For the greater part of the twentieth century, the Puget Sound Deaconess Association provided residential services and support to Snohomish County children in crisis and transition. It was daunting task, and the Deaconess Children’s Home, through different iterations in Everett, struggled to exist from the very beginning. The first children arrived in 1909; within a year the home was overcrowded and underfunded. The Deaconess Children's Home was unique in its commitment to all children, regardless of race or religion. As a nondenominational, nonsectarian charitable institution, it weathered challenges, adapted to the changing needs of children, and secured a legacy of loving and faithful service to Snohomish County’s most vulnerable residents. The home persevered until financial and bureaucratic setbacks forced it to close in the early 1970s.
Washington Welfare
The notion of deserving and undeserving cases, worthy and unworthy causes is patterned in the language of the Progressive Era (1890s-1915). Nowhere in that history is the language more disheartening than when used to measure the indifferent response to "unwanted" children and people with special needs. The law that governed state responsibility for social welfare was passed in 1853 when Washington was still a Territory and remained in practice until the Great Depression. Counties were alone responsible for the cost, care, and keeping of those who could not, for various reasons, care for themselves.
In 1931, Governor Roland Hartley (1864-1952), who had previously served as Everett's mayor, saw relief as a moral issue, "testing the character of the needy" rather than showcasing the economic havoc that destroyed living conditions for so many. When asked to consider state funding for social programs, Hartley believed that, "to transfer this obligation from the county to the state opens the door to unlimited opportunities for waste, inefficiency, and graft" (A Shared Experience, 19). Such callousness echoed the sentiment of the state’s first governor, Elisha Ferry (1825-1895), who believed the best use of state funds was to incarcerate young people he deemed "depraved and vicious" in State Training Schools for defying parental authority and showing "little regard for the rights of property" (A Shared Experience, 25).
Washington’s complicated history with labor fostered a fear of the unemployed that is unique to the region, contributing to widespread parsimony regarding government spending for social programs. Counties would look to private, benevolent institutions, which in turn relied on private citizens to ensure humane conditions for the destitute and their dependents. The nineteenth and twentieth century needs for families in transition are still relevant today, as are the systems and sources of funding needed to support them.
Orphans’ Home Society (1898-1908)
Like most industrial U.S. cities at the turn of the century, Everett tried to combat the social consequences of urbanization. Children who were left destitute through no fault of their own required short- and long-term residential care, as well as treatment for their physical and mental health. Yet the first decade of Everett’s attempt to create a county orphanage was marked by bungled benevolence, confusion, and greed.
In 1898, concern in Everett for the plight of homeless children resulted in the formation of The Orphans' Home Society of America (OHS). But a home intended for orphans, built that same year at 37th and Broadway, was used for that intended purpose only briefly, and not until a decade later. Instead, the following year, trustees bought eight lots southeast of Everett's center. The house at 37th and Broadway, with a barn attached, was leased to a family.
In 1901, the OHS announced plans to organize a home at 39th and McDougal – a 24-by-30, two-story structure with a basement. The society’s president, C. B. Hysom, agreed to oversee construction and management of the orphanage, in addition to donating his own property six miles out of town near Silver Lake. On that land, he hoped to organize a training school, "educating the boys under its charge in the arts of agriculture" ("Orphans' Home Society"). By now, however, much time had passed since formation of the OHS, and there was still no orphanage north of King County. The OHS had failed to reassure the public, insisting that while the project was underway, the OHS had, "to a limited extent" succeeded in placing "just a few" unfortunate children in homes ("Orphans’ Home Society").
As more time passed, the need for an orphanage grew increasingly urgent. Contractors eager to aid in the effort offered to donate their labor for free. As another year came and went, preparations of the "old home" at 37th and Broadway were said to be underway. Rooms were being refurnished, a matron was purportedly hired, and the home was nearly in running order. Just to ensure that the work was coming along, "one solicitor was appointed from each of the city churches to create an interest in this institution. A vote of thanks was tendered to Mr. Hysom for the work he has done for the home" ("Orphans’ Home") – a thanks that, in hindsight, should have ended the arrangement with Hysom and his alleged orphanage.
