Porter-Leath, formerly known as the Children's Bureau, is a non-profit organization based in Memphis, Tennessee that serves children and families in the area. Porter-Leath was founded in 1850 as an orphanage and has since grown to six program service areas. The agency retains the early nature of its mission by providing foster care and has also expanded to early childhood education.
The agency remains in its 1852 location on the of land donated by Mrs. Sarah Leath. The original orphanage building remains in use as administrative office space. The three buildings built before 1900 are on the National Register of Historic Places. Porter-Leath has off-site program locations including Head Start facilities on American Way and in the Douglass neighborhood, as well as CareerPlace in Whitehaven.
Early history Prior to 1850, no organized asylum for orphans existed in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. As a matter of fact, there were very few such institutions in the United States at that time. The fate of orphans in Memphis and elsewhere in those days was bleak. Unless relatives or friends took them in, such children were committed to the county poorhouse or permitted to run loose in the community. Because no provision was made for destitute widows, their lot was also in question. Life in Memphis during this time was not far from the world Charles Dickens described in Oliver Twist.
In 1850, the same year that the towns of Memphis and South Memphis merged to make the City of Memphis, a group of concerned Memphians including Mrs. Sarah Leath, Lyttleton Henderson, Mrs. Margaret Doyle and Mr. and Mrs. John Craft met at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and organized the Protestant Widows' and Orphans' Asylum. Judge Pettit served as the first president of the Asylum's board of trustees. An outpouring of public support helped ensure a state charter for Memphis' first institution for the care of the destitute in 1851. The Asylum was incorporated the following year.
The First Orphans Asylum Generous Memphis women donated spare furniture, homemade quilts, a wood-burning cook stove and other equipment to the Orphanage. The city's oldest organized asylum was first located on Exchange Street between Second and Third Streets (across from both the First Methodist and First Presbyterian Churches),Porter-Leath Children's Center Historical Summary Rev. 2006 and then on Poplar Avenue near Third Street (fronting the First Presbyterian Church). Among the most active contributors was Sarah Murphy Leath, who also served as a member of the Ladies Board of the Asylum. Mrs. Leath, a wealthy Memphis woman and member of First Presbyterian Church, had shown concern for the plight of orphans in the community. Herself a widow and mother of two sons of her own, Mrs. Leath had on three occasions taken orphans into her home.
By 1854, the little Orphanage had outgrown its crowded downtown quarters. Wishing to provide the Asylum with a larger facility and a permanent location, Sarah Leath donated of land one mile (1.6 km) northeast of the City north of New Raleigh Road (later renamed Jackson Avenue) and east of Boundary Road (later renamed Manassas Street). Money for the original small brick building was provided largely by public subscription from the citizenry. A two-story brick building (now the Shainberg Room) was completed on June 4, 1856, and became home to fourteen children; seven boys and seven girls. There was also a clapboard shotgun-styled building on the plot that was used as the school for the children.
Leath Orphan Asylum Upon Mrs. Leath's death in 1858, her Estate provided the orphanage with twenty additional acres of land and money to start an Orphan's Educational Fund. In honor and recognition of Mrs. Leath's contributions to the welfare of the Asylum, the name of the organization was changed from the Protestant Widows' and Orphans' Asylum to the Leath Orphan Asylum by an Act of the 1857 and 1858 Tennessee Legislature.Porter-Leath Archive Room, exhibit 3 In addition to the Asylum's new name, a new organizational structure was adopted. A board of trustees made up of seven prominent men was appointed, but the day-to-day supervision of the Home remained with the twelve-member "Board of Lady Managers". These ladies of Memphis' Protestant churches paid the salary of the Asylum's matron.
Jane Ward –Matron of Leath Orphan Asylum Because of her significant gift to the Orphanage and her active role as a member of the Ladies Board (forerunner of the Board of Lady Managers), Mrs. Leath was permitted to choose the Asylum's new matron in 1856. The choice proved a wise one. Miss Jane Ward had come to Memphis as governess for the children of the pastor of First Presbyterian Church and after visiting in the home of James T. Leath, the son of Sarah Murphy Leath, for an extended time, was offered and accepted the position of the first matron of the Orphanage. Miss Ward, who manifested a real mother's love for the children in her care, remained as matron of the Orphanage for seventeen years. During Miss Ward's employment, whenever a girl entered the Orphanage, a hope chest was started for her future dowry and into each chest went a quilt and other articles as available.
The Civil War On June 6, 1862, the Union fleet defeated the Confederate naval forces in the First Battle of Memphis and Union troops occupied Memphis. In 1863 General Ulysses S. Grant designated the City of Memphis as the Union Army's Hospital and Supply Base to support his planned attack on the City of Vicksburg. However, none of these supplies were of benefit to the citizens of Memphis or the children at the Orphanage. Also, as a result of the war, the city's churchwomen could no longer contribute to the Home's support or pay Miss Ward's salary.
