Ethel Harpst | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 27, 1883
Georgia, United States |
| Died | January 12, 1967 (aged 83)
Montgomery,
Alabama, United States |
| Resting place |
Greenwood Cemetery Cedartown, Georgia |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Educator |
Ethel Elizabeth Harpst (October 27, 1883 – January 12, 1967) was an American educator, caregiver, and founder of the Harpst House in Cedartown, Georgia.
She moved from Boaz, Alabama [1] to Cedartown, Georgia, then a mill village, in 1914 after being appointed to serve in the town's Goodyear Mill Village by the Methodist Women's Home Missionary Society, replacing Bertha Addington. [2] [3] Harpst cared for the sick in Cedartown, which was in the midst of outbreaks of scarlet fever, typhoid fever, influenza, and tuberculosis. [4] [5] She also was a teacher, giving classes on how to read and write. Her activities were based out of the Deborah McCarty Settlement House, [6] [7] which was modeled after Jane Addams's and Ellen Gates Starr's Hull House in Chicago.
Harpst established the Harpst Home in March 1924, which had been purchased, renovated, and given to Harpst by Cedartown city clerk J. C. Walker. [5] Located on Bradford Hill, the home quickly needed to be expanded, and Harpst traveled to raise funds for this purpose. In 1927 James Hall was constructed; at the time this three-story brick building was the tallest in Cedartown. [8] [1] The Great Depression caused even more strain on the still-growing Harpst Home. A new boys' dorm was opened in 1933. Through Harpst's relentless fundraising and with the assistance of New York City couple Henry Pfeiffer and Annie Merner Pfeiffer, [9] the home expanded over the next twenty years, adding more buildings and acquiring hundreds of acres of land. [8]
The work at the Settlement goes on with night school, day nursery, clinics, classes for men, women, boys, and girls, visiting the sick, comforting the sorrowing, and many other things "too numerous to mention."
Ethel Harpst, The Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Forty-Fifth Annual Report for the Year 1925–1926
In 1984, the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church combined the Harpst Home with the Sarah Murphy Home to create the Murphy-Harpst Children's Centers in Cedartown. [7] Murphy-Harpst continues to operate to this day, helping care for hundreds of abused children in partnership with the Georgia Department of Family and Children's Services and the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. [5] Harpst retired in 1951 at the age of 68.
She was awarded the Good Neighbor Orchid Award in 1948 in an appearance on the radio show Breakfast in Hollywood. In 2012 she was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame. [8] [10]
References
- ^ a b Miller, Mildred Perry (March 24, 2008). "Memories Of A Children's Home". The Chattanoogan. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ Jackson, Floyd; Cooper, W. C. (1951). "History of Anna Kresge Memorial Methodist Church" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ Brett, Jennifer (March 21, 2018). "Murphy-Harpst Children's Centers: Two women's legacies live on". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Ethel Harpst honored — Her legacy is the Methodist Murphy-Harpst Children's Center". Rome News-Tribune. July 28, 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ a b c "History". Murphy-Harpst Children's Centers. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "The Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Forty-Fifth Annual Report for the Year 1925-1926". The Woman's Home Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church. 1926. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ a b Brackin, Ansley (June 1, 2015). "Building Bonds at Murphy-Harpst". United Methodist Women. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ a b c "Ethel Harpst". Georgia Women of Achievement. 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ Mercer, Holly A. (October 1998). "Guide to the Pfeiffer-Merner Family Collection". G.A. Pfeiffer Library. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Senate Resolution 1082" (PDF). Georgia State Senate. Retrieved 24 July 2019.