In the meantime, the OHS arranged a fundraising trip to Poulsbo for the grand opening of an orphans' home. The steamer Island Flyer was contracted for $100 to ferry charitable members of the Everett community to celebrate the occasion and grant to OHS a modest sum per traveler. The future home of the Everett orphanage had accrued $240 in delinquent taxes. Hysom, as part of his contract with the OHS, was meant to pay all taxes on the property, but had neglected to do so. The OHS appealed to the city council, hoping to find relief in the form of a donation made by the city to the cause. The city attorney found that there were no legal grounds to make such a donation.
In April 1903, the possibility of relief came to Everett in the form of a proposal. Reverend Brown of the Washington Children’s Home Society (WCHS) in Seattle made an offer to Snohomish County – that its homeless children be officially assigned to WCHS in the absence of an Everett orphanage. Having already housed many of Snohomish County's homeless, the WCHS would assume responsibility in exchange for "some small financial assistance ... According to the number of cases furnished the society ... it is claimed that the cost will be fully 50% less than in plan now used" ("Commissioner May Help ..."). Brown had already designed to expand, establishing a branch of the WCHS in Snohomish County, "where all deserving cases can be received" ("To Establish Branch Home ...").
Hysom's Duplicity
Meanwhile, Hysom was sitting on a 10-year lease, paid in advance by the OHS, stipulating that the building must be used for orphanage purposes, that Hysom could not lease or assign parts out, and he must pay all taxes and keep the premises in good condition. Even the location of the property shifts: from two sites in 1901 (38th and McDougal and the corner of 39th and McDougal) to the original site at 37th and Broadway in 1902. In 1904, the property is said to be on 36th and McDougal. The 1902 Sanborn fire map shows that entire eight-block section of downtown Everett as a blank slate.
In June 1904, it was reported that Hysom had not yet done anything regarding the property, and as far as the lease goes, he was not compelled to do anything. As for the 40 acres of land south of Silver Lake "donated" by Hysom – the deed "had never left his hands and had never been placed on record" ("Decides to Begin ..."). Now out $339.87 for the lease and mounting delinquent property taxes, the OHS was no closer to an orphanage, and the only hope was for the society to break the lease, which would require more money to hire an attorney.
Despite time constraints and complications with the lease, the OHS objected to Brown’s offer in Seattle and solicited financial assistance from Snohomish County. County Commissioner Fleming, though sympathetic to keeping children in Everett, said the matter of the orphanage was one of many deserving causes on their docket; the county looked to the OHS to resolve the matter in the meantime. Thus, for four more years, the OHS and Hysom played contractual cat and mouse while children and families looked elsewhere for support. Though Hysom cut ties with the OHS in 1904, he continued to dispute the lease, and the resolution was deferred in 1906 with no end in sight. "Sometimes good, honest, well-meaning people take a wrong view of things," Hysom said in an appeal to the public, "I surely do hope the good Christians of this city will join the O.H.S. and use the property. I would gladly give all I have put in the institution and perhaps more to help it on. There are [as many] good Christian people in the Orphans’ Home Society as are out of it, notwithstanding, I am out of it, two days ago. C. B. Hysom" ("Glad and Sorry").
In September 1909, the OHS announced it was looking to build at a new site, considering a partnership with the day nursery downtown, "where working mothers may leave their children at a nominal expense while they themselves are left free to earn a living" ("Will Seek a Central Site"). In the aftermath of the Hysom debacle, the Everett Businessmen’s Association took over management of the orphanage, appointing Susan Clark Gowen to head the operation. "It is our intention to build a good, substantial fireproof and sanitary building, with a large playground to be used by the children, not only of the institution, but by other children who may desire to use the recreation grounds ... it is also our intention to conduct the home along strictly non-sectarian lines" ("Will Seek a Central Site").
Following Hysom’s exit, the Everett Chamber of Commerce gave its seal of approval to the Orphans’ Home Society, accrediting the organization as a worthy charity and recommending it to "any persons who are charitably inclined" ("Says That Children's Home ...").
Everett's needy children moved into the "old orphanage" at 37th and Broadway in June 1909.
Everett Orphans’ Home (1910-1911)
No longer burdened by its association with Hysom, the Orphans' Home Society began building at 2130 Highland Avenue in the Riverside neighborhood. With construction ongoing, Christmas was celebrated in the old quarters on 37th, and "Santa Clause has promised to be mighty good to the eighteen boys and girls now in care of the matron of the home" ("Children Celebrate ...").
