PART I
THE EARLY YEARS
1920 - 1930
Tuesday, October 12, 1920 . . .
Omaha's Columbus Day observance had been highlighted by the traditional
parade through downtown streets.
As the afternoon sun faded from view, cooling what had been an
unseasonably
warm day, people set about their plans for the evening.
Thousands made their way to the Auditorium to cheer the voice of the
great
tenor Enrico Caruso.
Others took in a musical production at the Brandeis Theater, where local
newcomers Fred and Adele Astaire were beginning to make a name for
themselves.
Just a block from the Theater, 12 men - each representing a different
Masonic
organization from the Omaha area - were getting together as well.
They had been meeting for months, actually, following a request by
Juvenile
Court authorities for local Masonic bodies to start a home for orphaned
or homeless youth.
The 7:45 P.M. meeting that evening - a climax to months of hopes, plans
and dreams - resulted in approval of the articles of incorporation which
had been drawn up for a new home to care for children.
The Nebraska Children's Homefinding Association was born.
With incorporation a reality at last, several key issues had to be faced:
creating a working organization, finding quarters for the new home,
hiring
staff, and funding to carry on the work to be done.
A prominent jeweler, Tinley L. Combs, was elected president of the new
enterprise,
a position to which he was re-elected every year until his death in
1941.
Tinley Combs represented the Tangier Shrine on the Board of Trustees. He
had served as Potentate in 1919 and doubtless had influence as the Shrine
made a $5,000 gift for 1920 and pledged a like amount for 1921.
Other Masonic organizations, which had been asked to make pledges of
support
throughout 1920, were now encouraged to honor the commitments they had
made.
Shortly, they found, confusion arose as the corporate name - Nebraska
Children's
Homefinding Association - too closely resembled another child care
agency.
Tinley Combs then obtained Board approval to talk to the Grand Master of
Nebraska Masons to see if the word "Masonic" could be included
in a new name, to indicate the fraternal allegiances of the founding
fathers.
Permission was granted, and in a special meeting on November 12, the Home
became the "Masonic Home for Children".
In its search for a building, the Board looked at - and bid on - a huge
brick home at 14th and Martha, but the offer was rejected.
Less than a month later, in early December, a 14 room brick home on the
northwest corner of 22nd and Davenport - 304 North 22nd Street - became
available.
It seemed to be an ideal location - close to the downtown business
district
and several churches, and with Central High School and Central Grade
School
close at hand.
The house and a few 10 room flats to the north were purchased from Mrs.
Paul Kuhns and Miss Carrie DeLora Clark for the purchase price of
$25,000.
Each of these ladies immediately donated $1,000 to apply as a credit to
the purchase price, freeing the new organization from immediate payments
on the principal.
They were made honorary life members of the Board of Trustees, as a
result.
Rev. Carl M. Worden was hired as the Home's first Superintendent and
authorized
to hire additional staff.
Mrs. Ida Keister was hired as cook - at a monthly salary of $65 plus
meals.
Possession of the 22nd Street property took place January 1, 1921, and
work
began immediately to reshingle, repair, furnish and equip the property
for
its new role.
There were delays in the shipments of new furniture for the Home and
final
repairs took longer than expected. As a result, boys who needed homes
were
boarded temporarily at various places in the city - awaiting the formal
opening.
Finally, the Board determined, March 21, 1921 was to be the big day . .
. and on that day, 10 year old James A. King, who had been residing with
relatives in the Florence section of North Omaha, became Boy No. 1.
Others quickly followed and on April 13 the OMAHA BEE was able to report
that 19 boys were in residence . . .
"The Masonic Home for Children was opened to the public
Tuesday afternoon. Members of all Masonic bodies were at a reception, and
the boys of the DeMolay orchestra furnished special music for the
occasion".
By the end of the first year, the First Annual Report could report that
67 boys from 5 to 15 years of age had been cared for.
On the first floor of the Home were the Superintendent's office, next to
the front door, a large living room, and the dining hall and kitchen to
the rear.
The boys' rooms, with 4-5 to a room on narrow, single beds, were on the
second floor. The Superintendent, the only staff person present on a full
time basis, had a room on the northeast corner.
"We all sat at one long table for meals, which were
prepared
by a cook who came in 5 days a week. The weekend meals were pre-cooked
for
us and I especially remember Sunday evening's meal . . . all the milk and
bread or crackers you could eat, nothing more and nothing less. Each boy
had a daily job. My job was to get up at 4 A.M., using my own alarm
clock,
and go to the coal furnace to shake the clinkers out and put in some
fresh
coal every day. No one else wanted that job, but I did it because it was
quick, it didn't take a lot of time . . .".
- STANFORD FADDEN, the 9th boy to enter, a resident from 1921 to
1922
The resignation of Carl Worden, the first Superintendent, was accepted in
December, 1921; the Board then chose James A. Noble, who had a background
in YMCA work and with the juvenile court, to head the staff.
Larger facilities soon were needed, as the Home was always full to its
capacity
of 36.
