Ned Lee
Fifty-year-old Ned Lee stepped off the
train in Davenport on May 1, 1895. He was on his way to Denver, but a quick
stopover in Davenport convinced him there was work to be done in the city. So,
he stayed.
He started out speaking at local churches.
Sunday after Sunday, Lee talked about his mission work and what could be done.
After that, he took his message to local businessmen, seeking support for his
mission work. The funny thing was the churches embraced his mission work, but
the saloon owners gave him the money to fund his mission. Something about Lee
convinced them that he was the man for the job. Maybe it was his stories, the
scars on his arms, or perhaps the glint in his eye.
Mr. Lee “sought to establish his institution in
the heart of the slums,” said a 1906 article in The Daily Times. “His
mission was to uplift the hopeless and invade the portions where the other
ministers and churches had failed to go.”[1]
Lee started in 1895, operating as the People’s
Union Mission. He organized a Sunday School, then a sewing school to teach
young girls ages seven to thirteen the fine art of needlework. To do that, he
solicited help from the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Davenport. Things
went so well that Lee formed a ladies’ auxiliary to the mission on March 10,
1896.[2]
In no time, the lady’s auxiliary swelled to
thirty members. They taught sewing and reading classes to the neighborhood
children and did outreach work—visiting the sick and needy. Often, the little
acts did the most good—bringing flowers to the homes of the sick, giving a hat
or mittens to a child left out in the cold, or saying hello to someone who was
down on their luck.
One of the reasons Lee was so successful was he
didn’t consider what he was doing as church work. While other missionaries
pushed their creed or religion, Ned Lee saw himself as a settlement worker
helping people who were forgotten by other faiths.
Lee was a preacher, but he didn’t go by
reverend. “I’ve found I can do better work with the reverend cut off,” he told
one reporter. “Ned goes better.”
Lee set up his first mission in the Knostman
Block, at 207 East Second Street, in August 1897. It wasn’t anything fancy. He
paid $25 a month in rent for the beat-up old structure and sought support from
local businesses to pay for his work.[3]
The first Peoples’ Union Mission structure was
built in 1904 at the cost of $16,000 and that much more in donated labor and
supplies. Two years later, the community got together and paid off the
mortgage.
The mission housed a kindergarten for the neighborhood
children. On Mondays, Ella Lee conducted a sewing school for the young ladies. In
addition, the mission sponsored a boy’s club on Wednesday and a girl’s club on
Thursday. Friday was the Onward and Upward Club. It consisted of 30 working
ladies who got together to sing, dance, talk, and just blow off steam after a
week of hard work.
Claus Groth Hall
Saturday, the mission held cooking classes for
12 to 15-year-old girls. The teacher wrote the recipes on the blackboard, and
the girls cooked them. It taught them how to cook and put a warm meal in their
belly. Lee considered that a double win.
Every summer, the mission held a Ned Lee Flower
Day, where the kids sold flowers to raise money for the mission.
Ned Lee’s annual children’s picnic was the
biggest event of the year. He sponsored it every year for fifty years. Each
year he picked a day and said, “It ain’t gonna rain no ‘mo.” And sure enough,
it never rained on Lee’s parade. Not once.[4]
Every June, the papers played up Lee’s
prognostication. He was only wrong once. And then, just by a little. The rain
was gone when the boat brought the kids to Offerman’s Island (Credit Island).
It had dried out enough so they could laugh, eat, and play games.
Most years, seven hundred to a thousand
children showed up for the event. Ned Lee spent several months before each
picnic gathering supplies, collecting food and money, and lining up supplies.
Ned Lee considered himself an “undenominational
minister.”
“He is satisfied to make men better,” said a
1902 article in The Daily Times, “instead of trying to make them
perfect.”[5] Rather than give people
advice, Lee gave them what they needed, whether it was clothing, food, or a
good time at one of his outings.
That’s not to say he didn’t hold prayer
services. Lee held praise meetings on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, where prayers
were said along with short readings from the scriptures. But mostly, there was
singing. “I have them sing the devil out of them,” said Lee. “If they are mad
and you get them singing, they will sing themselves into a good humor.”[6]
The mission conducted Sunday School from two to
four o’clock on Sundays. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings were game
nights; if people preferred, they could lounge about in the mission’s reading
room.
