Grace Arents
Grace Arents | |
---|---|
Born | 1848 New York City, U.S. |
Died | June 20, 1926 Henrico County, Virginia, U.S. | (aged 77–78)
Resting place | Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
Partner | Mary Garland Smith |
Relatives | Lewis Ginter (uncle) |
Grace Evelyn Arents (1848 – June 20, 1926) was an
Early life
Arents was born in New York City, the sixth of seven children of cedar barrel maker Stephen Arents and his wife Jane Swain (née Ginter).
When her husband died in 1855, Jane and her seven young children moved to Richmond to live under the protective wing of Ginter, who at the time was a wealthy dry goods wholesaler.
After the Civil War, the Arents family followed Ginter to New York City, where he became a banker. He returned to Richmond in 1874, and Grace Arents and her mother soon followed. They lived together at Ginter's home at 405 East Cary Street near the city's business district. Grace's brother George also lived with them briefly, but rejoined his other three sisters in New York, where he became an avid collector and benefactor of the New York Public Library.
In 1890, Grace's uncle landed a fortune as a founding member of the American Tobacco Company.[1]
Philanthropic career
Trained as a nurse, as was common with women in the deaconess movement of that era, Arents helped establish the Richmond chapter of the Instructional Visiting Nurse Association, which also drew upon the lessons of the Settlement House movement, exemplified by Jane Addams in Chicago, among other socially active women. Arents valued her privacy fiercely, as had her uncle, and avoided publicity. She also avoided an ostentatious lifestyle. Arents never posed for a public portrait and few images of her have been found. She supported the Episcopal Church and became known for her work among the city's poor, mostly in a self-effacing way, or simply through her checkbook.
When her uncle died in 1897, Arents inherited approximately $1.2 million, which she used to transform Richmond.[2] One of her nicknames became the "Angel of Oregon Hill", referring to a poor neighborhood in her adopted city which received many of her philanthropic efforts.
She was a voracious reader and in 1899 established the Grace Arents Free Library on (224) Cherry Street in
Arents donated the Lewis Ginter Community Building for the
An elementary school for which Arents donated land and $5,000 towards building costs was completed in 1911 and named in her honor. Since 1989 the site has housed Open High School (Virginia).[8] Arents also helped establish the Playground at Clark Springs, one of Richmond's first.[3][9]
Charitable support
Among the many institutions she supported are:
- St. Andrew’s Episcopal Churchand its free school
- Grace Arents Free Library on Cherry Street in Oregon Hill at 224 South Cherry in Oregon HillWilliam Byrd Community House)
- Grace Arents School (now Open High School)
- Lewis Ginter Community Building for Ginter Park
- Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
- St. Andrews School
- Instructional Visiting Nurse Association
- Playground at Clark Springs, one of Richmond's first.[3][9]
Death and legacy
Arents died on June 20, 1926, and is buried in the
A Virginia historical marker commemorating her philanthropic career stands a few blocks from the cemetery entrance, next to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The obituary in the Richmond News Leader said enumeration of the "libraries, recreational centers, schools, churches, hospitals, and similar institutions" would be impossible to list.On the 87th anniversary of her death, St. Andrew's Church commemorated her life and continued legacy.[11] However, she remains virtually unknown, having ordered her journals and other correspondence destroyed at her death.[12]
In 2018 the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that Arents's name would be on the Virginia Women's Monument's glass Wall of Honor.[13]
References
- ISBN 9781609493806.
- ISBN 9781625858511.
- ^ a b c d Oregon Hill District National Park Service
- ^ "Grace Arents". Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ "Lewis Ginter is 'Greatest Richmonder of All Time'". Richmond On The James. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ Staff, R. F. M. "Planting Seeds of Good Will". Richmond Family Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "The Social and Cultural Elite and the Hidden "Gay" Society · Rainbow Richmond: LGBTQ History of Richmond, VA". OutHistory: It's About Time. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "Grace Arents School 1943". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ a b Lewis Ginter; "Greatest," Richmond on the James
- ^ Kollatz Jr., Harry. "The Invisible Philanthropist". Richmond Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Grace Arents Commemoration". Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ Kollatz Jr., Harry. "The Invisible Philanthropist". Richmond Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Wall of Honor". Virginia Women's Monument Commission. Retrieved April 13, 2022.