George W. Megeath approached the Board about the use of the Megeath
family
home at 2137 South 33rd Street.
The mansion was donated to the Home in the name of James G. Megeath,
George
Megeath's father and a prominent businessman who at one time gave Omaha
a portion of the land which is now Hanscom Park.
In April, 1923, the boys and Superintendent Noble and his family moved
into
the Megeath House.
(The home on North 22nd Street was utilized for many years as rental
property
for income, eventually to be razed. The site is now a highrise dormitory
on the Creighton University campus.)
The Masonic Home's new location on South 33rd Street had been described
by the OMAHA BEE in 1922 as . . .
"one of the most beautifully situated in Omaha, directly
across from Hanscom Park with entrances on 32nd and 33rd Streets. There
are 18 rooms and a large steam heated garage over which there are 6
bedrooms.
The grounds comprise 8 lots, and were bought in pioneer days when it was
open prairie".
In addition to the mansion and the garage, the spacious grounds also
included
a covered walkway to a fountain and a formal garden area, and a separate
brick building which was used as "the hospital building" and
later
as living quarters for the Superintendent.
The Megeath carriage house, a block east, was made into a laundry for the
Home.
The Superintendent's office and a library were just inside the front door
of the Megeath House, as was the dreaded bench in the hallway, a
prominent
place where time was spent following misbehavior.
Two large rooms on the first floor were converted into a dining room next
to the kitchen.
The second floor held living quarters for the Superintendent and his
family,
four bedrooms where the boys slept in single beds one foot apart, and
living
quarters for the cook and a matron.
Later modifications were to see the use of bunk beds so there could be up
to 12 boys in one room, a hospital room, and the development of the
basement
into a recreation room with wrestling mats, boxing bags, lockers and
showers.
"We had a central shower where we all bathed at once. It
was also the place where we held the fights (they did break out once in
a while). When we were watching a fight and the matron hollered 'What's
going on?', the fight would stop and someone would reply 'I am undressed,
don't come in'. When she left the fight would start up again. Great fun,
no one got hurt. I tell people we were fed, clothed, housed, bandaged and
punished when required, but no one kissed the sore finger . .
.".
- GEORGE BIGELOW, a resident from 1924-1929
The older boys were housed in the rooms over the garage, supervised by
students
from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The ample backyard allowed for a playground for the younger boys, and -
recognizing the needs of the older boys - the Megeath family generously
donated 7 vacant lots nearby for the development of a play area.
The move to the new location meant many changes in the lives of the
boys.
The school attended now became Windsor Grade School, half a block south
and one block west of the Megeath House. It had been named after George
Windsor Megeath.
And the relatively new Technical High School, 3 miles north of the
Megeath
House on 33rd Street, became the high school for the boys in the Masonic
Home.
Three miles north in the morning, carrying lunchtime sandwiches wrapped
in newspaper, and 3 miles south in the afternoon. Everyone went
everywhere
by foot.
The main artery to the outside world, whether to school, the YMCA for a
swim or to a local movie house, was 33rd Street.
Its wide, red slate sidewalks could tell tales for sure. And, although no
one could know at the time, a walk up 33rd Street went past the
birthplace
of a future president . . . Gerald R. Ford had been born just east of
33rd
and Woolworth.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, also up 33rd Street, was the church
attended
by most of the boys.
"Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: I have been asked to
talk
on the subject of 'How the Masonic Home helps boys to become better men.'
This is my first attempt as a speechmaker . . . In this modern age it has
been proven time and time again that no boy can succeed in life, without
some early training . . . At the Masonic Home for Boys they are clothed,
fed and housed as well as developed physically, mentally and morally. .
. . With all this experience mixed together with our own intelligence, we
have surely been prepared for life and should succeed in this world, and
I hope that when the last and final roll is called by God, that I may
hear
the welcome words: 'Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into
the joys of our Lord'.
- LEON BIGELOW, a resident from 1924-29, in an address before a local
men's club
Across the street, Hanscom Park, then the largest park in the city, held
a world of fun for growing boys - fishing, hiking or games in warm
weather
months, sledding and ice
skating in the winter.
And there were other exciting times to be had as well . . streetcars to
race, an occasional electric line to pull down when the car was stopped
at the turnaround, skiing at Hummel
Park, picnics hosted by Masonic groups, and oh! the thrill in 1928 when
cowboy star Tom Mix visited the Megeath House.
The Home's Model T truck took the boys to Waterloo, NE, where the J.C.
Robinson
Seed Company made rich farmland available for raising crops.
Valuable food was grown for the dining tables on 33rd Street, and lasting
memories were made. Six decades later every recollection of life at the
Home in the 1920's would refer to the farming operation on the banks of
the Elkhorn River.
Farming on the land donated by the Robinsons was, as a matter of fact, so
beneficial that the Board felt the Masonic Home should secure its own
land
in that area to grow food - and to raise a few boys in an agricultural
setting.
In early 1930, then, as the Home neared the end of its first decade,
plans
were made for a second campus.
The Early Years were over, and - having survived the challenges of
infancy
- the Masonic Home for Children was ready for more.
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