Grayson County TXGenWeb

Woodmen Circle Home

Sherman Democrat
America Always Edition
July 4, 1976

Orphans Home Here 4 Decades
Empty buildings surrounded by unkempt grounds overgrown with weeds at the intersection of Highways 1417 and 56 are the only remains of an orphanage that was more than just an institution and home for the aged that was more than "just a place to die" for more than 40 years in Sherman.
The Woodmen Circle Home closed its doors in 1970 as regulations for nursing homes and orphanages were strengthened by the state beyond the realm of feasibility for the existing structures at the Sherman site.
Woodmen Circle Home was home for almost 100 orphans or "little Woodmen" as they called themselves, and cared for more than 150 aging members of the Supreme Forest Woodmen Circle.
The Supreme Forest Woodmen Circle was organized in 1891 as the Supreme Forest of the Mystic Circle, and its main reason for being was to provide life insurance for women, an unheard practice for women in the late 19th century.
The society's name was changed in 1892 when it was adopted as the auxiliary of the Woodmen of the World. In 1959 the two organizations merged.
Doors of the new home, located on a 214-acre tract on a hill overlooking Sherman, opened on February 3, 1930 for the children. The first aged members arrived on February 26, 1930.
The first unit of the home consisted of 26 sleeping rooms with lounge, library, solarium, diet kitchen and playroom. In 1938 this unit was re-christened the "Dora Alexander Talley Building" in honor of the national president from 1934 to 1935. Mrs. Talley was instrumental in founding the home. She was the sister of J.A. Alexander, Sherman real estate salesman who with his wife was formerly a superintendent of the home.
In 1932 the second unit was completed specially for the children. It consisted of four large bedrooms, each large enough to accommodate five or six children and two smaller bedrooms. The unit also contained a matron's room with a large living room, study room, sewing room, playroom, dining room, kitchen and manual training room. It was name the Pennsylvania Building because half of the cost of its erection was donated by Pennsylvania members.
An annex was built to the Dora Alexander Tally Building in 1940. It included 30 sleeping rooms, a sewing room, lounge, courtesy kitchen and sunroom.
An infirmary was built on the upper floor of the Tally Building in 1956 as a memorial to Mrs. Tally. The infirmary included nine hospital rooms and seven convalescent rooms.
The house was self-sustaining, with a farm on which the children shared duties. A herd of Brown Swiss cows provided pure milk and butter for the residents.
J.A. Alexander and his wife Dora had the longest tenure as superintendent and hostess of the home beginning in 1939. He retired in 1956, and Mrs. Alexander left the home in 1962. They are remembered fondly by the "little orphans" as "Mister" and "Missy".
A Sherman resident, Mrs. Russell Pelley, who was raised in the home from the age of two, says the Woodmen Circle Home was the best thing that could happen to an orphan.
"We were the most fortunate orphans possible," she said. It was more than an institution. It was home."
"Mister and Missy are still considered the grandparents of my own children,"she said.
"I remember one time we visited another orphanage while on vacation," she said, "and I remember being shocked and thinking, 'those poor orphans'."
"We were like one big family and had almost every advantage of other children," she said.
Mrs. Pelley was disappointed the home was closed. "I'm sure there are still children today who need a home like that," she said. "There were hundreds of Woodmen members who counted on the home if they ever were in need of such a place."
Today the property is owned by a group of businessmen.

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