JONES HOME OF CHILDREN''S SERVICES, INC. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

The JONES HOME OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES, INC., opened 15 Dec. 1887 as the Jones School & Home for Friendless Children; it was an independent orphanage and foster-care home until it merged with Children's Services, Inc., on 1 Nov. 1966. CARLOS L. JONES† and his third wife, Mary B. Jones (d. 12 May 1898) founded the home, motivated by the untimely deaths of Jones' first wife and his only son. They applied for a charter on 5 Nov. 1886 and on 22 Dec. 1886 organized a corporation that included Rutherford B. Hayes, James M. Coffinberry, Isaac P. Lamson, and Samuel W. Sessions.

Located in the Jones' cottage on Pearl Rd. at the corner of Library Ave., the facility first accommodated only 9 children but was soon enlarged with dormitories for 50. A 3-story brick building at 3518 W. 25th St., designed by SIDNEY R. BADGLEY†, opened in Oct. 1903 with a capacity for 75 residents. Modernizations occurred in the 1920s, 1944, and 1960. The main building, renovated in 1971, became an official Cleveland landmark in 1984.

The Jones Home joined the Community Chest in 1920. It still adhered to the founders' policies at its 50th anniversary, admitting only healthy, white, Protestant children (2,900 by 1937) without unfavorable hereditary traits, giving a Bible to each child leaving the home, and placing adoptive children with rural families only. The home shortened its title and dropped first the religious and later the racial requirement over the next 25 years. It merged with the nonprofit Children's Services to strengthen its counseling and casework. In the 1980s the Jones Home served as a "residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed children," ages 6-16. UNITED WAY SERVICES, an endowment, government dollars, and private donations support the home. In the 1990s the Jones Home received a $274,000 grant from the CLEVELAND FOUNDATION for the renovation of the Astrup, Case, and Kerns cottages. Children's Services, Inc., is accredited by the National Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children. James R. Bennett has served as executive director since 1992.

Jones Home Records, WRHS.

See also ORPHANAGES.

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