The Omaha Creche Society formed as the Omaha Charity Association in 1887 to provide childcare for working mothers. According to an article from the Douglas County Historical Society, “Several prominent women in the city had come to the conclusion that the community was in need of a day nursery for children, as there were many working mothers who had no options for affordable and trustworthy childcare.”
These prominent women included Mrs. T.M. Kimball as president, Mrs. T.M. Orr as secretary, and Mrs. Sarah Joslyn as treasurer. Patrons were mostly “young mothers or widowers who could only find low-paying jobs such as waitressing, clerking, or working in factories. These types of jobs often required that the children’s parents work unusual hours, making it difficult for them to care for their little ones at night,” according to a newspaper report in 1900.
Mrs. Kimball was quoted in an 1888 article in the Omaha World-Herald as saying, “We aim to help poor women, by strengthening their hands to work—not by filling them with gifts; and to make homes possible by supplementing them—not by taking their places. That is what Day Nursery work means.” This mission statement set a new precedent in Omaha, allowing parents to be able to work without having to worry about their children.
The Charity Association quickly became affectionately known as the Creche Society, adopting the French word for “cradle” into their identity. Marjorie Morris, who chronicled much of the Creche’s history, gathered several anecdotes about “mothers resorting to locking their children in rooms with enough food and water to last the day, while they went off to earn the family’s money.” The Creche Society eliminated the need for these unfortunate occurrences for an affordable daily fee. Mrs. C. Clark Swanson, the organization’s president in 1948, stated, “[There are] no figureheads on the Creche directorate. Their hearts are in this project, and they are just as interested in running this home as they are in their own households.”
In addition to childcare for working parents, the Creche Society served as a permanent home for children without guardians. Some children stayed until adulthood, while others utilized the institution to “bridge the interval between a death in the family or a reconciliation in a broken home, or until relatives who [would] take an interest in the child [could] be found.”
Housing an estimated 25 children per day, the Creche Society home, located on 52nd Street, was eventually condemned due to fire hazards and general deterioration. A new building was erected in its place and is today the location of an Omaha Montessori school. After 127 years of caring for Omaha children, the Creche Society, which relied heavily on donations for funding, was dissolved in 2014. The remainder of their funds was donated to the Omaha Community Foundation. The Creche’s legacy lives on through the foundation with an open fund and grant offerings to nonprofits with missions to provide educational services to children in Omaha.
To learn more, visit douglascohistory.org and omahafoundation.org.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
