History
On February 23, 1887, a group of women from the Women's Christian Temperance Association resolved to address the plight of black orphans in the city of St. Louis.[1] Although the group enjoyed the sponsorship of the Christian Temperance Union, its decision to establish the city's first home for Black orphans necessitated a separate incorporation.[1] In 1888, the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home was founded with Sarah Newton Cohran serving as president.[1] Cohran, was the wife of a Baptist minister, had been the widow of Charles Newton, one of the first Black school administrators in the city of St. Louis.[1] Cohran had used her influence with the president of Boatmen's Bank to transfer the ownership of the Negro Civil War Veterans Home to the new St. Louis Colored Orphan's Home.[1]
Located at 1247 N. Twelfth Street and now demolished, the home remained in that location until 1901, when a house at 4316 Natural Bridge Avenue was purchased with the help of private investors.[1] The Home's Natural Bridge Avenue location in a semi-rural part of the city and came with additional acreage and two cows.[1] By 1919, however, the area became more urban and the house, which had been condemned by the city started experiencing financial issues.[1] Goode Street was re-named Annie Malone Drive in 1990.[1]
The Colonial Revival red brick building at 2612 Annie Malone Drive consists of three-stories at its tallest point, features paired chimneys at either end of gables and two wings at the two-story height.[1] It is located on the same lot as the National Register-listed Homer G. Phillips Hospital (now the Homer G. Phillips Senior Apartments).[1] The building was designed by nationally-known St. Louis architect William Butts Ittner some years after his tenure as the first Commissioner of St. Louis School Buildings.[1]
On May 1, 1922, the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home at the new location was dedicated, providing care for 35 children between the ages of five and fourteen.[1] By 1926, a daily average of 65 children were receiving services from the home.[1] By 1938, the number of children served has risen to 232, it declined to 190 children in 1941.[1] In 1999, it averaged around serving 50 children.[1]
Annie Malone was a local businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist, who served as a donor; and also served as the president of the board for the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home from 1919 until 1943.[1][3] Malone herself had been an orphan.[3] The St. Louis Colored Orphans Home was renamed the Annie Malone Children’s Home in 1946 because of her service and support.[1]
