Then & Now: Heritage Series

Then (or Our Roots) Otterbein SeniorLife has its roots in 1912. In that year, the then-United Brethren Church (now the United Methodist Church) purchased 4,000 acres of land in Lebanon, Ohio, from the Shakers. Originally called the United Brethren Orphanage and Home for the Aged, its original mission was to serve as a community for…

Then The Orphan’s & Children’s Home of the Southern Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in the rolling hills of rural southern Illinois in 1913. In 1920, one of the main buildings was destroyed by fire. No children were harmed in the blaze and facility was rebuilt on land purchased by the…

Then In the late 1800s and early 1900s the Methodist Church in Louisiana became concerned with the large number of children who were without parents or homes. Their desire to provide food, clothing, shelter, and the love of Christ for these orphaned children led to the creation of the Louisiana Methodist Orphanage in 1902. In…

Then The organization that eventually became Wesbury began in Conneautville, a town located in the far northwest corner of Pennsylvania. Hyatt M. Cribbs offered his home to the ministers and layman of the Erie Conference of the United Methodist Church to become a home for those in need. The original building was large enough to…