Did you know that St. Mary’s Home for Children has been in existence for 143 years.
St. Mary’s opened its doors in 1877 as an orphanage within the Episcopal Diocese. Reverend Daniel Ingalls Odell was rector of St. Mary’s Church in East Providence, when a couple in his parish died, leaving two children. During the same winter another couple died, leaving five children. Father Odell took them in and provided for their care and St. Mary’s was born! Of course, today’s St. Mary’s looks very different from that original orphanage with modern high-end psychiatric residential housing, extensive mental health programs, and a special education school.