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Old Canon Kip House Closes and New One is Opened

The doors of 246 Second-st were finally closed today, for the first time in 26 years, ending a chapter of Canon Kip House.

And with a great deal of homesickness for the old firetrap where they administered to the babies, the children and the less fortunate of South of Market, Henry Ohlhoff and his staff opened a new Canon Kip Community House at Eighth and Natoma-sts.

An $82,000 fund, solicited among and by friends and without a high pressure campaign, made the new structure possible, but left a deficit of several thousand dollars that will be met somehow—“somehow,” just like the house has carried through all these years.

Three Divisions

There are three major divisions of work at the house—a day nursery for children of working mothers, the neighborhood center for recreational activities, the dispensary to help the poor in their medical and dental needs.

Each as new quarters, some new or redone furnishings and appointments, in the new house. Everything is spic-and-span, so much so that “it’s too clean and things won’t be the same, I guess,” said Mr. Ohlhoff, a clergyman who doesn’t look like a clergyman. “Wait’ll we dirty up a bit.”

There is a gym which will serve for dances, two kitchens and separate reading and play rooms for boys and girls; there are rooms for meetings and classes. The gym may be used as an auditorium for entertainments and movies.

Care for 40 Children Daily

Neighborhood activities are under the guidance of Mrs. Eva Stackpole; Mrs. Beatrice Thompson heads the day nursery; Mrs. Janet Murray, with an unpaid staff of five doctors and five dentists, runs the dispensary

About 40 children per day are cared for in the nursery at a cost of 89c per child day; mothers pay what they can—averaging about 20c each. The nursery is taking the children of men in war services without charge.

Operated as a non-sectarian service, Canon Kip House is owned by the Diocese of California, but the major support comes from the Community Chest—$16,500 a year.


The San Francisco News
April 11, 1942
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