Home of Industry (Detroit - 1891)
Photo Courtesy Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection.
Status: Building no longer exists. The association evolved into a home for wayward boys post-1906 when the state began to manage adult transition from imprisonment. The organization eventually became Ford Republic, then Boys Republic, a school for juveniles.
Aiding the Home for Industry, a private halfway house founded and administered by Mrs. “Mother” d’Arcambal, was an investment in men who wished to reform. Established to provide transitional care for men leaving prison, the Home of Industry offered shelter, food, work, and employment assistance to men struggling to reenter society. Like many other charitable entities, the Home relied on donations of money and goods to survive. In 1891, the William Wright Company, Godfrey & Co., and Fred Bamford & Co. showed their support by donating interior decorative work.
Sources: “Donation Day at the Home of Industry.” The [Detroit] Free Press. November 12, 1891.
Woman’s Hospital and Foundlings’ Home (Detroit – 1892)
Photo Courtesy Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection.
Status: Building no longer exists, demolished.
In July 1892, the board of the Woman’s Hospital and Foundling Home dedicated a building on the corner of Forest and Beaubien. Eight months later the $20,000 Open Door Department, located in a new wing, opened to societal and religious fanfare. Contractors for this project included William Wright & Co., who provided painting and glazing.
News coverage from the opening indicated that the Board was still $4,000 short of their fundraising goal. Did some generous benefactor make up the difference? Or did the involved companies write off the difference as a donation, content knowing that hospital board members might soon commission a luxury home or new office building downtown? Perhaps it was all part of the cost of doing this kind of business.
Sources: “A Deserving Institution.” The [Detroit] Free Press. July 8, 1892.
“Contract Awarded.” The [Detroit] Free Press. January 15, 1892.
“The Open Door.” The [Detroit] Free Press. March 24, 1893.
Methodist Deaconess Home (Detroit – 1905)
Status: Building no longer exists.
The Detroit Deaconess, founded in 1895, served as city missionaries and relief workers under the egis of the Methodist Episcopal Church. For many years they dispersed clothing, quilts, and food to people in need, nursed the aged and ill, and taught Bible classes and Sunday schools. This made them a valued organization and in thanks, numerous businesses donated goods and services to the 1905 renovation of the Deaconesses’ Home. The William Wright Company contributed wall-paper to the project.
Sources: “Friends of Needy.” The [Detroit] Free Press. October 5, 1905.
“They Relieve Distress.” The [Detroit] Free Press. February 3, 1895.