Author's note: Okay, that headline was a cheap trick to draw you in to the article. But it is true–a homeless shelter did open in Newtown Square, in 1932. Here is an article from the Chester Times (March 22, 1933) that talks about the shelter, how it was initially viewed by the locals, and how it has contributed in beneficial ways to the community and to the men who were housed there. An interesting look at how a small community coped with the problems brought by the Great Depression.)
Rapid strides have been made in caring for the unemployed men at the Shelter located on Goshen Road near Paoli Road, Newtown Square, since the project was launched less than a year ago, it was stated today. The headquarters, in which the men are housed, is next door to the home of General Smedley D. Butler, retired from the United States Marine Corps, and he has given unstintingly to help them maintain an independent existence.
Dr. Charles E. Gordon, head of the Shelter, started in May last with a few men. He secured the house, which is now the headquarters of the institution improved it with their help and is now caring for between 20 and 30 residents. They not only maintain the institution but have proven their worth to the community by constructing a road for the Pennsylvania Hospital, enabling it to reduce a haul from about two miles to one of less than a half mile in length. They also have assisted farmers in the locality with the harvesting of their crops and other work which has benefited the neighborhood.
The growth of the institution has been so rapid that it has become necessary to secure additional quarters to house the men. Oswald Chew, of Radnor, a member of the committee of the Food Gardens Association of Philadelphia, which is interested in the Shelter, has written a lengthy article which explains the work accomplished during the Shelter's existence. "When the Food Gardens Association of Philadelphia was started last May," Mr. Chew states, "it was with the idea of supplying gardens on which the unemployed could raise vegetables and other crops.
These gardens were to be cultivated on unused or vacant land obtained from the owners, and for which no rent, or at a most purely nominal sum was to be pa id, and this actually took place, but it is not all that took place." Within a few weeks of the beginning of the Food Gardens Association another undertaking of a similar nature was made possible. This was the Shelter for unemployed men at Newtown Square, and is due chiefly to the initiative of Dr. Charles E. Gordon that this was made possible. After having offered his services gratis to the city of Philadelphia, and having been refused, Dr. Gordon heard of the Food Gardens Association and called to see Congressman E. Lowber Stokes who gave him encouragement and his approval.
Finding a vacant house on the Goshen Road near Newtown Square, Dr. Gordon to use his own words, “just decided we needed that house, and so we moved in." The Fidelity Philadelphia Trust Company agreed that no better use could be made of the property and a lease at one dollar a year was negotiated through the kind offices of J. Gordon Fetterman.
When Dr. Gordon took possession with four or five unemployed men from the Shelter Home, Eighteenth and Hamilton streets relief quarters, Philadelphia, which was about to close its doors for want of funds, he and his men faced a difficult proposition. The building had not been tenanted for years. There was scarcely three whole panes of glass in the entire edifice. Dirt and rubbish littered the floors and worse conditions prevailed outside the house.
No furniture, furnishings or anything of use was visible in the entire building. Dr. Gordon and his few companions were obliged to sleep on the floor of the building wrapped in a few scanty blankets obtained from the Red Cross.
It was in October that the writer next had the opportunity of seeing the Shelter and he could hardly believe his eyes, so great had been the change. The dirt and rubbish had been cleared and in its place were chairs, benches, tables and beds well supplied with blankets. Phonographs, pictures and things of all sorts to make men comfortable and life worth living were in evidence.
Instead of the four or five pioneers there were between twenty and thirty. The story of how this transformation had come about is as strange as it is true. The neighbors who had at first been very skeptical about the whole affair, refusing to give it their support, or sanction, had been entirely won over not only to give the movement their approval, but even their wholehearted support, aid and co-operation.
Practically all the furniture outside of the beds and blankets, which had been supplied by the Red Cross, had been given outright by the people in the neighborhood. Large quantities of fruit and vegetables also had been given and a number of the kindly disposed ladies, who had already contributed the vegetables came and supervised their being put up in jars which they also furnished.
Dr. Gordon secured work for the men on the Pennsylvania Hospital farm and the hospital repaid them with meat, and vegetables from the farm. The men also planted potatoes and other crops, on the White Horse Farms owned by T. De Witt Cuyler, who returned them food for their labor. They worked crops for the neighbors in the vicinity who were short-handed. For this they were paid in food.
During the winter they have been constructing a much needed road for the Pennsylvania Hospital which will reduce the haul from about two miles to less than one-half a mile. They have also fixed the heater in their building, wired the structure for electricity, constructed a cesspool and have made countless other improvements.
Within the past two weeks their numbers have so increased that it has become necessary to obtain additional quarters. They have been fortunate in securing these at the old Devon Inn, which was destroyed by fire a few years ago. They are rapidly turning the old pump-house into comfortable living quarters for themselves and they also have the job of pulling down what remains of the old walls of the inn itself.
The erection of a new apartment house or hotel on or near the same site is being seriously contemplated and these same men are to do most of the work. Meanwhile the job of salvaging the ruins goes merrily forward.
It should be mentioned that it has not been a case of all work and no play. Several times a month bands and other entertainers have given their services. Every Wednesday evening the men conduct a business meeting when the various matters are discussed and solutions reached; Every Sunday evening Dr. Sparkman, of the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, conducts religious services and two young women from the church lead the music.
It would be a serious omission not to mention that General Smedley D. Butler has given them his hearty support, both by his presence and his gifts. He furnished them with a large amount of lumber left over when he remodeled his home. He also donated several large wooden pillars, which the men have built into their living room. He also gave them two heavy duty tires for their truck and an excellent radio.
The general is perhaps next to Dr. Gordon and the Food Gardens Association, their nearest and best friend. Certain it is that he has done more than could have reasonably have been expected of him by talks, by his gifts and by speaking about the project wherever he has had an opportunity.
The Shelter has also many other good friends, but it would take too long to enumerate them and to list all they have done.
They are so numerous that it would be dangerous to list them for fear of omitting some of the more important ones. It is only fair however, to say that Mrs. Pitcher, who together with her mother, has been one of the most constant and devoted friends of the men at the Shelter recently decided to enlist herself even more closely with the destiny of the Shelter for only a few weeks ago she became the wife of Dr. Charles Gordon.
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