In early 1910 they moved into the new facility, a wood-frame refuge with the capacity to allow for inevitable growth. At the new orphanage, "the girls are taught to sweep and cook and wash dishes and sew, and the boys are taught to do the chores about the home, cutting firewood, carrying it in, running errands, etc." ("Children Celebrate ..."). Evening routines consisted of chores, supper, devotions, and bedtime. The children attended Garfield Elementary School, which was only a few steps east of the orphanage.
In March 1910, 15 children remained, seven of whom were up for adoption. "These are all splendid children, Valentine is a beautiful girl baby in perfect health; Rosa, aged 10, and Nellie, aged 10, are loving and obedient children, and would be helpful in the home, Gladys is a dear little girl of five, and would bring happiness into a childless home" ("Children are Ready for Adoption").
The children ranged in age from 21 months to 14 years old. There were the Addington children – three older brothers and two younger sisters – Rosie and Nellie Herman, Alice and Helen Lappie, Ruth McIntosh, Irene Rushman, the Heagle siblings, and several who arrived after the census was taken. The most fortunate were the Popes: James, Albert, and Nettie Pope were able to live with their mother. Bertha Pope, aged 35, was given a cottage on the property, furnished by the board "to aid and advise her in starting an independent home for herself and her children." She was still expected to pay rent – $14.75 a month (around $500 in 2024 dollars) – and was employed as Assistant Matron in 1910. A physician, Dr. Hartman, was hired and tasked with examining all children entering the home. Soon Hartman took on far less pleasant responsibilities, "instructed to write to Mr. Sweet informing him that we shall appeal to the county for control of his children unless immediate provision for their care be made by him" (Minutes, April 5, 1911).
Governed by a strict sense of inclusive social responsibility, the OHS outlined its philosophy for rearing the boys and girls in their care: "Sectarianism is entirely absent from the home, and the moral influences sought are such as prevail in the average home of good moral practices. The Association believes the child will become a better grown up by imbibing a sense of relationship to mankind through an understanding of their relationship to the Creator, and the religious influence, while nondoctrinal, is nevertheless prominent" ("Children Celebrate ..."). The Association also believed that, whenever possible and prudent, children should remain with their relatives.
When it came to orphanage records, occasionally the names of children or their parents would be mentioned, but financial concerns, rather than concerns for their welfare, appeared to dominate the conversations. The Matron, Mabel Clarke, came to the Everett Orphan’s Home by way of the Washington Children’s Home in Seattle and remained at the Everett orphanage for just two years. Her resignation was followed closely by that of Mrs. Gowan – an affluent and senior member of the board. Pope, though allowed to remain in the cottage, was no longer employed. In August 1911, as more children filtered in and the staff dwindled, a hard decision had to be made. Familiar with the work of the National Deaconess Association, a member of the board proposed a transfer. To place the home under the care and supervision of their trained workers, the OHS would cease to exist. The society would be replaced by the Puget Sound Deaconess Association, under the stipulation that one element of the old guard be maintained: that the home remain non-sectarian and serve all children of the county, regardless of race, class, or creed. To that end, the Deaconesses agreed.
Snohomish County Orphanage (1911-1914)
The Deaconess of Everett provided an interdenominational, non-sectarian alternative under the auspices of the deaconesses of the Methodist Episcopalian Church, headquartered in Chicago. It is claimed that they were unsalaried workers, though some sources assign a wage between $20 and $30 a month ($375-$562 in 2024 dollars). Generally, the Deaconess has a long theological lineage beginning in the time of the New Testament and thriving in the Eastern Orthodox Church as women who administered to the poor and the sick. In the United States at the turn of the century, the Deaconess Association was "an organized auxiliary of consecrated women" who underwent training in their field. One of "the glories of the deaconess work is that it is voluntary. We are not 'resisting suitors' but our Deaconesses do get married. They all lead normal lives" ("Says Salvation ...").
A Deaconess Hospital was established in Spokane in 1896. A Deaconess Training School in Seattle provided the women with a two-year course, "training which qualif(ied) them to give skilled care to the children in their charge" ("Deaconess Children’s Home Asks Support").
