{"id":505,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:36","latitude":38.27049585791369423759533674456179141998291015625,"longitude":-85.7397456940099544908662210218608379364013671875,"title":"Founding the Orphanage and Moving to Meigs Avenue","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/480113760c5733fc567cda54420bd95d.jpg","address":"117 W Market St, Jeffersonville, IN 47130","all_locations":[],"zoom":8,"creator":["Jeffersonville Township Public Library"],"description":"The original Jeffersonville Orphan’s Home stood near the Ohio River. An apartment building now stands on the area once occupied by the home. <a href=\"https://books.google.com/books/about/Baird_s_History_of_Clark_County_Indiana.html?id=RWhFAQAAMAAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lewis C. Baird's <em>History of Clark County</em> </a>records that the Jeffersonville Orphan Home was founded in 1876, when several area socialites felt moved to provide care for the untended children of the city. Mrs. S.H. Patterson, Mrs. Caldwell, and Mrs. McClure established this first orphanage on Front Street, where it remained for three years. It housed sixteen children when it closed. <br /><br />Sometime between 1879 and 1880, Baird notes that Hannah Zulauf provided land at 832 Meigs Avenue for the construction of a larger facility with a capacity of forty-five. At the 1909 publication of Baird's history, thirty-two children inhabited the home, cared for by five employees.<br /><br />Baird notes that in the short time the orphanage had been open, five women had served as matron. Articles in the Jeffersonville <em>Evening News</em> show that many who held that position found the large population of children too boisterous, unruly, and difficult. As a result, turnover was very high. <br /><br />Baird also mentions that the orphans were supported by Clark County. Common practice at the time dictated making orphaned children wards of the county. At the end of the nineteenth century, local governments often supported indigent, aged, disabled, and very young people. During times of disaster and economic hardship, when local tax revenues dipped, these people suffered from the lack of state and national support networks.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["Baird's History of Clark County, Indiana: <a href=\"https://books.google.com/books/about/Baird_s_History_of_Clark_County_Indiana.html?id=RWhFAQAAMAAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://books.google.com/books/about/Baird_s_History_of_Clark_County_Indiana.html?id=RWhFAQAAMAAJ</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/480113760c5733fc567cda54420bd95d.jpg":{"id":2365,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"First Orphanage Site","description":"The original orphanage stood on the site of this apartment complex from the institution&#039;s founding in 1876 until the completion of the Meigs Avenue facility around 1880. Now known as Riverside Drive, the street bore the name Front Street when the orphanage stood at this location. By June 1, 1880, when the first U.S. Census of the orphans&#039; home took place, the original building was no longer in use. | Jeffersonville Township Public Library | 2020 | Jen Weidner","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/480113760c5733fc567cda54420bd95d.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/15334cc7620aff57e5a6534942411cb8.jpg":{"id":2366,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Orphan&#039;s Home","description":"The large lot at 832 Meigs allowed for the construction of a more generously-sized second orphanage, shown in this image. Completed around 1880, this structure increased the institution&#039;s capacity to around 45 children of both genders. This building continued to serve as an orphans’ home until September 11, 1920 according to that year’s report of the State Board of Charities. According to the US Census, 20 children made their home at the Jeffersonville Orphanage at that time. | Jeffersonville Township Public Library | 1982 (slide created) | Steven Day, Eden Kuhlenschmidt","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/15334cc7620aff57e5a6534942411cb8.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/41e1a475dfe881f040b3b1d98b1cb260.jpg":{"id":2368,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Old Jeffersonville","description":"In 1886, the date of this Sanborn Fire Insurance map, the streets on which the first and second orphanages had stood bore the names Front Street and Canal Street. Later, these street names changed to Riverside Drive and Meigs Avenue. Ohio River floods and the ravages of time have wiped away much  of nineteenth century Jeffersonville. | Indiana University-Purdue University Library | 1886","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/41e1a475dfe881f040b3b1d98b1cb260.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/5d3d0c7c142b61589649efdb410fb917.jpg":{"id":2370,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Holt Orphanage","description":"The U.S. Census of 1920 shows the residents of the private Holt Orphanage in Jeffersonville, founded to support the orphans of members of the Masonic Temple in Southern Indiana. High adult mortality rates meant that many fraternal organizations operated orphanages to support the children of their deceased members in greater comfort than public orphanages offered. The Holt Orphanage was located on Utica Pike in Jeffersonville. | Family Search | 1920","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/5d3d0c7c142b61589649efdb410fb917.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/44c554ea8a5be0523b48a60d8f8f6c23.jpg":{"id":3100,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"24 Orphans","description":"In 1880, the newly constructed Canal Street (later called Meigs Avenue) orphanage had a capacity of 45 children and held 24, from ages 3 to 12. Children over 12 routinely lived as servants in the homes of area families. With no vetting system in place, young people often faced brutality and exploitation in these \"adoptive\" homes. | Family Search 1880 US Census Sheet 177B | 1880","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/44c554ea8a5be0523b48a60d8f8f6c23.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/225b8138f6e585ecf730cac78d233700.jpg":{"id":3114,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hannah Zulauf","description":"A major contributor to charitable organizations in Jeffersonville, Hannah Zulauf, whose grave monument is shown here, donated the land for the construction of a large orphanage on Meigs Avenue. Raising money for the construction of Jeffersonville&#039;s original public library was another of Mrs. Zulauf&#039;s projects. The children inhabited this building by the time the Great Tornado of 1890 destroyed the old Front Street Orphans’ Home on March 27 of that year. | <a href=\"https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61896631/hannah-w-zulauf\">Find a Grave</a> | 2010","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/225b8138f6e585ecf730cac78d233700.jpg"}}}