History of St. Mary's Services
St. Mary's Services was founded in 1894 by the Episcopal Sisters of St. Mary. This order originated in 1865 in New York City and their mission included health care, teaching and child welfare. Their services have been offered in New York, Connecticut, Arkansas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, California and Illinois, plus the Philippine Islands. Their work on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged has been monumental, and their accomplishments are far reaching.
The first requests by the clergy for Sisters to work in Chicago came as early as 1878. It was not until 1886, however, that the first Sisters arrived. They lived at 12 South Peoria Street in St. Clement's Mission on Chicago's Southside. Their mission began with guilds, mothers' meetings, and sewing classes for women and children in the neighborhood. They soon outgrew their quarters and moved into housing next door to the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul. The same work continued in this new setting, with such enthusiastic response, that the programs prospered quickly. In the words of Sister Mary Hilary, author of Ten Decades of Praise, St. Mary's was founded because of a very obvious need:
"From the first it was evident that shelter must be provided for orphans and children of ill and unemployed working women on Chicago's teeming West Side. The first shelter was opened in 1894 with four children sent by the Humane Society. Within six months the small farm house was bursting with children. A dilapidated duplex frame house next to the Cathedral was purchased for $16,000, repaired for $5,000 and made ready for occupancy in the autumn of 1895, when children returned from a summer spent in two beach cottages in Kenosha. This was the beginning of St. Mary's Home, Chicago."
Children were sent by Juvenile Court and soon the Home was filled to capacity with children of all ages. By the mid-1940's institutional care gave way to foster home care and offices were opened at the North Kenmore site. Children of all ages, from newborn to teenagers, were cared for. The children all had tragic histories of parental illness, addiction, alcoholism, abuse, or desertion. After every attempt to reunite parent and child failed, adoption or permanent foster care was arranged. Gradually, foster care was phased out and what was to become St. Mary's Services evolved, focusing primarily on domestic infant adoption. In 1989, the main headquarters relocated to its present location in Arlington Heights. Today we are proud to attest to hundreds of placements of children of all races, and an expansion of our services to include international adoption.
