Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle

The Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle, which operated from 1899-1973, was a housing facility for single mothers located six miles south of Seattle. The facility was part of a chain of Florence Crittenton Homes, which were located in 50 cities across the U.S. The homes were founded by Charles Crittenton, a wealthy New York druggist who was part of a reform movement to end prostitution and moral vice. The Florence Crittenton Homes originally provided assistance to prostitutes, but later expanded its mission to include a wide variety of concerns, including homelessness, women's health, domestic abuse, and assistance for single, pregnant women and single mothers. The Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle served mainly as a maternity home, where young women would live during the latter parts of their pregnancies and up to three months after giving birth. Children born in the Florence Crittenton Home were either placed for adoption or were kept with their birth mothers. During the first half of the 20th century, the home's services were in high demand and the facility was expanded several times, operating at a maximum capacity of 200 in 1963. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the social stigma surrounding single parenthood lessened, the demand for the home's services decreased. In 1973, the United Way stopped funding the Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle because of lack of need. The facility closed on March 15, 1973.

<p>In 1882, Charles N. Crittenton began establishing homes for women in crisis that he named after his daughter, Florence, who died at age four; this work has continued with the National Crittenton Foundation, headquartered in Portland, Oregon.</p>

<p>Florence Crittenton was the daughter of Charles N. Crittenton, a wealthy New York City druggist who was heartbroken when Florence died of scarlet fever at age four in 1882. Throwing himself into missionary work, he spent four years working in the city slums and established what became the Florence Crittenton Mission, building homes for "lost and fallen women." His first home, for prostitutes and unmarried pregnant girls, opened in New York City in 1883" (Pollack).</p>

<p>The work Crittenton began continues within the National Crittenton Foundation, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The Foundation "and the 27 members of the Crittenton family of agencies uses a social justice approach to support young girls and women at the margin to thrive, build skills, break destructive cycles and become powerful agents of personal and social change. At the core of [their] work is the mandate to address the profound impact of root causes, such as sexism, racism, poverty and violence in the lives of girls and young women" (Crittenton Foundation).</p>

<p>[Source: Pollack, Micheal. NY Times website, NY/Region. "Women on the Margins." December 7, 2012.]</p>

<p>[Source: Crittenton Foundation website: nationalcrittenton.org]</p>

<p>Florence Crittenton homes are residential care facilities for teenage girls who are pregnant, parenting or at-risk. Originally opened as refuges for young prostitutes, the homes soon became maternity centers for young, often poor, unmarried pregnant women, providing medical care, therapy, support services and educational opportunities. After 1960, many homes discontinued in-house medical services and focused on counseling, education and support for young women and families, and public advocacy on behalf of at-risk teenagers, particularly unmarried, pregnant girls.</p>

<p>The first Florence Crittenton home was opened on Bleecker Street in New York on April 19, 1883. Charles Crittenton, a wealthy New York businessman, had become despondent after the death of his four-year-old daughter Florence from scarlet fever. Finding comfort in religion, he began evangelizing to young prostitutes. Realizing that they would need lodging and support in order to have hope of leaving such circumstances, Crittenton devoted the rest of his life to providing a safe haven and rehabilitation for these women. In 1890, Crittenton decided that such homes should be established nationwide; thirteen homes were opened by 1893.</p>

<p>In 1893, Crittenton met Kate Waller Barrett, a woman who was to become a major force in the Crittenton program. The wife of Reverend Robert Barrett, she became, through his work, exposed to the hardships of unwed mothers and their babies. In affiliation with Crittenton, Barrett opened a rescue home for young women in Atlanta . Together, Barrett and Crittenton opened a home in Washington, D.C. which became the national headquarters of the Florence Crittenton Mission. After Crittenton's death in 1909, Barrett became the organization's president, until her death in 1925. Barrett was instrumental in helping to shift the focus of the rescue-home movement away from the reformation of prostitutes and toward the social welfare of the unwed mother.</p>

<p>In 1950, the Florence Crittenton Association of America, an autonomous federation of Crittenton Homes, was established. Among the Association's stated purposes was to promote a better understanding of the problems of unmarried mothers and their babies and to work with other organizations in related fields. In 1976, the Association became a division of the Child Welfare League of America. Today, there are a number of Florence Crittenton agencies across the country.</p>

<p>The Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle:

Crittenton arrived in Seattle in March 1899 to evangelize, and with hopes of opening a new home. Soon, a newly organized Seattle group purchased a 27-room house overlooking Lake Washington in Dunlap, the location from which the home would operate until it closed in 1973. </p>

<p>The Florence Crittenton Home of Seattle was opened on November 21, 1899, with two maternity wards and space for 50 women. A larger home, built on the same property, was opened in 1926. The home closed temporarily during World War II, when the city of Seattle leased the Florence Crittenton building and property for use as a venereal disease quick treatment center. In the late 1940s, the delivery of babies was moved out of the Home itself and into a local hospital; by 1951, all medical care was handled by staff doctors at Swedish hospital.</p>

<p>A 1953 wing added residential and administrative space; in 1965, four cottages increased capacity from 40 to 90 residents. Though there was a waiting list for beds in the 1960s, by the 1970s the climate had begun to change. Society became more accepting of unwed mothers, for whom more resources were available; the number of residents at the Seattle home dropped dramatically. In 1973, the Seattle Home, already in debt, lost crucial funding from the United Way because of a lack of need for its services. On March 15, 1973, the facility was closed.</p>

<p>The building currently houses the Thunderbird Treatment Center, operated by the Seattle Indian Health Board, and providing treatment for Native Americans with chemical substance dependency.</p>