By 1902, the mission was running a kindergarten
five afternoons a week. Ten years later, it ran morning and afternoon. In
addition, the sewing school ran every Saturday afternoon from October until
April. Twenty-three children attended the kindergarten in 1905, and 151 girls
visited the sewing classes.[7]
In 1915, Lee’s mission ran an Onward and Upward
Club catering to working girls in local offices, stores, and factories. About
thirty girls got together on Friday afternoons to sing, talk, dance, and unwind.[8]
On Saturdays, the mission hosted cooking
classes for girls ages 12 to 15. The instructor wrote the recipes on the
blackboard, and the kids cooked them. Over time, they learned to make meats,
vegetables, and everybody’s favorite—donuts.
Lee said too many people tried to help the down
and out by asking them how they got that way and then giving advice on turning
things around. He didn’t do that. “My plan is never to ask questions,” said
Lee. “When a man finds that you are actually interested in him, confidence
comes quick enough, and they tell you all freely.”[9]
Rather than teach religion, Lee taught people
to help themselves lead better lives.
The mission made holidays more agreeable for
the city’s poor. At Thanksgiving, they brought food to homes that had none.
They ensured all children had toys under the tree at Christmas. They threw a
New Year’s dinner for those who couldn’t afford it. No invitation needed. Just
stop in and grab a bite with Ned Lee.
The mission performed many little acts of
kindness that transformed people’s lives throughout the year. For example, they
gave ice to the sick and poor on hot sweltering days, provided milk for newborn
babies, and sponsored fireworks displays for the Fourth of July.
At Christmas, the mission had a big tree
decorated with candles. In addition, Santa Claus distributed food, candy, and
presents.
Money was always in short supply. The
newspapers constantly encouraged people and businesses to do their part.
Christmas 1900 was no exception. For a while, it looked as if the mission kids
would have to do without the celebration they’d come to expect.
The mission hoped to reach 500 children. If
they couldn’t get the money, 300 children faced the prospect of a dismal
Christmas. They might not even get a single stick of candy.
The annual New Year’s dinner was also in
question. The previous year the mission fed 450 hungry mouths. Unfortunately, no
one had stepped up to sponsor this year’s meal, so the chances of throwing this
year’s dinner seemed bleak.
Christmas was seven days away. The Daily
Times called on readers to give what they could. It wasn’t up to the
Carnegies or the Rockefellers. It was up to the town’s people. “Small donations
are what is wanted,” said the paper. “Dollars, half-dollars, and quarters are
what count.” The Daily Times started things off with a ten-dollar
donation.[10]
Lee threatened to resign several times over his
years in Davenport. Each time, he got his way. Businessmen got together to pay
off the mission one time and another to fund his mission work.
The Ned Lee Mission in 1906
Ned Lee died on August 31, 1927. His wife, Ella,
carried on with his mission work. After she died in 1932, the trustees of the
mission voted to discontinue its activities.[11]
Davenport Friendly Society
The mission moved to the German Free School
building on September 7, 1911. In October, Lee incorporated the mission, and a
board of trustees consisting of fifteen men was established to operate it.[12]
The original People’s Union Mission morphed
into the Davenport Friendly Society at that time. Reverend Ned Lee stayed on as
the first superintendent of the society until his term ended on July 1, 1911.
Then, Harry E. Downer assumed control.
The Society grappled for some time over whether
they should affiliate with a specific religion or not. Finally, it was decided
to “leave religious instruction to the churches” and follow the societies’
mission of “improvement—moral, industrial, and educational.” So they dropped
“religious” from the mission statement altogether.
The organizational meeting made it clear the Society’s
work was not about “poor relief.” Its three principal aims were education,
sociability, and recreation.[13]
When the Friendly Society took over, the
neighborhood around the old mission was changing and becoming more
industrialized. As the factories and businesses crowded in, fewer families
lived nearby, so serving the Society’s target market was harder. As a result, the
Friendly Society purchased the Claus Groth Gilde hall at 1228 West Third Street
in April 1912 for $13,000.
Harry Downer assured Davenport’s residents it
was not unusual for missions to move as the neighborhoods around them changed.
