The corporation which
owns and is responsible for the operation and management
of Murray House was organized in 1829 and, 12 years later,
in 1841, incorporated as the Mobile Female Benevolent Society.
The individuals who were its organizers were members of
the Government Street Presbyterian Church. Their ministry
was to provide comfortable living quarters for dependent
elderly women.
The site for the Society's
first Home was donated by Judge Henry Hitchcock, grandson
of Ethan Allen of Revolutionary War fame. Judge Hitchcock,
a prominent citizen of Mobile during the early 1800's, also
helped finance the building of Barton Academy and Government
Street Presbyterian Church. The first Home was a row of
one story brick houses on the north side of Eslava Street
between Warren and Dearborn Streets, known as "widow's Row."
The management of the Home was directed by the Ladies Aid
Society, a volunteer board under the auspices of the Government
Street Presbyterian Church. In the early days it was also
supported by a group of Mobile citizens known as the "Can't-Get-Away
Club." The Can't-Get-Away-Club was the name given to a group
of people who remained in Mobile to nurse the sick" rather
than leave the city to escape a yellow fever epidemic. At
one time, orphans as well as the widows of Mobile Confederate
soldiers who had been killed in the Civil War were admitted
as residents of the Home.
The Society grew through
contributions from friends and fund raising projects. In
1897 the Gazzam House, a large home located at 1257Government
Street (now the site of Murray House), was purchased by
the Society. This home sheltered the ladies until 1939 when
it was razed to make way for a new two-story brick structure.
Thirty four years later, in the early 1970's, the Home was
once again expanded by purchasing the property next door
and adding a single story wing to the east side of the building.
This allowed the Society to provide housing and care for
up to 19 residents. The Mobile Female Benevolent Society
is frequently mentioned in histories of the care and treatment
of the elderly in America. Other organizations with similar
ministries preceded it, but the Society (now the The Benevolent
Home of the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast,
Inc.), with its unbroken 171 year history, may be the oldest
organization in America, still providing housing and services
to our elders. Although the care of the residents of the
Home was gracious in every sense of the word, the buildings
did not conform to present day code and licensing requirements.
In 1995, to accomplish the repair and renovation required
for licensure, the owning corporation, the Mobile Female
Benevolent Society, Inc., became an agency of the Episcopal
Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast. The association with
the Episcopal Church was the result of a ministry to the
Home fostered years earlier by the late J. Douglas Stirling,
Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, and Sally Greene,
who, at the time, was Senior Warden. The name of the owning
corporation was changed from the Mobile Female Benevolent
Society, Inc. to the Benevolent Home of the Episcopal Diocese
of the Central Gulf Coast, Inc. The name Murray House was
chosen by the Bishop and the Members of the Standing Committee
to honor the first Bishop of the Diocese, The Rt. Rev. George
M. Murray. After a
detailed study of the two buildings the diocesan agency
chose to renovate the 1939 building and replace the 1973
expansion with a larger and more efficient 42 apartment
residence. (The 1939 building, the building next to All
Saints, is a "Contributing Building" as designated by the
Mobile Historic Development Commission.) The exterior architectural
design of both the old and new sections of Murray House
were studied in detail and approved by both the Architectural
Review Board of the Mobile Historic Development Commission
and the Oakleigh Garden Society.
On October 30, 1997,
Murray House was licensed as a congregate assisted living
facility by the Department of Licensure and Certification,
State of Alabama (License #003050). Its first residents
moved in the following day.
Murray House consists
of 42 apartments. Each apartment has a private, handicap
accessible bathroom, plus a large walk in closet. The total
apartment size is 310 square feet. A state-of-the-art emergency
response system connects each apartment to a nearby resident
assistant station.
Residents at Murray
House receive: three meals daily, served in a central dining
room; maid service; laundering of bed, bath, and personal
linen; an activities program; transportation to Shopping
centers, church services, the senior center, doctors offices,
and recreational events; utilities and assistance as may
be required to maintain as independent a life style as possible.
