Flanner House Indianapolis

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HISTORY AS WRITTEN AROUND 1946

Flanner House, by its outstanding contributions to the social an economic life of our community, and leadership in community organization has become one of the outstanding institutions of the country.

The institution now housed in the modernistic structure at 333 West 16th Street is the product of hard fought struggle in its untiring efforts of community service. It is the oldest Negro Social Service institution of the city. The history of Flanner House can be divided into four related phases of its continuous development from its origin to the present.

First Phase

In 1898, at the age of 71, Frank W. Flanner, a white mortician of the city, offered a small property on Rhode Island Street, now called Colton Street, which lay in the heart of the present Lockfield (sic) Gardens Housing Project, to the Charity Organization Society for use as a Negro Social Service Center. Mr. Grout, Superintendent of the organization, accepted the gift and requested Miss Sarah Colton Smith, secretary of the organization, to take charge of the property and develop a program. At that time there was no institution in the city interested in ministering to the needs of the Negro community.

Miss Smith was the first of a long line of Flanner House workers to be faced with the great task of attempting to meet the current social needs of the community and also stimulate the vision and foresight necessary to make people want to help themselves. In the beginning, the work was fought and criticized by the small minds of both races, but in the face of criticism and lack of adequate financial resources, Miss Smith moved into Rhode Island Street (Colton) and started the work that was destined to grown (sic) and expand into one of the most significant institutions of its kind in the country.

The original property was a little double house with two rooms and a tiny kitchen on either side. She removed the wall between the kitchens and also between the two rooms on one side, making a small assembly room, the front room on the other side being a reading room, the other room and the kitchen being left for preparing food for parties an (sic) dinners. Mrs. Henderson gave an entertainment (sic) at her home raising $20.00 for tables and chairs. The King's Daughters, an organization of Negro school teachers, provided curtains, pictures, and games. Other necessary supplies were solicited in the community and volunteers laid a cinder walk across the street through the almost impassable mud.

Miss Smith worked hard trying to overcome the opposition of various Negro cliques and to prove to certain whitest that Negroes could be depended upon to manager (sic) and operate such an institution without white supervision. She finally found five Negroes who agreed to be responsible for the building and manage it for two weeks each. She named the institution "Flanner Guild" in honor of the donor of the property and because of her former interest in English Guilds.

Opening night, during the summer of 1898, was a grand success. The place was crowded with young and old alike seeking some way out of their cramped existence. Professor Williams, principal of the neighboring school, became president of the Board of Managers and rendered much assistance to the work.

The project was operated with remarkable success during 1898-99; however, in the summer of '99 Miss Smith was called out of the city and the work began to fail. Mr. Grout (Superintendent of the organization that initially accepted the gift from Mr. Flanner) finally demanded that the key be returned to Mr. Flanner unless a competent person could be found with the skill and courage necessary to build a sound program. Then began a weary, depressing search for a Negro leader with the initiative and vision to take over this seemingly hopeless task. At last, Dr. Morgan and his "Young Men's Prayer Band" accepted the responsibility and deserve all possible credit for the establishment of a sound program. They developed a playground with some equipment, a schedule of classes meeting the needs of the people: millinery, sewing, first aid, cooking, etc. The work progressed slowly with many reverses but always in an upward direction.

These early days of struggle, disappointment, momentary flashes of success and then disappointment again, developed a working philosophy that has characterized the institution throughout the years. A philosophy of sacrifice and steadfastness of purpose coupled with vision and progressive planning for the future.

Second Phase

In 1903 the organization was incorporated. The Articles of Incorporation show that the objectives of the institution were: the promotion of the social and physical welfare of Negroes (more particularly the young), the establishment and maintenance of industry and other means of education and the pursuit of such means of philanthropy as to the trustees of the corporation may deem practical.

In 1909 Mr. Flanner gave the institution additional property to provide larger working quarters. A much larger building was erected containing an office, reading room, large kitchen, and an assembly hall with a seating capacity of two hundred. Adjoining this building was a resident cottage of four rooms. At this time the program included a full-time employment department, recreation department with boys and girls clubs, vocational aids with classes in cooking, sewing and millinery, a music department with a full orchestra of seventy-five pieces, a day care nursery with a standard fee of ten cents per day for each child.

Despite reactionary criticism, a Flanner Guild Rescue Home was established in 1908 to care for unmarried mothers and their children. This maternity home located on Colton Street contained a sitting room, dining room, dormitory and kitchen. Various Negro physicians donated their time and skills to this project. Here prospective mothers, friendless outcasts from society, were given kindness and understanding along with vocational education; when they left — a place to live. It is unfortunate that this progressive phase of the work was discontinued after one year of successful operation. Lack of community support forced the conclusion of this work, but not before the lives of twenty forsaken girls had been reclaimed and shown the real values and joys of life. The struggle between Progress and Reaction is always with us and often Reaction is the winner.

Third Phase

Mr. Flanner remained a staunch friend and liberal support of the work until his death in 1912. Because of the weak financial condition in which the institution found itself following Mr. Flanner's death, the Board of Trustees appealed to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions to support the work until such time as the institution could again obtain full support from the community. This the Christian Woman's Board of Missions agreed to do and the Flanner Guild Board was reorganized to permit representation from the C.W.B.M. With this assured support the work started forward with renewed impetus. It was at this time that the name of the institution was changed from Flanner Guild to Flanner House.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Brokenburr were called upon in 1912 to come to Flanner House as Superintendent and Matron and they gave the next two years to the administration of the settlement house. At that time Mr. Brokenburr was Secretary of the Colored Men's Civic League and Superintendent of the Sunday School at A.M.E. Zion Church.

Mr. Charles O. Lee succeeded Mr. Brokenburr in 1914 and continued to build the Flanner House program until 1925, when he was succeeded by Reverend Henry L. Herod. Rev. Herod gave the next ten years of his life, 1925 - 1935, to the continuation of the work.

In September, 1918, the Christian Women's Board of Missions purchased four buildings at the corner of West and St. Clair Streets and remodeled and equipped them for use by the settlement house. There were two reasons for this change in the location of the institution: 1) the building on Colton Street were (sic) both too old and too small to accommodate the work, and 2) the Negro community had so expanded since 1898 that the original Colton Street location was decidedly to one side of the Negro community. It was felt that more realistic work could be done by moving to a more central location.

A year later, in 1919, an article appeared in the June issue of World Call entitled "And It Shineth Unto All." The article read in part:

        "Less than a ten minute trolley ride from the heart of Indianapolis plunges one into the Flanner district, a thickly settled strip, a mile by mile and half in extent. In the midst of the district stands Flanner House, the sole community center for the 40,000 colored people of Indianapolis. ... Until the end of the past year the work struggled along in headquarters little better than the shanties adjoining it, but now it is house in four good buildings, modest in appearance, but clean an inviting, with equipment daily growing more adequate to meet the needs of the surrounding neighborhood. And those needs are incalculable.
        "The Flanner House program is many-sided. It is a coordinating center of neighborhood activities and a clearinghouse for other groups. ... The Flanner House employment department is one of the most important phases of the work and strives to find employment for all who apply, and attempts to elevate and maintain the moral and social standards of those whom it contacts. In 1918 this department answered 4,000 calls for work. ... Closely allied is the day nursery and kindergarten. Without the nursery, many mothers would be unable to seek employment and therefore became objects of charity. The day nursery keeps the children bright and happy with their play, sleep hour, and creative recreation under expert instruction, all for the cost of ten cents per day for the wholesome noon and mid-afternoon luncheons.

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