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The Youth Campus has a very interesting and colorful history. It all began in 1876 with Mrs. Delia Louise Rockwood Wardner, wife of Brigade Surgeon Horace Wardner. She accompanied her husband to Cairo, Illinois and soon realized the great need of an institution to care for the many homeless and destitute children, especially girls, brought to Cairo after the war. The Industrial School for Girls was founded in 1877 and was "a home and proper training school" for girls orphaned by the Civil War. The school was also instrumental in the passage of an act by the state legislature in 1881. The act provided that "for each child committed to industrial schools, the county would pay $10 per month plus a certain amount of clothing." For thirty-two years the school operated in Evanston. In 1908, the school moved to a forty acre farm in Park Ridge. Under the leadership of Chicagoan Hannah Solomon, a civic and social welfare activist, a reorganization of the school's financial structure was successful. A charitable baseball game in the National League Baseball Park (later to become Comisky Park) was key to this reorganization. It was the first time in the history of Chicago that a charitable baseball game was held to assist a philanthropic organization. Mrs. Solomon also invited her close friend Jane Addams, the founder of modern social work and Chicago’s Hull House, to join the school’s board. They believed the school’s focus should be on family life, education and training in domestic skills. The girls were to become independent and productive members of their communities. These two extraordinary women brought the "English Cottage" model, that originated in England, to the school. This innovative alternative to large institutional orphanages called for small individual homes each managed by a housemother. The noted Chicago architectural firm of Holabird and Roche designed the buildings for the school and the first of the thirteen buildings constructed on the farm was named for Mrs. Solomon. The Solomon Cottage still stands today, on our 13 acre Park Ridge campus, as one of nine surviving architecturally and historically important buildings recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1913 the name of the school was changed to Park Ridge School for Girls. The 100th anniversary of the school was celebrated in 1977 at which time a new program, a residential teen pregnancy program, was announced. It was one of two in Illinois. Additionally several cottages were used to house Vietnamese refugee families. Many significant changes occurred in 1980 - a new program and new name. Boys were admitted for the first time under The Teaching Family Program and the name was changed to the Park Ridge Youth Campus. The 1990’s brought the addition of a foster care program and a residential medical stabilization and developmental assessment program for infants with medical and developmental challenges. The opening of a Chicago office in 1992 prompted another change in name to The Youth Campus. This was a reflection of the broader cultural and geographic diversity of the children and families being served. Recent changes in child welfare have prompted us to develop new initiatives supporting permanency, services to biological families and community-based collaborations and prevention programs. With facilities in Chicago and Park Ridge, our programs now include adolescent residential treatment; a community-based caregiver support program for biological and foster parents of medically and developmentally challenged infants and children; behavioral and medically complex foster care including recruiting, licensing and training of foster parents and adoption. We also have active volunteer and development programs that offer a variety of opportunities for individuals, businesses, community organizations and faith-based groups to assist with fulfilling our mission. As we move forward into our second century of service, we continue to value our rich heritage and keep it alive. Our vision, formulated by Hannah Solomon and Jane Addams in 1908, remains focused on assisting children to become independent and productive adult members of their communities. We work hard to sustain childhood and adolescent development. Our philosophy of care illuminates respect, empowerment, and a commitment to children and families.Over the course of our 124 year history, The Youth Campus has adapted and changed with the times to serve children who – for whatever reason – needed a home, an education, medical care, or other special services. Visit Hannah Solomon's site
To serve children and families in need by developing, implementing and advocating for effective programs and supportive services.
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