History of Immanuel House
At the height of the Civil War, a benevolent Hartford textile magnate, Lawson C. Ives, built two small apartment houses on Hartford's then-fashionable North Main Street. He did it as an actor of private charity to provide free, or at the most, very low-cost housing for up to two dozen indigent Hartford widows. The buildings came to be known, as they still are, as the Ives or Widow's Homes.
Ives died in 1867, and his will deeded the homes to the care of two city Congregational churches. For a century, these churches, which eventually evolved into today's Immanuel Congregational Church, conscientiously administered their affairs.
Then, in the 1960's, when Hartford's North End began to suffer seriously from inner city decline, the people of Immanuel Congregational Church felt it was time to do something new. Selling the Widow's Home to the city, and making use of low interest government loans, they constructed a nine-floor, high-rise directly across the street from their church in the western section of the city. This building was named Immanuel House and opened its doors in the fall of 1971. Since then, it has been home not only to widows of limited means, but also to low-to-moderate income retirees of both sexes and widely varied ethnic origins - an inclusive community of over two hundred residents.*
In 1982, the Board of Directors of Immanuel Church Housing Corporation established the Immanuel Church Foundation for the Elderly, Inc. to develop and support the extensive activities and programs that make Immanuel House "more than just a place to live."
*Edwards, Robert L. More Than Just a Room - Immanuel House and Its Predecessor. 1996.
Ives died in 1867, and his will deeded the homes to the care of two city Congregational churches. For a century, these churches, which eventually evolved into today's Immanuel Congregational Church, conscientiously administered their affairs.
Then, in the 1960's, when Hartford's North End began to suffer seriously from inner city decline, the people of Immanuel Congregational Church felt it was time to do something new. Selling the Widow's Home to the city, and making use of low interest government loans, they constructed a nine-floor, high-rise directly across the street from their church in the western section of the city. This building was named Immanuel House and opened its doors in the fall of 1971. Since then, it has been home not only to widows of limited means, but also to low-to-moderate income retirees of both sexes and widely varied ethnic origins - an inclusive community of over two hundred residents.*
In 1982, the Board of Directors of Immanuel Church Housing Corporation established the Immanuel Church Foundation for the Elderly, Inc. to develop and support the extensive activities and programs that make Immanuel House "more than just a place to live."
*Edwards, Robert L. More Than Just a Room - Immanuel House and Its Predecessor. 1996.
