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NPS Form 10-e00-■ DMB ApprovaINo. 1024-WIS United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number R Page 3 Children's Dispensary St. Joseph County IN NARRATIVE STATEMENT.OF SIGNIFICANCE As part of the larger movement for social reform in health services. the Children's Dispensary represents the community's efforts to provide a comprehensive program of general medical care to disadvantaged children. The functional and still handsome building is eligible for the National Register under Criterion A in the areas of social history and health/medicine: The movements for social welfare that characterized the Proaressive Era at the turn of the twentieth century did not miss South Bend. The Associated Charities formed "to systemize and regulate tie giving if aid to the weak -ones of society." Among major concerns was public health. During the first decade of -the 1900s the Visiting Nurse Association was organized (1902), and Dr..Charles E. Hansel helped found the St. Joseph County Anti -Tuberculosis League in 1908. The following year the fledgling organization erected four cottages in Pottowatami Park to house an anti -tuberculosis camp. Born in 1874. Dr. Hansel had ccme to South Bend from Lakeville in 190:,. A graduate of the Illinois Colleae of Medicine. he had completed his medical studies in Boston. specializing in children's diseases. Perhaps influenced by the fact that his own son had been Cic};iv rroari birth, Hansel dreamed of opening a free children's clinic in South Bend. where the infant mortality rate was high. In 1909, wicn financial help from Richard Elbel. the president of Associated Charities. among others. the Children's Dispensary was organized. Hansel served as its medical director. First located in a rented storefront in a small frame 'buildincr at 10219 West Division (today. Western Avenue] and furnished with piecemeal donations. the dispensary in its first few ,years mainly served to distribute free milk to* Door children during the summer months. The Visitina Nurse Association provided a few hours of services. and other doctors donated their time. By 1912 the dispensary had its own fulltime nurse and -its services were available ,year round. As its programs expanded. the dispensary moved across the street into a large two-story house at 1040 West Division. The location was no accident: it was placed in the heart of a poor workinaclass neighborhood. whose mostly foreign -born residents worked at the large factories or Studebaker. Oliver. and Singer. By the mid -1910s the. dispensary had extended its medical services to include classes to instruct mothers in childcare. nutrition. and sanitation. It also served as a social and cultural center where low-income childrencould participate in concerts. plays. and festivals. A small library branch was added. and various clubs for boys and girls instituted. Sewing