Flower, Lucy Louisa (1837-1921)

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Mentioned in (5)
Written by (1)
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Benjamin Barr Lindsey to Jane Addams, September 13, 1904

Benjamin Barr Lindsey to Jane Addams, December 5, 1904

Probation Work Under Civil Service, March 17, 1906

Mrs. J. T. Bowen, January 1912

Mrs. J. T. Bowen, January 1912

Lucy Louisa Flower to Jane Addams, November 15, 1911

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Birth Date

1837-03-10

Death Date

1921-04-27

Birthplace

Boston, MA

Biographical Text

Lucy Louisa Flower worked as a public school teacher in Madison, Wisconsin, and then operated a private school after the public schools closed. She and her husband moved to Chicago where she became involved with philanthropic activities involving children. In 1875, Flower became a member of the board of the Half-Orphan Asylum and then the board of the Chicago Home for the Friendless. In 1880 she founded the Illinois Training School for Nurses with Sarah Stevenson, and she served as its president for eleven years and then its director until 1908. Flower led the effort to establish a state industrial school for boys, and though Illinois legislation rejected the idea, it spurred interest in the public, and a private school was opened instead in 1889. In 1887 she helped organize the Protective Agency for Women and Children, and a year later she helped form the Lake Geneva Fresh Air Association, which provided vacations for poor urban children. In 1891 she was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education. Flower was elected to the post of trustee of the University of Illinois in 1894, and she was the first woman to hold a statewide elective position in Illinois. She was also the vice president of the Chicago Bureau of Charities in 1894. Flower worked with Jane Addams and Julia Lathrop to create the juvenile court system in Chicago, and in July 1899 the Cook County Juvenile Court was created. She also founded the Juvenile Court Committee and served as a court adviser.

Flower married James M. Flower in 1862. Flower died in 1921.