Terre Haute Postcards

More postcards from my collection...

First Congregational Church

This postcard, stamped in Terre Haute on April 2nd, 1908, has the printed text...

No. C1824
Published by the American News Company, New York
Leipzig - Berlin - Dresden. Printed in Germany
Leipzig - Berlin - Dresden Litho-Chrome, ANC NY Germany trade mark

Standing at 630 Ohio Street, this church was dedicated in 1903. The congregation had been led by the Reverend Merrick A. Jewett since 1834. The 80-foot lot along with $8,000 was obtained from Demas Deming in exchange for the old church building and lot at Sixth and Cherry Streets. The gothic style church was built and outfitted for $30,000 and was designed by Trumbull & Jones of Elgin, Illinois and built by C. F. Spady of Terre Haute. The church was refurbished in 1940 by Juliet Peddle when the decorative wood and metal details were replaced with brick and stone.

Florence Crittenton Home

This unused postcard has the printed text...

Martin
AZO stamp logo

The Florence Crittenton Home was a "place for supervisory care of unmarried girls prior to delivery and during later convalescence." It was situated at 1923 Poplar Street and operated between 1907 and 1972. The property was sold in 1973 and the organization dissolved in 1975.

In 1882 Charles Crittenton, a wealthy New Yorker druggist supplier, lost his 4 year old daughter Florence to scarlet fever. This tragedy moved him toward philanthropic work and he started the Florence Night Mission in New York, a safe haven for "lost and fallen" women. From there the Florence Crittenton Mission was formed and Charles Crittenton traveled across the country in a railroad car donating $500 to each town willing to start a Home for young women and children in need. More than seventy Homes in total were opened. Charles Crittenton died in 1909, but the organization still has homes in places such as Arizona and Montana.

This page created 26th August 2008, last modified 31st August 2008