Methodist Home for Children history

If you are interested in engaging a speaker for your group, contact Carole Boughter, MSS/MLSP, Director of Development at 215.877.1925, ext.

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s the Children’s Home grew much of its own food, tended dairy cattle and raised a variety of animals.

Doctor Hubert Johnson, administrator from 1933-66, was instrumental in the development of the Waco campus.

Described by Doctor Hubert Johnson as “the most momentous event in the history of Methodist Children’s Home,” Joe Perkins, a philanthropist from Wichita Falls, made his first visit to MCH in 1934.

Doctor Daniels entered MCH at age 2 in 1937, along with six siblings, and he lived here until he graduated from high school.

The first cottage, the Lois Perkins Home, was built in 1938.

The orphanage’s name changed in 1955 to the Methodist Home for Children and shifted from a strictly residential program to offering outreach programs and services.

In 1971, the home established a ranch ten miles east of Waco for troubled teenage boys to build a solid foundation for their lives through education and leadership opportunities.

On May 15, 1978, Doctor Jack Kyle Daniels became the only former resident of Methodist Children’s Home to serve as its president.

Our Day Care Center began serving the community in 1982.

The Methodist Children’s Home celebrated its centennial in 1990, having sheltered more than seventeen thousand children in Central Texas in its long and storied history.

A tremendous period of growth began in 1998 with the addition of the Bruton Counseling Center, Waller-Jeter Cottage, the completion of the Worrell Education Center, and the renovation of Hardin Hall, the largest building on campus.

When Bobby Gilliam, a longtime childcare professional at Methodist Children’s Home, became its ninth president in 2003, he led MCH through a strategic planning process that strengthened its program and resulted in a goal to double the number of children in care from 500 to 1,000.

In 2018, MCH served more than 6,000 individuals across Texas and New Mexico.