St. Joseph Home history

In 1888, the fledging Sisters of St Joseph of Concordia went to the cowtown of Abilene to establish St Joseph Academy as a school for girls, on land just north of the town on what is now Buckeye Avenue.

My grandfather, Tony Wellnitz, born 1889, adopted two sons from a convent in Kansas City.

In an effort to provide a warm and secure environment for the babies and children that were arriving every day, Saint Joseph’s outgrew three buildings before it settled its 161 residents into the present location in 1900.

After they closed it, the property was purchased by the Concordia Diocese, which renovated it in 1915 and asked the Concordia sisters to open it as an orphanage and home for the aged.

My mother, Rosella Ferron Falls and 3 older siblings were place there after their mother Cordelia Ferron died on December 7, 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic.

By 1924, a home for the elderly residents had been built in Concordia, and so the Abilene facility became strictly an orphanage, with as many as 80 children living there at any one time.

My dad Joseph McCarthy and my Uncle Tom McCarthy were in a children’s home in 1940 census in St Joseph Missouri I’ve been trying to find records on that it was the Buchanan County Children’s Home Farm School any information would be appreciated

In 1976, the Sisters revamped organizational efforts to serve this growing population with complex disabilities among people of all faiths.

In addition to these veteran programs, the opening of the Blakely Street Campus for Adult Day Services in 2003 enabled St Joseph’s to extend this year-round service for young people with intellectual disabilities, to individuals who were outside the Center’s residential programs.

Home SellingJeff SeehorschJanuary 08, 2020