WHM - Immigration

Immigration
Worcester's population quadrupled between 1828, when the Blackstone Canal opened, and 1850, increasing from roughly 4,000 to more than 17,000. Beginning with Irish canal workers, successive waves of European immigrants, as well as swarms of young people from the countryside, came to the city in search of opportunity. Some succeeded, but many remained poor. And success did not ensure stability. In the unregulated economy of the times, families often found the line between financial well-being and dislocation thin indeed. In response to instability, insecurity, and increasing levels of poverty, local men and women from the middle and upper ranks established institutions to address social welfare issues (then known as moral reform).

Mission Chapel and Worcester Children's Friend Society were both experiments, the first spearheaded by a man, the second by a woman. Both provided assistance to the poor, but with different underlying philosophies and with dramatically differing results.

Mission Chapel

To furnish to the destitute inhabitants of our own country the means of Christian instruction and moral improvement.

-Ichabod Washburn

That was the stated intention of the Evangelical City Missionary Society, organized in 1829 under the presidency of leading industrialist and philanthropist Ichabod Washburn. The founding 146 rank-and-file membersBall womenBeach promised to contribute one cent per week to promote this benevolent purpose. The targeted "destitute inhabitants" were the Irish immigrants who came to build the canal beginning in 1826 and stayed to build the railroads and form Worcester's first substantial ethnic community.

To give to the poor and neglected a place of worship free . . .

-Ichabod Washburn

Washburn had hoped high-minded businessmen would fund the project. That failing, in 1854 he determined to erect a free church at his own expense. It was his design and included facilities for church and industrial schools, as well as a Agood dwelling-house for a City Missionary. He built it at the corner of Summer and Bridge Streets. The total cost for the land and building was $14,000.

Mission Chapel Industrial School

Connected with this institution is an Industrial School, held every Saturday afternoon, during the autumn, winter, and spring months. The object of this department is to give instruction in sewing. The cloth is furnished gratuitously, and the garments made are afterwards given to the children, being about three garments to each child in the course of the season.

Besides the instruction in sewing, passages of scripture are committed to memory and recited by the pupils, and singing forms one part of the exercises. The average number enjoying these advantages is two hundred and fifty, mostly Irish Catholics.

-Ichabod Washburn

Mission Chapel

It has the seal of God's approbation.

-Ichabod Washburn

Washburn was pleased with the apparent success of his experimental free church and industrial school. To ensure their future, he left endowments for both when he died in 1868. But change was in the air even before then. With financial support from local Protestant churches dwindling, the chapel incorporated as a parishioner-supported Congregational Church in 1865. Immigrant groups also continued to use the chapel and the school operated until nearly the end of the century. But as Worcester's industry expanded, the area grew less residential and in 1931 the chapel closed.

Mission Chapel in the 20th Century
The chapel continued to serve the needy as a welfare food distribution center. But in 1943 the Missionary Society, which owned the building, sold it to a businessman who converted it to office and warehouse space. Business use continued until 1960, when the Second Baptist parish-a group that had recently split from the John Street Baptist Church-purchased Mission Chapel. Ichabod Washburn would have been pleased. This parish had as its mission serving the poorest people of Worcester. Under Reverend Thurman Hargrove=s dynamic and long-term leadership Second Baptist not only fulfilled the religious needs of its congregation but also served thousands of Worcester's poor in Mission Chapel through operation of a food pantry and outreach programs for substance abusers. The parish was displaced in 1997 by Worcester Medical Center development.

Mission Chapel in the 21st Century
Though it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, Mission Chapel's future was threatened by the huge development project. Spared from demolition, Mission Chapel stands forlornly amidst the Worcester Medical Center, an isolated reminder of Worcester in the great Age of Reform. Study has revealed that, with the exception of window and door openings, the building is largely unaltered in exterior appearance and interior floorplan. Worcester Redevelopment Authority, which acquired Mission Chapel in 1994, undertook some urgent repairs and the building is structurally sound. It is now in private hands, awaiting a new life.

Worcester Children's Friend Society

. . . for the purpose of providing for the support and education of indigent children . . .

Act of Incorporation, 1849

In April 1849, local women led by Anstis K. Miles established the Worcester Children's Friend Society to provide a safe home for orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children. While they appointed men to serve as advisors and provide financial backing, the Society was entirely managed by women. By virtue of their gender, women were economically, politically, and legally dependent. But together, these women exerted moral influences "bestowed" upon their gender and made a lasting difference.

Worcester Children's Friend Society in the 20th Century
The founders of Worcester Children's Friend Society understood the need to be innovative and adapt to changing individual and community needs. These qualities still define the organization, which today is one of the oldest child welfare agencies in the country. In 1902, its leadership discontinued the orphan=s home, instead placing children in private homes or providing counseling in a family setting. This shift, which aroused controversy at the time, enabled the Society to provide care for many more children. The agency continues to add services as need arises. As in the past, helping to keep families together motivates their work.

Children's Friend, Inc.
In 1997 the Society's corporate name was changed to Children's Friend, Inc., to more accurately communicate the organization's original mission, to serve and care for children. The memorial address of Judge Francis Gaskill, noted in the Annual Report for 1899, underscores the relevance of this name. He stated:

I never fail to be thankful to the originators of this gracious charity for the suggestive and comforting name which they chose to express the purpose of their organization. They did not permit the idea of charity to dominate it. . . . But they gave it a sweet and inviting name, one that should aptly characterize the serene and affectionate spirit that inspired them. They called it the Children's Friend.