Shortly after 1900, the Board of
Supervisors of Knox County and the Associated Charities of Knox County entered
into a relationship, which continued for several years. Their purpose was to provide for the welfare
of dependent and delinquent boys and girls.
This relationship developed as a result of the passage of the first
Juvenile Court Act in the United States. The Illinois Legislature was the first
legislature to perceive that there was a need for a court system to examine the
relationship of children and their parents and children and the community. The ultimate goal was to provide for these
children.
In May of 1913, Mary Davis
McKnight, a widow, gave to the Associated Charities of Knox County, Illinois, a
house and lot located on South Cherry Street
across from the courthouse in Galesburg, Illinois. The Associated Charities used this building
as their headquarters and also for a detention home. It was known as the Association
Building. From time to time children were placed in the
home by the County Judge;
the Board of Supervisors paid for their keep.
This arrangement continued until September of 1917.
At the September meeting of the
Board of Supervisors, Mrs. Dyke Williams, Mrs. B.F. Arnold, Mrs. G.A. Perry and
Mrs. Charles Webster were granted the opportunity to present some matters to
the County Board
relating to the Associated Charities and the Detention Home. They advised the board that the Associated
Charities construct a new building at the same location. In June of 1919 Knox
County acquired the title to the
property located on South Cherry Street. At this time, it changed its name from the
Association Home to the Knox County Mary Davis Detention Home. During most of this period, Mary O’Mackin
acted as probation officer for Knox County
and she placed a number of children in the Home. Her reports indicated there were from nine to
twelve children living in the Home during March 1, 1919, to June
1, 1919.
From this time on the Home was
operated as a Detention Home from general county funds, until the depths of the
depression of 1929. During that period
the Board of Supervisors saw fit to discontinue operation of the Home in order
to economize. The building was then used
by the Galesburg Township Relief Office, and also as the ration board office
for the federal government during World War II.
During the general elections of
1946, Gale A. Mathers was a candidate for County
Judge, and he, with the aid of the
Galesburg Chapter of the League of Women voters and the Knox County Board of
Supervisors, submitted to the voters a proposition that they levy a tax for the
operation and maintenance of a Detention Home.
This proposition succeeded, but it was not until 1948 that the Home
began operation. The first
superintendent of the Home was David Mort.
During that first year there were admitted to the Home fifty-one
children. Over the years this figure
slowly increased until in the fiscal year of 1965-66 there were a total of one
hundred twenty-two children admitted to the Home.
In 1966, the home operated under
the supervision of its superintendent, William Mackenzie, and his wife, Donna
Mackenzie. They lived at the home with
their four children and a varying population which averages approximately ten
dependent, delinquent boys or girls. The
goal was to have it resemble a family home, each child having his or her own
duties and responsibilities. Meals were
served family style. The children were
assigned rooms according to their ages and temperaments, with the exception of
those children who are kept in detention.
The superintendent and his wife act as the father and mother figure for
these children and discipline is completely within in the control of the
superintendent while the children remain in the Home. In 1968, due to the increase in the number of
children admitted to the home and a desire to have a safer and more secure
building, an 18-bed facility was constructed on the corner of Fifth
Street and Locust Street.
In 1975,
Randy Storm became superintendent of the Home. In the years that
followed, the Home became strictly a detention home, a place holding youth from
the ages of 10 to 16 years awaiting court. In 1985, Rebecca Simmons was
appointed Assistant Superintendent. A transportation program was created
in 1986, initially serving nine counties, which eventually grew to twenty-one
counties, in northwestern Illinois. Consequently, admissions to the Home began to increase
and an expansion was necessary. In 1991, the Home built an addition to
increase its capacity to thirty-nine beds.
It also added a behavioral modification program based on William
Glasser's Reality Therapy. Michael Blythe was appointed as the first
Program Coordinator.
In
2004,
Rod Cleair was named the Home's new Superintendent and Andy Bonis
became the Assistant Superintendent. Currently, the Home serves
nineteen counties in
northwest Illinois. The majority of
clients are sent to the Mary Davis Home until they have to return to
court. Some clients are admitted to
complete a disposition of a certain number of days at the Home. Other clients are sentenced by a judge to
complete the Choices Program, the current behavioral modification program.
