The Jr. Home was maintained by The Junior Order of United American Mechanics, an organization which began as the native American Association, a preeminently American society that had it’s origin in the anti-foreign movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Jr. Order of United American Mechanics was organized in May, 1853, in Philadelphia, PA, and quickly grew into a nationwide brotherhood inspired by the principles of Virtue, Liberty, Patriotism. With a total of 2,950 councils, the Jr. Order in 1930 was given the distinction of being called the leading Patriotic Order of the United States.
The Jr. Home Orphanage was established in 1896 and closed in 1944. The orphanage grew from a single farm residence into a self-supporting community, populated by as many as 1,200 residents during its peak years of the 1930-1937 area.
As a self-sufficient community, the complex included a wide range of structures; residence cottages, a chapel, a gymnasium, grade and high schools, a vocational (trade) school, a hospital, a central dining hall, a bank and a post office, a nursery, a library, a laundry, a cannery, a power plant and an administrative building. All structures were brick with stone or concrete trim, except the cannery, which was stucco covered, the greenhouse, which was glass, and the chapel, which was constructed of grey limestone.
By 1930, all the major campus buildings had been erected, numbering approximately forty (40) buildings. The residential cottages were planned according to the three (3) distinct architectural designs over a period of thirty (30) years from 1897 – 1925. Each was sponsored by and named for various state councils of The Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
