Changing Lives in
Three Centuries
A
historical timeline for changing lives
1865 President Lincoln
Immigrants settling territory; churches, schools are established. Vasa
Orphanage is established by Pastor Eric Norelius and his small Swedish
Lutheran Church Congregation at Vasa, Minnesota, to care for four orphaned
immigrant children whose mother and baby sister died in childbirth, their
father dying soon after.
1896 President McKinley
Lake Park Orphanage and the Wild Rice Orphanage in Twin Valley, open.
Formed by Norwegian settlement churches, the orphanages cared for
over 120 children at a time.
1905 President T. Roosevelt
Large migration of people from rural areas to cities.
Lutheran Inner Mission Society and the Lutheran Colony of Mercy are
established; they later become Lutheran Welfare Society.
1906
Luther House opens in Minneapolis to house young, rural women "greatly
endangered by pitfalls of the large city." $3.65/ wk. room & board,
employment services … over 700 helped in 1919, according to records.
1907
Orphans are kept at poorhouses with the aged,
infirm, and mentally ill. Lutheran Churches continue to support their
early orphanages.
1910
600,000 children in U.S. work 14-hour days in factories, shops and mines.
Teddy Roosevelt calls the first White House Conference on Child Welfare.
1914 President Taft
World War I begins. Lutheran Home for Girls is established to serve
"wayward girls" … unwed mothers or pregnant women or mothers who had been
abandoned. Kindergarten and day nursery care are
established for children who were being neglected, as mothers worked long
hours out of the home. Chaplain services begin.
Bethany Lutheran Home for Children opens. Over 100 orphaned
children in residence.
1916 President Wilson
Orphan trains are still bringing children to the West.
1917
Minnesota Children's Code is enacted to provide protection for unwed
mothers and children.
1918
Trabert Hall, a home for working girls, opens.
1919
Lutheran Welfare Society is licensed as a child-placing agency.
1921 President Coolidge
Infant mortality is so high that the State of Minnesota begins
teaching health care.
Lutheran Welfare Society begins "fresh air camps" for poor, city children.
1923
Lutheran Board of Christian Service is established; services include Vasa
and Bethany Homes for Children.
1929 President Hoover
Stock Market Crash … beginning of the Great Depression.
Lutheran Emergency Relief begins; camps for destitute men house hundreds.
1935 President F. Roosevelt
The Dustbowl drought hits the plains and prairie states;
Social Security Act is passed, the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
is created to help provide economic relief to U.S. citizens by providing
jobs for them; Emergency Relief Act requires all Minnesota counties to
establish welfare departments.
1941 Pearl Harbor
U.S. enters WW II. Lutheran Welfare Society
opens area offices, begins statewide services such as adoption.
Churches support war effort by purchasing Savings Bonds.
1945 President Truman
Atomic Bomb is dropped … WW II ends.
1948
Lutherans begin accepting displaced persons (immigrants) from Eastern
Europe.
1955 President Eisenhower
LSS closes its orphanages and converts them into homes for retarded
children and troubled teens. Family Counseling services begin; Chaplaincy
services are expanded.
1960 President Kennedy
The State of Minnesota begins to mandate the deinstitutionalization of
retarded individuals.
1963 President L. Johnson
Lutheran Welfare Society and Board of Christian Service merge to
become Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota.
1970 President Nixon
Counseling sites are added statewide; 1,023 children are placed for
adoption.
1972
World refugee crisis begins to emerge as a result of political problems in
Africa and wars in Southeast Asia. LSS and Lutheran churches resettle
refugees in Minnesota.
1973
Older Americans Act is passed; LSS Senior Nutrition program begins.
1975 President Ford
LSS and Lutheran churches begin major refugee resettlement as
Vietnamese "boat people" arrive. LSS and St. Stephen Lutheran Church open
first LSS group home to serve mentally handicapped individuals.
1980 President Carter
Growing aging population and skyrocketing teen pregnancies are major
issues. LSS begins Share-A-Home program for
seniors; expands counseling services. Teen
pregnancy prevention programs are developed; parenting help is offered to
young mothers. LSS Street Program is formed to reach kids in prostitution.
1982 President Reagan
Rapid social change and cut-backs in federal funds for housing and
social welfare. LSS serves growing, homeless
population. LSS begins Re-Employment Connections
on Iron Range.
1985
LSS responds to rural crisis through Neighbor to Neighbor, Caring Cadre,
crisis counseling. LSS organizes AIDS-Related
Ministries as major education effort
1989 President Bush
Growing poverty of children and greater need to care for the aged.
LSS expands crisis shelters; housing programs for mothers and small
children. LSS adds Guardianship program for
vulnerable elderly and expands Share-A-Home program for aging.
1990
LSS Major Fund Appeal " … it all started with children" to raise funds for
a new State Center building. LSS celebrates 125th Anniversary.
1992 President Clinton
Services expand in all areas of the state. LSS Office of Government
Relations is formed.
1993
Central Support Operations move from 2414 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, to
2485 Como Avenue, St. Paul.
1994
Crisis Nursery opens in Duluth, and a group home for youth opens on the
Iron Range, in Kinney. Moorhead offices consolidate and move to the Family
Service Center of Clay County in Moorhead.
1995
Ten Community homes are added to Disability Services.
1996
The Phillips Park Initiative, of which LSS was a founding member, gets
approval from the City of Minneapolis to redevelop a four-block area
surrounding the LSS Service Center on Park Avenue. More than 40 counties
contract with LSS to provide services to people with disabilities,
troubled families and children.
1997
As a result of massive spring flooding along the Red River and Minnesota
River, LSS builds a disaster relief effort to help thousands of families
affected by flooding and its aftermath.
1998
LSS ElderShare Homes, a new concept that caters to older adults who are
unable to live independently, launches in Atwater, Willmar, Marshall,
Brainerd and Little Falls.
1999
747 refugee families from Africa and Bosnia are resettled through LSS
Refugee Services. The LSS Board of Directors
approve plan to renovate Camp Knutson.
2000 President G. W. Bush
Rezek House opens in St. Paul to serve homeless teens. Crossroads of
Owatonna moves to a new rural setting, following a successful campaign
that raised $300,000.
2001
Terrorists attack the World Trade Center and U.S. Pentagon, placing a
temporary stop to all refugee resettlements in the U.S. Diners Clubs are
added to the Senior Nutrition offerings.
2002
Volunteer services expand considerably as statewide manager and
specialists are hired. Budget grows to $64
million. New LSS Service Center is built and dedicated in Fergus Falls.
2003
Total renovation and expansion of Camp Knutson are celebrated on the
camp's 50th Anniversary. Life Haven opens in St. Paul to serve homeless
teen mothers. Customized Living Services, a program that brings services to
seniors in their apartments, opens in several Minnesota communities.
2004
State budget problems affect LSS, requiring some program closures. In
response, philanthropic support grows by 20%.
Planning continues for replacing the aging
Minneapolis Service Center at 2414 Park Avenue.
2005
LSS celebrates 140 years of service. The Vasa Children's Home and campus
are being renovated. Planning continues for the Movement of Hope Campaign
to be launched in 2006.
