Florence Crittenton Home in Chamblee, 1950-1981

The first Florence Crittenton Home was established in 1883 by businessman and evangelist Charles N. Crittenton in New York City. He named it after his daughter who died from scarlet fever at age four. By the late 1800s there were over 50 Florence Crittenton Homes across the U.S. The homes were established to give young women who were pregnant and unmarried a place to live until their baby was born.

The scenario usually began with parents wanting to keep everything secret, so going to a facility like the Florence Crittenton home helped facilitate secrecy and adoption after the child was born.  Friends and family would be told that the girl was away for some fabricated reason to conceal the truth. After her child was born, she was expected to go on with life as though it never happened.

The first Florence Crittenton Home in Atlanta was established in 1893, first outside city limits and a few years later within the city.

The Florence Crittenton Home in Chamblee began on property purchased in 1950 as the downtown Atlanta home closed. The Chamblee location was more secluded. The home was a red brick colonial structure on eight landscaped acres. A modern 18 room dormitory was added in 1958. The home was located along North Peachtree Road, just west of Peachtree Boulevard.

In 1962, a dedication was held for a new annex at the Florence Crittenton Home in Chamblee. The annex added much needed square footage, including school rooms and recreation space.

The girls who lived there, awaiting the birth of their babies, could receive a high school diploma. “Now our girls don’t have to go back home and explain the gap in their school progress or lack of a diploma,” director Helen Oppenheimer commented. (Atlanta Constitution, March 16, 1962, “Board members at Florence Crittenton quietly celebrate another milestone”)

Arts and craft classes and typing classes were offered. The girls received counseling and their families were included as much as possible. Each young woman was expected to do chores.

When the 1962 dedication was held, the current residents of the home were taken out for an activity away from the home, “to avoid embarrassment.”  

Carol Nichols Henwood shared her memories of the home in a 2014 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article and in her book, “Our Erring Sisters.” She remembers being driven by her parents in 1967 to the Florence Crittenton Home, a large brick home hidden behind hedges between North Peachtree Road and then Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. There was no sign to indicate what place was hidden behind the large plants. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aug. 29, 2014, “Secret Keeper”)

She only held her baby boy once, two days after he was born. Henwood went on to marry and have two children. She was able to reconnect with her son in 2004. When her book was published in 2013, he attended her first book signing at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven.

Young women who grew up in Atlanta from the 1950s through the 1970s may or may not have heard of the Florence Crittenton Home. It may have been mentioned occasionally as a cautionary tale or never spoken of, which fits in with the times.

The Florence Crittenton Home in Chamblee closed in 1981 as times changed and there was less need for these facilities. From 1950 until 1981, there were usually about 180 women who spent part of the year living at the home. The home had the capacity to house over 60 women and often had a waiting list.