Children's Home of Detroit

On May 18, 1836, following a cholera epidemic, thirteen civic-minded women met at the Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church and founded the Ladies’ Orphan Association of Detroit. The women adopted a constitution and began raising money to run a home for children orphaned by the epidemic. A house on St. Antoine Street was obtained, rent free, for one year. The home opened on February 1, 1837, and cared for eleven children during its first year. Now known as the Children’s Home of Detroit, the home has had a number of names and locations. In 1950 it moved to this campus. As it celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1986, the Children’s Home of Detroit continued to meet the challenge of serving children with special needs.