Florence Crittenton, the daughter of a prominent
New York businessman, Charles Crittenton, was four years old when she died of
scarlet fever in 1882. Devastated by the death of his beloved Florence, the
millionaire father began attending prayer meetings. 
It was at one of these meetings that Charles Crittenton met an evangelist, Smith Allen. During a missionary tour with Allen to the "red light district," Crittenton met two young prostitutes and told them how the death of his much loved daughter led to his religious conversion.
The girls, moved by Crittenton's story, expressed a desire to also lead a Christian life. To his dismay, Crittenton discovered that there were no alternatives to life on the streets for these young women.
From that day until the first home was opened on April 19, 1883, Charles Crittenton devoted himself to providing a safe haven for the young women of the streets. When that first home opened in New York City to serve "lost and fallen girls," it was called "The Florence Night Mission" in memory of his own daughter. For the next 25 years, Crittenton devoted his life to the National Florence Crittenton Mission, as the organization he founded came to be known.
Dr. Kate Waller Barrett
Kate Waller Barrett came to devote her life to helping unwed mothers and their babies. Born into a well-to-do Virginia family in 1857, it was after her marriage to the Reverend Dr. Robert S. Barrett that she was exposed to the hardships unwed mothers had to endure in the eyes and attitudes of Victorian America.
Encouraged by her husband, she entered and graduated from the Women's Medical College of Georgia in 1892 as a doctor of medicine. She brought this medical knowledge into her work. Dr. Barrett started a home for wayward women in Atlanta and it was there in 1893 that Kate Waller Barrett first met Charles Crittenton, which was the beginning of a long and significant association.
In 1895, a home was established in the nation's capital that soon became national headquarters for the Florence Crittenton Mission and a model for other homes throughout the nation. Charles Crittenton was president and Dr. Barrett was the vice-president.
A Home Opens In Knoxville
In 1896, a group of Knoxvillians banded together out of concern and a desire to help "fallen" women and girls and opened the Florence Crittenton Home. This home was in operation until the onset of World War I when funding became non-existent and the home was closed.
In 1963, another group of concerned community leaders saw a need to help young unwed mothers and The Florence Crittenton Agency of Knoxville, Inc. was re-chartered. The Florence Crittenton Agency still remains true to its original purpose -- to help any young woman in need -- and continues the work started by a remarkable man who many say greatly influenced changes in America's attitude toward moral behavior.
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