On October 6, 1911, the Orphan’s Home Society (OHS) of Everett transfers operation of the Everett Orphanage to the Puget Sound Deaconess Association. The agreement hinges on the stipulation that the home will continue "in the future, as in the past, [to be] strictly non-sectarian" ("Will Transfer ..."). The Deaconess will operate the facility until 1970 and continue to serve Snohomish County's neediest children until 2011.
Early Struggles
The Orphan's Home Society, with all its good intent, had struggled to exist from the start. Its noble quest to build an orphanage for the unhoused and unfortunate children of Everett seemed to have all the support it would need to succeed, but whether mismanagement or fraud was to blame, the children of Snohomish County would wait nearly a decade before modest accommodation was made for them in 1909. In the fall of 1911, the Puget Sound Deaconess Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church assumed the business and operations of the orphanage for one probationary year. If proved satisfactory, the entire enterprise and its management would be turned over. It seemed the only option available to safeguard their charitable enterprise and ensure it would prosper well into the future. One condition of the transfer was spelled out in a meeting on September 11, 1911: "Be it resolved that the said property be forever devoted to the interest of child welfare where children of all denominations and beliefs shall be dealt with alike" (Minutes, 9-11-11).
Ministry of Mercy
Between 1900 and 1915, the population of the United States grew at a rate that had outpaced the previous 40 years combined. Fifteen million immigrants came in search of better circumstances, while the social and medical infrastructure throughout the United States was not prepared for this sudden influx. Evangelical leaders in the Midwest witnessed the sick and the poor calling upon nuns and sisters to care for them in their homes as they could not afford the care of a doctor. One such pastor wondered, "Why can’t we train the young women of our church to care for the poor and the sick as do the deaconess sisters of Germany?" (Rasche, 1).
The Deaconess was trained as a nurse, despite what subsequent work waited for her in the community. Dressed in uniform garb – a "simple, long, black dress, usually worn with a white collar for street wear and with a white apron for work, and a small cap tied on with a bow" (Rasche, 1) – the women belonged to an organization unlike any other organized group of women in the Pacific Northwest. The Deaconess, translated from the term meaning "helper" in Greek, had their origins recorded by the Apostle Paul in the Book of Romans. There he listed women by name, implying that those women, consecrated to the work of Deaconess, were equally regarded as members of the clergy. They served as "preachers, teachers, and leaders of the community as well as nurses serving the sick, the poor and the persecuted" (Rasche, 1, 7).
Deaconess work was voluntary, and women outside the order from other churches would approach, "their own churches not affording them to opportunity to do the kind of work they wanted to do. It is characteristically a city work. It is the subterranean city that has called to the deacons" ("Says Salvation").
Western Expansion
One member of the OHS board was made aware of the work of the National Deaconess Association during her migration out west. Nebraska, Missouri, and all throughout the Midwest, orphanages and hospitals had begun to crop up to meet the growing need and growing number of impoverished families, most of whom were immigrants. She contracted with the Deaconess Training School of Seattle. While there was an agreement to run the Everett orphanage in partnership with the Deaconess, the goal of the OHS was to stabilize the institution and ultimately relinquish control entirely. "If the plan proves successful and overcomes the things that proved obstacles to the fullest success of the orphanage in the past ... the deaconesses’ association will take title to the property and the Orphanage Association will cease to exist" ("Will Transfer ...").
It is significant, noting the proud and religious origins of the Deaconess, that the association committed so fully to the charge of remaining non-sectarian. Being non-sectarian, however, does not mean secular. Children were welcomed into a warm and Christian atmosphere, read biblical stories before bedtime, and taught lessons and stories of morality that were seen as culturally relevant and universal at the time. The value of work was instilled in the children who waited on one another, cleaned up after meals, swept, and mopped the floors. Each child was outfitted with a task and taught to be kind and courteous, not only to develop skills for the future, but to market themselves to prospective families for adoption.
Like previous management, the Everett orphanage under Deaconess leadership – the Deaconess Children's Home – organized and governed itself with a managing board and a matron (known as the Superintendent after 1915). All management and leadership of the home was done by women, with the exception of 1932. An odd entry lists the Guardian of the home as Harland Byless – a 15-year-old boy who was also listed as a resident.
