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Miss Jessie VanDusen started the Northern Tier Children’s Home in 1916. She was a teacher in the Northern Tier who felt a call to minister to neglected and homeless children. She taught three years at the Elida Orphanage in Asheville, North Carolina, and then returned north. After Jessie VanDusen gave a talk at Blossburg, Pennsylvania, a grandmother in the audience confided that she was attempting to care for five grandchildren and the burden was too heavy. Miss VanDusen promised to support and care for two of the children, four-year-old Mildred and six-year-old Harold. She shared her concerns with a group of women at Harrison Valley with the result that many of them helped her establish and furnish an orphanage in a house on Church Street. Miss VanDusen, Harold and Mildred moved into the home in June, 1916. Her next step was to contact the Potter County Commissioners about transferring children from Erie to Harrison Valley. The commissioners agreed and a week later two more children moved into the home. In November of the same year she applied for a charter and by December the house was too crowded. There were now ten children and two adults. Miss VanDusen moved the orphanage to a vacant two-story store in Mills in the spring of 1917 while she oversaw repairs to the George Hulbert property south of Harrison Valley, which had been purchased by her board of directors. Again there were many volunteers eager to help. In November 1917 twenty children and staff members moved into new housing. The board also purchased a small house, which they moved to the Hulbert property in 1921 when an outbreak of diphtheria resulted in a fatality. The little house became a hospital, office and private rooms for Miss VanDusen and her assistant. In 1927 the main house was destroyed by fire. The engineer of a train from Ulysses, Pennsylvania saw the flames and blew his whistle. Rescuers evacuated thirty children from second story windows, but one little girl died as a result of burns. Once again the group had to move. The board of directors purchased two houses on Main Street in Harrison Valley, with the smaller of the houses serving as an annex. In 1940 Miss VanDusen married Dr. Nathan W. Church of Ulysses. In 1941 fire destroyed the orphanage’s main house, but did not damage the annex. The board then purchased the Dodge Farm one-half mile west of Harrison Valley on Route 49. This 72-acre property had a house and barn and plans were immediately drawn up for enlarging the farmhouse. In 1948 a small cottage and garage were built for the superintendent. There were now 44 children in the Northern Tier Children’s Home and nine in private homes, under the Home’s supervision. The Home's working farm had its own manager who planted a large vegetable garden which provided some of the Home’s food. Generous contributions of food, labor and clothes continued to come in from surrounding communities. In 1958 the board voted to make a Christmas appeal for funds, a practice which has continued over the years. Thrift stores were opened to raise money for operating expenses. In 1968 the Home employed two teachers to work with the children after school to prepare them for final exams. A sewage plant and the Kear Youth Activities building were constructed in 1970 and in 1973 the largest building project in the history of the Home took place. Gehman Hall, an 11,525 square foot building, housed a kitchen, dining room, laundry and lounges. Two dormitory wings, each 100 by 38 feet were divided into two sections with rooms in each section for houseparents. Northern Tier Children’s Home now had a superintendent, assistant director, social worker, chaplain, crafts director, cooks, maintenance men, night watch staff and laundry personnel. The Children’s Home now owned 270 acres with dormitory, activity building, offices, staff housing, greenhouse and shop on campus. The children were given spending allowances for school, church and Christmas gifts. There was a supervised arts and crafts program and vocational training in shoe repair, shop, woodworking, machine shop and home economics. Residents gained work experience from kitchen and dining room assignments, farm activities, gardening and greenhouse work. They were encouraged to participate in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H activities. Initially the persons responsible for overseeing the Children’s Home were called matrons. Later titles included director, superintendent, administrator and executive director. Fern Burdick is the current executive director of Northern Tier Children’s Home. In July of 2001, the day-to-day operations of Northern Tier Children's Home were turned over to Adelphoi Village of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which leased the campus facilities. |
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