History

THE PAUL CLARK HOME...continuing a tradition of caring “To help the worthy poor to help themselves.” was the motto adopted by a band of charitable women one fall day in 1897. The organizers motto and appeal to the public sentiment was so high that their organization, The Associated Charities, soon increased to 200, exclusively women. Nearly every business and professional man of note in the city was numbered among the associations list of donors. It was proposed at the second meeting of The Associated Charities to make a home of refuge for anyone in need. In this home, the sick were to be nursed back to health and strength, girls rescued from lives of shame and cared for until they could be sent to the House of Good Shepherd in Helena or otherwise provided for, infants and homeless children were to be cared for until homes could be found for them through adoption. It was to be a place where men and women out of employment might remain by paying small compensation, or none at all until work could be secured. A day nursery was to be established in connection with the home where mothers whose work takes them from their homes during the day can leave their children and know they are cared for properly. Through the generosity of Mr. D.J. Hennessey, who volunteered to pay rent for such a purpose, a five room home was found at 524 Nevada. A soup kitchen was opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1898. Soup tickets were distributed among the merchants to be given to the street beggars and to prevent imposition by the vagrant class, a wood yard was started and only those men who were willing to work were given food. The soup kitchen was operated only during the winter months and W.A. Clark sent the charity $150.00 a month during its operation. Also late in the fall of 1898, at a regular meeting of the board of directors of The Associated Charities, a letter was read by Senator W.A. Clark, granting The Associated Charities a plot of land on South Excelsior, measuring 100’ x 150’, and a donation of $20,000 to construct a brick or stone building equipped with sanitary plumbing, heating and lighting. It was to be named the PAUL CLARK HOME, in memory of the senator’s son, who had died 2 years earlier of Erysuoukys staff infection at the age of 16. The senator also stipulated that no one was to be excluded because of nationality or religion. Plans were drawn and work began, and as construction progressed, the original sums appropriated became exhausted many times, and as often as this occurred, new apparitions were generously made until the building completed represented a total cost of $50,000, with an additional outlay for furnishings that was supplied by the Senator’s immediate family. The Paul Clark Home was formally opened with a successful Charity Ball on November 16, 1900. The completed structure, both exterior and interior, was a lasting monument to Mr. Clark’s public spiritedness. Aside from managing the home the charities also had other civic minded projects. One was delivering coal to the needy. While it was possible for many impoverished families to secure necessary food and shelter, wood and coal were as luxuries - beyond their reach - and during the bitter cold much suffering resulted. The necessity of keeping a large amount of coal on hand to be drawn upon as the occasion required was not only apparent to the ladies but also to Mr. Marcus Daly, when in the autumn of 1898, he donated 200 tons of coal to the charity. With the lack of vegetation in the area, the result of sulfur fumes, the ladies accomplished what they called their floral mission. Flowers were distributed among the patients in the city hospitals and to the poor children. It may have been this project which stimulated the addition of the greenhouse in 1908. An industrial school for boys and girls was also another priority. It was, they felt, important to teach the children to be self-sufficient in order to break the cycle of poverty. Therefore, sewing & deportment & industrial arts were taught at the home. The Associated Charities also found employment for hundreds, furnished clothing and provisions for thousands, and provided medical care, medicine, transportation, and room and board for many.