The Sectarian Advantage
In 1922, the Parkland Lutheran Children’s Home moved from the Tacoma area to the campus of the old Columbian Lutheran College in Everett. The empty landmark beside the city’s scenic Forest Park occupied the highest point in the city with ample room for growth. The third floor offered private dormitories for the older children. "When a Home owned by churches of one denomination takes upon itself the voluntary burden of shelter, food, protection and public education of children of all nationalities and creeds the true Christian Spirit has begun to assert itself in its full power" (Luther Child Center, 7). The Columbia College Association donated 10 acres of land along with building. Another 25 acres were purchased and added in 1925 for a farm. By 1926, Parkland’s 86 residents were provided private religious and secular education under the management and guidance of a male superintendent. Day-to-day operations were overseen by the home matron, and a host of "house parents" who lived among the children, creating a more family-like atmosphere.
The 1920s brought a wave of nativist and fundamentalist views as well as greater leisure and consumption. Children’s homes were caught in the crosshairs of growing consumerism, vigorous defense of the traditional, and somewhat contradictory American values of self-sufficiency and Christian charity. The Deaconess's commitment to inclusion of all children with a refusal to indoctrinate them in any particular sect of Christianity contributed to a strain on financial resources from the community. "That fact that [a child’s] parents may belong to the Catholic, Jewish, Mohammedan, or Protestant faith makes no difference. The need of the child is the only consideration" ("Is This a Methodist ..."). Ulike Parkland, which benefitted from the focused engagement of the Lutheran community, the Deaconess home had to excuse its vague Christian associations, absent the financial and philosophical support of one religious organization.
In addition to waning public support, the city of Everett refused to acknowledge the Deaconess Association’s claim to property, perhaps due to its auxiliary status, maybe due in part to the association being headquartered in Chicago. The uncertain status of the association’s claim on the property made the tenuous existence of the home even more so. After a 1927 fire that made the Deaconess-run orphanage uninhabitable, further pleas for support apparently met with resistance. An effort to confront community indifference was posed as a hypothetical question, published in the Everett Herald as an ad paid for by the Puget Sound Power & Light Co. "Is [Deaconess] a Methodist Children’s Home?" read a headline in large bold type. "Many good people of Everett have asked the question, 'Why should I contribute to the Orphanage Building Fund Campaign? The Deaconess Children’s Home is a Methodist institution. Let the Methodists take care of it – I contribute to my own church'" ("Is It a Methodist ...").
A City’s Children
The crisis of funding that threatened the institution from the beginning was compounded by deplorable conditions and overcrowding. The Children’s Home relied primarily on individual charitable subscriptions, with a small sum contributed by the county. Unable to keep up with the growing population and demand, children in need were turned away – with only the truly orphaned children (those who were motherless and fatherless with no next of kin) eligible. The Deaconess Home was forced to close its nursery in 1931, and even Parkland Lutheran was heavily impacted by the Great Depression – both its farm and home school were discontinued in 1935. With state and private resources barely meeting the needs of children in the community, a complete overhaul of the methods of distribution was required. Local organizations such as the Snohomish County Community Chest and the United Good Neighbor Council (UGC) sought to lift the burden of fundraising from the shoulders of the Deaconess, but each model of communal charity proved unsustainable.
The Deaconess Children’s Home, the oldest and longest operating public institution for children in Snohomish Couty, stood the test of time by offering what institutions like Parkland could not – an inclusive, non-sectarian refuge run by trained nurses. "The people who know the work have loyally stood behind each call for help for they realize the necessity of it, and that the work in not duplicated anywhere else in the county" ("Deaconess Children’s Home Asks Support").
By the mid 1950s, the mission of the Deaconess transitioned to meet the growing number of children with special needs. The shift from a residential home to treatment for emotionally disturbed youth moved the Deaconess to the 4700 block of Dogwood in the Viewridge area in 1970. The Children’s Home became Deaconess Children’s Services, though lack of funds caused the Deaconess to close the program’s doors in 1980. In 2011, they ceased operations altogether after 114 years, citing steep reductions in donations, grants, and state referrals. "Deaconess President Felicia Freeman says they are working with other organizations in Everett and Snohomish County to take over their current programs, but the challenge is that the programs offered by Deaconess are unique to their organization" ("Everett Basded Deaconess ..."). The Deaconess Children’s Home still stands at 2021 Highland, where it welcomed children from 1929 to 1970.
