History of the Women’s Cooperative Home in Fort Worth

The Women’s Cooperative Home was a charity home in Fort Worth that provided temporary housing and assistance for women and children. The home was founded by the Fort Worth Women’s Cooperative Home Association, which was established in August 1915 with the goal of providing “a Cooperative Christian Home for working girls and women, with or without children.” The home opened on October 29, 1915, at First and Taylor streets near downtown Fort Worth and had a nursery so that mothers could work during the day.

The home’s founding directors included Rev. J. H. Woodruff, who served as the home’s first superintendent and was described as the “moving spirit in the association”; Mrs. J. V. Brewer, who became matron of the home in February 1916; and Marvin H. Brown, who served as president. In the December 8, 1915, edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Brown wrote an appeal for community support for the Women’s Cooperative Home. He stated, “Whenever a woman, girl or child is found in need of immediate shelter, food and clothes the home stands ready to swing wide its doors and give such relief.” In January 1916 Woodruff reported that the home had aided eighty people in the first three months since its opening.

The Women’s Cooperative Home received support from various religious and charitable organizations throughout Fort Worth. It was sponsored by the Church Women’s Federation (later the All Church Women’s Federation), an association of various churches throughout the city. In January 1916 the Fort Worth Pastors’ Association endorsed the home and formed a committee to advocate its support from the city. Other supporters included the Fort Worth Relief Association, the Fort Worth Young Men’s Christian Association, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and the Caldwell Bible Class.

Women paid rents in proportion to their wages. In 1917 employed residents were charged 40 percent of their salaries, “not to exceed $3 per week,” to stay there. In addition to the women’s contributions, the home continued to receive community support to maintain the house. For example, in April 1916 the local painters’ union volunteered to paint the home for free. In June 1917 the women living at the home reflected this spirit of charity and volunteerism by forming a mutual benefit club. In 1918 members of the Church Women’s Federation voted to renew their support for the home. The Home relocated to 410 West 2nd Street, and Lula Stewart succeeded Brewer as matron. During World War I, many women who came to Fort Worth because they had relatives in training at Camp Bowie were served by the home.

In the spring of 1922 the Church Women’s Federation purchased a new building at 213 North Pecan Street. Numerous local businesses volunteered their services to repair and furnish the house, and the building opened in November of that year. Shortly after opening, it was reported that twenty-five women and girls resided at the new home and that it remained “the only home of its kind in the city.” In 1923 the Women’s Cooperative Home’s superintendent, Mrs. J. W. Kuykendall, reported that the home’s “limited facilities” forced them to turn away at least twenty women per week. Nevertheless, the following year a new superintendent, Mrs. J. K. Power, reported that, despite its limited capacity, the home helped more than 200 women and children in 1923. Forty women and their children lived at the home by February 1924.

In 1928 the All Church Women’s Federation, reserving one wing for mothers and their children, converted the home into an orphanage, the All Church Home for Children. The building on North Pecan Street was damaged by a fire in 1936, and the orphanage was subsequently relocated to the former Samuel Burk Burnett home on Summit Avenue near downtown Fort Worth, where it remained for more than seventy years. In 2010 the All Church Home for Children became ACH Child and Family Services, which is located in southeast Fort Worth and provides crisis intervention, foster care, and adoption to families and children in need.