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ARMOUR INSTITUTE |
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By Walter Hendricks |
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| The story of the founding of Armour
Institute of Technology does not begin with the opening of its doors in
September, 1893. It goes back to a mission Sunday school in which Joseph
F. Armour, a merchant of considerable means, was interested and to which
he contributed liberally for its support. This mission, started in 1874,
three years after the Chicago Fire, at Thirty-first and State streets, was
called Plymouth Mission because it was an extension of the activities of
Plymouth Church, of which Joseph F. Armour was a member. When Joseph F. Armour died, in 1881, he left a bequest of $100,000 to be used by his brother, Philip D. Armour, in establishing a Sunday school for the people of the community. To this amount, Phillip D. Armour added $100,000 of his own, and he built "Armour Mission." The mission was to be broad and wholly non-sectarian, free and open to all to the full extent of its capacity, without any restrictions whatsoever as to race, creed or class. On the first Sunday in December, 1886, seven hundred little cosmopolitans "crashed the gates" to be counted among its first members. Among the many workers and teachers sent from Plymouth Church to assist in this experiment in practical Christian democracy, Julia A. Beveridge must be singled out for special consideration. Appointed mission librarian in 1887, she tried to stimulate an interest in reading. Soon realizing, however, that storybooks were not enough to keep idle hands and minds from mischief, she started a class in clay modeling. |
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| Page last updated on May 17, 2000. |