He had recently visited a similar mission in Des Moines that had moved three
times following its clients.
Even with the new building, the Friendly
Society struggled as they kept refining their purpose.
“Friendly House, it is hoped, will be neutral
and hospitable ground where people of all classes may meet and know each
other,” explained Downer. His goal was to build on neighborliness. Downer said
people could come to Society meetings to make friends should they choose. No
one would be alone except those who wished to be.[14]
From the start, he planned to establish a
School of Citizenship to help assimilate foreign immigrants into American life.
He envisioned a kindergarten for younger children not served by the public
schools and a branch library. All three goals were achieved over the coming
year.
The organization repeatedly stressed that the
Friendly House was not a charitable organization. They did not want to intrude
into the work of other area organizations. Instead, they worked with them and
supplemented their activities.
The Visiting Nurses Association was the most
significant partner of the Friendly House in its early years. Mothers brought
their babies for a weekly checkup and weigh-in to ensure they developed
correctly. The cottage next door was used as an office, headquarters, and milk
station.
The new building opened a wealth of new
opportunities to the Friendly Society. It had public baths, open to men and
boys four afternoons a week and women and girls two afternoons a week. The
auditorium seated 1200 people and could be used to conduct lectures, dramas,
and concerts. Motion picture nights were in the works—particularly educational,
scientific, and historical films. In the summer and fall, there would be
concerts. Music always makes people happy.
The second floor contained a large room where
Downer envisioned the society holding kindergarten and sewing classes,
neighborhood gatherings, and lunches for the women employees at nearby
factories and offices.
The third floor would furnish sleeping quarters
for residents of the settlement.
The Davenport Democrat and Leader
explained that a “settlement is a place where those who wish to help other
people are given [the] opportunity. Some of the workers live at the settlement
house, others live at their own homes and give a certain definite portion of
their leisure to social work.”
The exact nature of the settlement work
depended upon the community’s needs. For example, in 1914, the Friendly House
closed the kindergarten and night school for foreign immigrants. Those
activities were still necessary to the community. However, the school board
provided those classes, so duplication was unnecessary.
The public library opened a branch office in
the Friendly House in 1914, where books were issued and received two nights a
week. The reading room was open to visitors on other nights.
The public baths featured four showers and two
tubs. Men were charged ten cents and boys a nickel. Difficulties heating the
water and finding an attendant kept the Society from offering baths for women
and girls when they opened. Later, when they added a water heater, the baths
were open to women and girls.
Overall, 72,749 guests visited the Friendly
House in 1914. More than 39,000 people alone watched the movies shown every
Saturday from October 1 to May 1.
1926 brought a great disaster and a new
opportunity for the Friendly Society. The Claus Groth Gilde hall burned to the
ground, and as a result, the society built a larger, more modern Friendly House
in its place. The new building, which cost $150,000, was made possible by a
$100,000 bequest from Judge Nathaniel French.[15]
The Friendly House still operates in Davenport.
Interestingly, its website lists Reverend Ned Lee as its founder. Still, a 1926
article in The Daily Times credits Judge Nathaniel French as founding
the society in 1901. That most likely referred to his relationship with the old
Peoples’ Union Mission founded by Ned Lee. A bronze tablet over the lounge’s
fireplace in the new building proclaimed French the founder—perhaps because of
his $100,000 bequest.[16]
[1]
The Daily Times. January 6, 1906.
[2]
The Daily Times. January 6, 1906.
[3]
The Daily Times. January 6, 1906.
[4]
The Des Moines Register. May 29, 1927.
[5]
The Daily Times. September 20, 1902.
[6]
The Daily Times. September 20, 1902.
[7]
The Daily Times. January 15, 1905.
[8]
Davenport Democrat and Leader. September 26, 1915.
[9]
The Daily Times. September 20, 1902.
[10]
The Daily Times. December 18, 1900.
[11]
Davenport Democrat and Leader. September 20, 1932.
[12]
The Daily Times. October 10, 1912.
[13]
The Daily Times. November 18, 1911.
[14]
The Daily Times. November 26, 1912.
[15]
The Daily Times. June 17, 1926.
[16]
The Daily Times, June 17, 1926.
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