The transition of management at the Everett orphanage, renamed the Snohomish County Orphanage, was not without its challenges. The home was always at capacity with 45 children. Those who were not actual orphans or half-orphans were turned away. Challenges compounded when a horrific tragedy brought six orphans to the Deaconess’s door and disclosed the institution’s troubles to the public. Emma Schrader, a 30-year-old mother, had been a victim of domestic violence alongside her children on more than one occasion. She was shot and killed by her husband "in the city's most horrible crime on 17 Sept 1913," survived by her six children. The staff was at a loss when the children arrived. "Our funds are gone," a member of the board reported ("County Orphanage is Now Crowded ..."). "The Orphanage is a public institution" one scathing article rebuked, "a haven of refuge for unfortunate children and maintained as it is by donations - the public should be interested to learn of the institution’s conditions and its urgent needs" ("County Orphanage is Now Crowded ...").
Deaconess on the Offensive (1914-1929)
A measles outbreak in 1914 brought fundraising efforts to a halt. Resources were consolidated and restricted by quarantine, and as a result the home's income was "small in comparison to the large number of bills which we had to present to the board but we hope to have a better showing next time" ("Secretary Asks ..."). Field Secretaries, deaconesses charged to leave and solicit support from the pubic, were deployed once more, only to discover a new challenge that wounded public trust in their work: "Two ladies have already been around collecting for this institution. They have taken money from the people which we have never received or known any further about ... reserve your contributions for one wearing Deaconess garb ... they will carry corresponding credentials and due notice will be given through the press as to the authority of such collector" ("Secretary Asks ...").
Well-meaning individuals and community organizations hosted benefits and drives. The Everett Theater put on benefit performances at which "all of the profits from the entertainment will be used to supply necessaries of life to 40 little ones" cared for by the six women who cared for them at the home. A Kermess, or charitable festival, was hosted at the Everett Theater for the benefit of the orphanage to combat loss of funding made worse by street improvements and a rise in the cost of food ("40 Children Cared For ...").
The home spent the large part of a decade soliciting funds and donations from a citizenry experiencing compassion fatigue. Field Secretaries reassured the public of the worthy, grateful, and industrious youth they serve, "the Children seem to share our spirit of gratitude, which is shown in the way they go about their work – energetic, happy, and contented. Some of the girls have already declared they are going to be deaconesses and work in an orphanage" ("Many Remembered Need ..."). To ramp up revenue, the home opened itself to include a daycare for infants and a kindergarten for 10 cents a day.
The home had an annual budget of $7,500, comprised of voluntary subscriptions from $3 to $12 a month and $1,500 a month from the county commissioners for the support of children turned over to the home by the courts. Other charitable contributions, usually concentrated during the holiday season, dwindled significantly the rest of the year.
As the end of 1916 neared, there was a desperate need for a separate facility to house boys 13 and older. The only options available to youth ages 14 to 16 were the state training schools. To their great relief and satisfaction, the Everett School Board donated two school portables to the home to be used as quarters for the older boys and girls ("Orphanage Faces the New Year ...").
Records from the years 1918-1920 appear to be missing and/or sparsely kept, from the Children’s Census to newspaper entries or any other records kept on the period. The period was marked by tragedy brought by the World War I and a flu epidemic. Given that residential facilities are hit hardest by outbreaks of any kind, the absence of records tells its own story
The Deaconesses had become well-oiled, legitimate, fundraising experts. They implemented a card index system to record and track charitable contributions, sending representatives to homes for personal visits, receiving monthly offerings directly into the hands of beneficiaries, and helping households arrange an appropriate monthly level to contribute. Farmers who donated food were given receipts just as if they had paid in cash. The women were visible, respected, and connected to the community. Their outward projection earned not just financial support, but the donation of property near the home for the purpose of building a cottage specifically for the use of the Deaconess women, so that, "for at least an hour or so a day, they may take turn about and get away from the noise and humdrum for a bit of rest." Each iteration of staff, most of whom were young women, were rotated out. As one set of youngsters became grown, the young women were released and replaced, presumably to refresh the workforce and allow the women a more balanced quality of life. As for the children under the care, the Everett Herald reported in April 1925:
"When the moral worth rather than wealth is taken under consideration ... the majority of the children are from the homes of the country’s worthy poor – people who have from one cause or another had a reversal of circumstances. Many a little mother comes to the deaconesses because she has been backed to the wall. A father through sickness or out of work comes, the grocer will not extend any more credit. The wife sometimes has gone, after months of illness and hospital and doctor’s bills, or has deserted: or the father has deserted a faithful little struggling mother: or the parents are both sick, sometimes he with tuberculosis, and she having contracted it, or broken down from worry and overwork" ("Deaconess Children’s Home Asks Support").
