Home Missionary Society

The forerunner agency of the Inter-Church Childcare Society was forme in 1834 by members of the union and St. George's Methodist Episcopal Churches in Philadelphia, Pa., and organized as the Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1835. In 1842 the Society began caring for indigent children in cooperation with the Union Benevolent Association. In 1845 the name of the organization was changed to the home Missionary Society of the City and County of Philadelphia.

The Society spent its first fifty years of activity largely in evangelistic efforts, but its activities increasingly emphasized child care. By 1860 the number of children under the Society's care was over 1000. The.