Cook, Clarissa, Home for the Friendless

About this property

Clarissa Cook Home for the Friendless is a historic building located in the west end of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Ebenezer Cook was born February 14, 1810, in Oneida County, New York, to Ira and Rachel (Faxon) Cook. His younger brother was John Parsons Cook, and the two worked together their whole lives. Ebenezer bought 1,200 acres (490 ha) of land in 1835 that would in time become part of the city of Davenport, and moved there with his extended family in 1836. He and his brother entered the legal profession and helped establish Scott County in what was then the Wisconsin Territory. They were joined in their law practice with John Forrest Dillon, who later became a judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit. The brothers became involved in banking and set up a chain of private banks across Iowa and Western Illinois until the country-wide panic which began in 1857. In 1851 the brothers were influential in routing the railroad through Davenport. Ebenezer became a director and then vice president of the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad when it was organized in 1853, and upon its subsequent consolidation became a director and later vice president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway. Ebenezer Cook died October 7, 1871. Clarissa C. Cook (née Bryan) was born August 4, 1811, in Sydney, Delaware County, New York, and died February 19, 1879. She was a daughter of Fowler P. and Lucretia Bryan. She was known for carrying out the wishes of her husband and their philanthropy to the City of Davenport and the Episcopal Church. Through her generosity, both during her life and after her death, she was instrumental in building Trinity Church, the Cook Memorial Library, the Clarissa Cook Home for the Friendless and the establishment of a number of trusts for the benefit of the Episcopal parishes and activities in the Diocese of Iowa and elsewhere. In 1884 the Rt. Rev. William Stevens Perry proposed a goal to the Diocesan Convention that the Diocese of Iowa undertake a greater role in social ministry. The inspiration was the Social Gospel Movement that was popular at the time. The Clarissa Cook Home became part of the mission of the diocese to carry out this goal. The original focus of the facility was indigent women who were 60 years of age or older. They were required to pay a $100 admission fee and they were given a place to live for the rest of their lives. They were also required to have a black dress for their burial and a Bible. The home was set up for communal-style living. As time went on the home continued with a more general philosophy of housing elderly women without reference to their economic situation. The name of the facility was shortened to the Clarissa C. Cook Home. A gardener's cottage was added to the facility in 1893.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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