Juliette Fowler Communities

In the late 1880s, Juliette Peak Fowler dreamed of building a facility to care for aged and orphans. She traveled throughout the country researching social service facilities, but died before launching her dream. Her will specified that 15 ½ acres of East Dallas land that she had purchased and a trust fund she had established were to be used for the benefit of widows and orphaned children. Through this act of benevolence, Juliette has been identified by The Dallas Morning news as Dallas' first major philanthropist.

Her sister, Sarah Peak Harwood fulfilled Juliette's dream and chartered The Juliette Fowler Home for Children and the Aged in 1892 as a nonprofit in the state of Texas. In 1903, she created a formal association with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a relationship that remains in tact today.

The first home for children, opened in 1904 in Grand Prairie. Harwood Hall, the first permanent structure on the East Dallas property, began housing elders in 1911. In 1913 the children's program moved to the East Dallas location, thus fulfilling Juliette's vision for an intergenerational community.

Juliette Fowler Communities' services have grown and evolved as the needs of society have changed. Today Juliette Fowler Communities includes twenty five acres, more than 150 team members, and serves more than 450 children, youth, and elders annually from the East Dallas location at 1234 Abrams.