Orphaned Orphanage
Since 1915, the City of Everett had refused to consider the Deaconess Association as an entity eligible to buy and own property, a detail that made the orphanage’s existence and security even more tenuous.
A fire broke out at the Deaconess Children’s Home on May 10, 1927. Fifty children huddled in the basement of the Grace Methodist Church while eight sick children and the five youngest were moved into the Deaconess cottage. A generous congregant offered her unoccupied, six-room home on 21st and Harrison Avenue. The house mother, Mrs. O. M. Palmer, was able to prepare meals at the orphanage once the kitchen and dining rooms were aired and dried. A grateful community member offered his services to the home, as the deaconesses had cared for his three children when "there was nothing" ("Large House Turned Over ..."). A scathing rebuke of the community’s seeming indifference came in the form of an ad placed in the Everett Daily Herald, paid for by the Puget Sound Power and Light Company:
"The Bald Facts for the People of Everett to Consider are these:
"Forty-three children are herded together like sheep in a building which is merely a large sized residence. They must frequently sleep two to a bed. They are susceptible to epidemics and the housing situation invites a catastrophe. They have only improvised hospital facilities. One residence size bathroom must serve 43 children and several grown persons. Those who are in charge, fight a continual uphill battle in preparing and cooking meals; care of laundry; and heating the establishment, because of the woefully inadequate equipment.
"The Orphanage needs: New buildings, more dormitories, hospital facilities, playground facilities and withal, a chance to make good citizens of the boys and girls. Have a heart. Do your share" ("Is This a Methodist Children’s Home?").
The Methodist Episcopal church stepped in to adopt the Deaconess, thereby saving the orphaned orphanage. By sponsoring the Puget Sound Deaconess Association, the Methodist Church made the home legitimate by association, permitting the deaconess to purchase and own property in Everett.
On May 14, 1929, the Everett Herald announced a public program signaling the opening the new Deaconess Children’s Home (now the Methodist Church's Deaconess Home), built across the street from the former site at 2120 Highland. On an 8-1/2 acre set of lots, a two-story brick "cottage style" structure included "six separate apartments, each housing fourteen children, and each containing a dormitory, living and dining rooms, and kitchenette" ("Riverside Remembers"). Designed by Earl W. Morrison, construction of the facility cost $46,000 (roughly $840,970 in 2024), the funds for which were supported by a citywide fund drive.
End of an Era (1930-1953)
Everett experienced severe economic distress during the Great Depression. The Deaconess Home closed its infant nursery in 1931, while the infant mortality rate in 1935 was "greatly above" the statewide average for cities with 10,000 residents or more. In the 1932 Children’s census, an odd discovery lists the "Guardian" of the Deaconess Home as Harland Byless, a 15-year-old boy who was also a resident. Boy Scout Troop No. 12 was organized at the Deaconess Home in 1933. Otherwise, very few records exist for the Deaconess Home during this period.
After World War II, the running total for youth served by the Deaconess Children’s Home since its beginning was 2,000. Ninety of those children were cared for in 1945 alone, with an average monthly enrollment of 54 kids, ages 3 to 13. The Community Chest, a collection of 14 charitable organizations in Everett, assumed the role of raising funds, providing for each resident the necessary funds – allowing the deaconesses to give their "undivided attention to the care of the children and need not be in the field soliciting funds and provisions" ("Deaconess Home Appropriates ... ").
The Community Chest and the Home’s reliance on it was short lived. In 1953, the American Legion directory lists the Deaconess Children’s Home as a state-licensed boarding home for needy, dependent children ages 3 to 12, but by the mid-1950s, the UGN (United Good Neighbors) took up the charge of raising funds and rallying support, and the role of the home changed from custodial care to treatment programs for emotionally disturbed youth.
The Deaconess Children’s Home, located at 2120 Highland Drive, closed as a children’s facility in the early 1970s, though the structure still stands to serve as a reminder: That it truly takes a village to raise a child.