Nonetheless, Miss Ward stuck to her post and provided for the children by what she could raise on the Orphanage's twenty-nine acres of land. During this period, the Orphanage had to endure the confiscation of their poultry and most of their livestock and finally foraging Union soldiers took the last one of the Orphanage's milk cows. Furious at this outrageous act, Miss Ward rode to the Union military headquarters [either at what is now known as the Hunt-Phelan House on Beale Street or the Gayoso Hotel on the river bluff] in Memphis and proclaimed to the Union commander, "I do not propose that my children shall go without milk. I am coming back here until our cow is returned, or another cow given us."Both locations were used as Union Headquarters at different times after the occupation of Memphis. However, Ms. Ward more than likely rode to the Gayoso Hotel as the Hunt-Phelan House was quickly turned into a Union Soldiers' Convalescent Home for men injured in the field with both Gen. Grant and Gen. Sherman and remained so until the end of the war. The Gayoso Hotel was favored by Gen. Grant as the Union Headquarters due to its strategic location on the bluff facing the river. Eventually, even the Union Army gave in and Miss Ward got her cow.
The Yellow Fever Epidemic After the war ended in 1865, Memphis soon became the fastest-growing city in the United States and in 1867 regained its designation as the "county seat". Along with this growth, however, came challenges. One of the most devastating was a series of yellow fever epidemics. Beginning in 1873 and continuing through 1879, the deadly fever killed more than 8,000 Memphis citizens [at least 2,000 in 1873; more than 5,200 in 1878; and 500 plus in 1879] and, by the late 1870s, resulted in closure of the town's businesses when more than half of the population left the city. At one point, Memphis was in debt Six Million Dollars. Due to this overwhelming economic burden, the City declared bankruptcy and its government was abandoned and Memphis lost its City Charter in 1879 becoming only a "taxing district of the state." Founder Dr. David T. Porter became the President of the "taxing district" of Shelby County which is the equivalent to the office of Mayor.
The Asylum Grows Again with the help of the Odd Fellows During the terrible yellow fever epidemics of the 1870s, the Orphanage's attendants and children suffered heavily as did the rest of the city's population. Many Memphis children were orphaned by this epidemic and so great did the need increase in the years just after the plague, that the Independent Order of Odd Fellows expressed an interest in enlarging the facilities of the Leath Orphan Asylum. In 1875, the Odd Fellows of Memphis organized a national subscription of funds to erect a large and impressive three-story brick building. This structure, completed in April 1876, originally was called the Odd Fellow's Wing. Eventually, it became the Asylum's main building and is now used for general administration and visitor purposes and is one of several buildings on the Porter-Leath campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Start of the 20th century At the start of the 20th century, the Children's Home, a small but similar institution on Alabama Street, was consolidated with the Orphanage and the institutions' new "merged" name became the Leath Orphan Asylum and Children's Home. Early in 1900, the institution was updated and equipped with electric lights and plumbing.
On March 16, 1900, the Leath Orphan Asylum and Children's Home for Orphan and Destitute Children published its Constitution and By-Laws, listing their Trustees (W.W. Schoolfield, James K. Porter, J. S. Dunscomb, Judge J. R. Flippin, W. J. Chase, P. McIntyre and P.R. Friedel), their Honorary Members, Officers and Board Managers, along with their former Presidents (Mrs. Marge Doyle, Mrs. Joseph Bruce, Mrs. Nina D. Martin, Mrs. A. F. Davis, Mrs. B. F. Haller, Mrs. Joseph Bruce, Mrs. Annie B. Stewart, and Mrs. L.E. Boswell). This publication also set forth the "Rules" of the institution and its visitation policy.
The Porter Home and Leath Orphanage From the late 19th century, Dr. David T. Porter was a Trustee of the Orphanage and one of its most generous contributors. His brother and sister, James K. Porter and Mrs. Rebecca Porter Bartlett, were also active in the institution. When Mrs. Bartlett died in January 1903, she left a substantial bequest to the Orphanage. Her Will probated on January 22, 1903, set forth "… the remainder of my estate of every kind, character … I give, bequeath and devise to J.M. Dockeny, Elica H. Porter, John Quenton, John W. Dillard and Thos. B. Turley, as trustees – and to their successors in trust, … I direct that this fund shall be used … for the care and maintenance of orphans … whether orphaned by the death of one or both parents…." In 1904, in recognition of her generosity and the services of her late brother, the Home's name was changed to the Porter Home and Leath Orphan Asylum. Some years later, the name was shortened to the Porter Home and Leath Orphanage. In 1912 the northern and southern areas of Memphis, Western Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas, Southeastern Missouri and Northern Mississippi were all devastated by Mississippi River flooding and the resulting backup of rivers and bayou canals in all of these areas. This flood, like all later great Mississippi River floods, brought many destitute and homeless families and orphans to the high bluff areas of Memphis.
In 1919 the Porter Home and Leath Orphan Asylum published its Annual Report which included a "current" photograph of the main three-story building with its North Annex and a printed invitation stating "Visitors are welcome at the Home every Thursday afternoon."Porter-Leath Archive Room
The Orphanage Expands