In the early years of this century, Kemmerer Orphan’s Home served as a safe haven for many orphaned children of Illinois and also as a large adoption agency. Clearly, it was the Church’s responsibility, in those days, to care for the needy, the poor, the orphaned. Most of the children were pre-school and grade school age and all lived on the second floor of the old main building. The caring couple, who served as superintendents in those days, also served as nurses, cooks, launderers, teachers, gardeners, fixer-uppers, and "finders" of cash and in-kind gifts for the home, as well as caretakers for the 30 little children entrusted to their care.
1930
As modern medicine began to help childbearing couples live longer, without the fear of the plague and tuberculosis in the 1930’s and 40’s, the role and responsibility of the Church's children’s homes began to shift away from caring primarily for orphans, to that of children of divorce, those born out-of-wedlock, and those of hurting families. During this time, the cost of caring for children continued to rise and soon the Churches could no longer afford the sole responsibility of financing the cost of care for the needy. Governmental assistance, through taxation, began to assist the Churches with caring for the needy, the poor, the hurting – it became a shared task. As was typical of many Church homes throughout the country, Kemmerer changed its name from Kemmerer Orphans’ Home to Kemmerer Children’s Home. The type of care at this point was long term. Children usually stayed at the home through their entire school years, often 5-10 years. The emphasis of the home at that time was to provide food, shelter and nurturing. Up until the early 1950’s, all the children lived in a centralized institutional environment in the 3-story main building located at the center of campus.
1954
The Kemmerer Village Board of Directors began a new and radical program of decentralization to offer the 40 children the opportunity to live in small family-like, ranch-style cottages with 10-12 fellow children, rather than being all housed in two large dormitories on the second floor of the main building. During the next 20 years, a gymnasium and ranch-style cottages were constructed on the 20-acre campus. Caring, live-in houseparents served in each cottage. During this time, County Courts, who shared the welfare responsibilities of the needy, referred the majority of children to Kemmerer.
1980's
The decade of the 80s was a period of much change. Kemmerer Village once again became aware of the change in the type of children needing care at the Village. No longer were the children orphans or children who were simply products of family breakdowns and needing long-term custodial care. These children came with many and varied deep hurts - victims of child abuse, desertion, sexual abuse, neglect, and family and community violence. These children now brought with them deep behavior problems, immense school problems, low self-esteem, deep anger, suicidal tendencies, and a deep distrust of adults. No longer could these children successfully learn in the usual education setting. Thus, in 1983 a new on-grounds' special education program was designed by Kemmerer Village and the Assumption School District. In 1989, the Fergusson Educational Center opened, providing these on-campus students their own school building. A fifth cottage opened on campus with the Village now serving 52 children in the residential program. Additional on-campus support services to these "special needs' children" included extensive personal counseling, psychiatric services, medical care, recreational therapy services, as well as Christian education with the children actively involved in the church life of various Presbyterian churches. Additional community based programs of life skills; supervised independent living, aftercare counseling, aftercare advocacy, and therapeutic foster care were added, bringing the number of children served within the communities to 45. The Village now had nearly 100 children entrusted to its care.
2000 - Present
Today, Kemmerer Village daily serves upwards of 110 children through our 11 different and special child-caring programs. In February 2002, the Margaret J. Dick Campus Center, at the south end of the campus, opened for use. The centerpiece of the building is the Village's first on-campus Chapel. Along with the addition of a chapel, Kemmerer Village hired our first Chaplain. Christian education is now available to all of our children, without leaving the campus, and the children now have their "own church." The west end of the Campus Center houses a new dining/training facility that allows everyone on campus to sit down for a meal together, again for the first time in many, many years. The east end of the building now is the home of the administrative offices for both the residential and community services programs and the business department. Tate Cottage opened for service in 2004. With the addition of this cottage, Kemmerer Village now is able to serve up to 60 children in the residential program.
