

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It employs three trained nurses for free nursing among the sick poor and maintains three diet kitchens. The Buffalo Woman's Hospital, situated on the corner of Georgia and Seventh streets, was organized in May, 1886, for the reception of women during childbirth or while suf- fering from female diseases.

The Fresh Air Mission of Buffalo was organized in 1888, and during each summer sends nearly 1,000 children into the country for a two weeks' vacation. The institution was incorporated in 1890, in which year about forty-seven acres of land were purchased on the shore of Lake Erie, at Angola. This is popularly known as "Cradle Beach." On August 1, 1893, a temporary hospital was opened there for children suffering from cholera infantum; this hospital was separately incorpo- rated in 1894, and in the same year bought a site and erected a building for its use at Athol Springs, also on the lake shore, nine miles south of Buffalo. It is open from June 1 to September 1. Both institu- tions are under one management. One of the important methods used in securing public contributions since 1893 are the "Cradle Banks," with which Buffalonians are familiar.

The Working Boys' Home was founded by the late Bishop Ryan and has always been under the direction of Rev. Daniel Walsh. The first steps taken toward establishing a permanent institution was in 1888, when the Hammond mansion was purchased and the Home opened therein. The project of erecting a building specially adapted for the purpose was inaugurated in October of that year; about the same time the Ladies' Aid Society was formed, and in August, 1896, the corner stone of the new brick structure facing Niagara Square was laid. It was completed and opened October 27 and 28, 1897, and is in charge of Rev. Daniel Walsh and several Sisters of St. Joseph. It provides a temporary home for boys, and gives them industrial, religious and moral instruction.

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 94

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017