Volume 16 , Issue 13

1914 - Proposes Home Like Hull House

Does anyone remember a proposed home in the 1914 time frame that was to be erected by Miss Kate Barnard from profits of oil lease for a home for homeless, friendless women in the territory?

Muskogee, Tulsa and Oklahoma City would be requested by Miss Barnard to submit bids for the home. It was Miss Barnard's intention to have one of the cities donate the land of which the home was to be erected. Did Barnard's Hull House ever get built? Where was it located?

The following article was found in The Daily Ardmoreite, dated 14 April 1914, as one of the front page headlines: Proposes Home Like Hull House.

Oklahoma City, April 13 (1914) -- Erection and maintenance of a home in Oklahoma patterned after Jane Addams' famous Hull-House in Chicago, and which was to become the property of the state at the time of her death. This was the promise made to the state by Kate Barnard, commissioner of charities and corrections, and in consideration of which together with the usual royalties, she has been awarded oil and gas leases on approximately two miles of proven territory in the Cimarron river bed.

The leases were awarded to Miss Barnard by the commissioners of the state land office Monday morning over three competitors, two of whom submitted bids offering the state a greater royalty than was offered by Miss Barnard.

Development on the leases, Miss Barnard says, will begin at the earliest time convenient, and under the terms of her bid the money derived from the operations on the lease will be used for the erection and maintenance of a home for friendless and homeless working girls in Oklahoma.

The territory covered in Miss Barnard's lease is in sections 18 and 19, township 18 north, range 7 east of the Indian meridian, in the famous Cushing field in Creek county.

As soon as blue prints are prepared showing the location of the territory and the possibilities of development it offers, and when the home is erected, Miss Barnard says she would leave for the east, where she will visit some of the most noted philanthropists and charity givers in the country with the view of interesting them in the project.

Muskogee, Tulsa and Oklahoma City would be requested by Miss Barnard to submit bids for the home. It was Miss Barnard's intention, she says, to have one of the cities donate the land of which the home was to be erected. Donations aggregating $3,100 have been made by Oklahoma men interested in the establishment of such an institution.

In Miss Barnard's letter addressed to the commissioners of the land office, and which was made a part of her bid, Miss Barnard said:

"This home will become state property when I have completed my work in same. I have taken out articles of incorporation for this home and have raised $3,100 toward same, and as as son as my term of office expires I shall devote the rest of my life toward making this one of the greatest institutions for God's work in the world. As soon as my buildings are up I shall take blue prints and go east for additional funds. I shall conduct a school of philanthropy to teach the boys and girls of Oklahoma this human service work. The other bidders are asking to take something from the state. I am offering to give a great and needed institution to the state. This institution will be for those same girls whom you have schooled and educated and without which they must become vagabonds on your city streets.

"Therefore the money received from this tract of river bed I hereby give and bequeath to and hold in trust for the benefit of the home for working women and girls not of African descent, who are without means and are homeless and friendless, and I agree that so far as said funds shall permit to maintain a home for these friendless women and girls of the state of Oklahoma.

"I further agree to keep an accurate account of all money received from the sale of oil and gas from said lands and all expenditures made in the erection and maintenance of the said home and failure on my part to expend the same for such purpose, shall of itself cancel and hold for naught my rights obtained hereunder and this lease shall immediately revert to the state."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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