Oklahoma Baptist Children's Home

Oklahoma Baptist Children's Home
Established	1903
Opened	1903
Current Status	Active
Location	Oklahoma City, OK
Peak Patient Population	>150
Alternate Names	Oklahoma Baptist Orphans Home

History

Founded by Rev. J.A. Scott and his wife in March 1903 after having taken into their home the baby of a woman who Mrs. Scott found living in an alley next to her husbands church. They raised the baby in their home until the formal opening of the Oklahoma Baptist Children's Home.

On June 1, 1903, the Home was moved to a frame building on one and a half stories and 4 bedrooms on West Pottawatomie Street, Oklahoma City. Nine children were in residence. In 1905, the joint Boards of the Baptist General Convention of Indian Territory and the Oklahoma State Baptist Convention accepted a bid from Oklahoma City of 40 acres of land and $2,000 to move the Home to its location at NW 63rd and Pennsylvania. Ownership of the Home was transferred to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in 1917. On these grounds stood more than twenty buildings caring for over four thousand children throughout the seventy-five years at this location.

Tragedy struck on January 17, 1920. Some children were cleaning stains out of clothing with gasoline, when Thomas Bain struck a match near the laundry. Thomas escaped with injuries from the explosion, but Lois Abbott, 16, was fatally burned. She was buried at Rose Hill Burial Park in the lot next to the Home. Thirteen other children are buried at Rose Hill in a plot that belongs to Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children.

In 1936 Dr. Andrew Potter was the Superintendent over more than 150 children. The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in 1936 changed the name to Oklahoma Baptist Children's Home. It moved to 16301 South Western in June 1982.