The Firman House was founded as an outreach mission in 1872 and became a sturctured, self-identified social service agency in 1927. The Firman House Records mainly reflect their later years as a social service organization in the City of Chicago. The digitized material from this collection includes photographs of Firman House activities.
There are more materials in this collection that have not been digitized. To see the full collection, please consult the Firman House records Finding Aid and visit the Richard J. Daley Library Special Collections Reading Room.
Firman House began as a Congregational Church on the Near West Side of Chicago, which later became a mission in 1872. In 1891, with the aid and recommendation of a committee from the Second Congregational Church of Oak Park, several churches combined to form the Ewing Street Congregational Church. It is believed that Butler Winfield Firman, a member of this committee, was instrumental in accomplishing the consolidation. In addition, Mr. Firman believed, and stressed to his colleagues, that a mission was essential in this area. In 1891, Mr. Firman accepted a position at the Ewing Street Congregational Church as the Sunday School Superintendency; a position he held until his death ten years later. Shortly after, the church took Mr. Firman's name, becoming Firman Church. Two of the church's early members included Jane Addams, co-founder of the Hull-House Settlement Houses, and Florence Towne, leader of Erie House.
In 1912, after incorporation, the agency took the name Firman House. Between 1912 and 1948, the agency moved three times within the Ashland Avenue area, south of Harrison Street. In 1948, Firman House came under full sponsorship of the Presbytery of Chicago and moved to 53rd Street. As ethnic Europeans moved away from near South Side neighborhoods in the 1950s and 1960s, the communities became predominantly African-American. In response, Firman extended its services by providing newer, more intense responses to social needs and established a satellite office in the Robert Taylor Homes in 1962. Beginning in 1962, Firman House also hosted several Head Start Programs. And, in 1963, Firman House began offering a preschool to neighborhood residents. In 1969, the agency changed its name to Firman Community Services, Inc., in order to reflect its broad scope of services. Since its inception as a church-based mission, Firman Community Services has expanded to a full-service, neighborhood-based social service agency providing services at ten locations.
The image featured at the top of this collection is FIRR_0005_0116_001, "Young adults with a sled in the snow".