14     The Senior Reporter  |  January Regional Senior Housing Directory 2018

In Duluth Heights near Arrowhead 

Road stands an attractive older 

three-story red brick building set 

back from Arlington Avenue with 

a tree-lined driveway, manicured 

green lawn, and floral setting. The 

sign at 2221 Arlington Avenue says 

McCarthy Manor, but old-timers 

know the building as Arlington 

Home.  
Built in 1909, on 10 acres of 

farmland and meadow, Arlington 

Home was the first of St. Louis 

County’s homes for the afflicted and 

indigent. With the name Arlington 

Home inscribed above the front 

doors, the building originally served 

tuberculosis patients until they 

moved to Nopeming in 1924. Then, 

after the county remodeled and 

fireproofed the building, it became 

an industrial school for girls until 

1934. This 24-bed county home for 

girls learning industrial trades was 

sometimes referred to as a home for 

“Wayward Girls.” Walter Eldot of 

the Duluth News Tribune called it 

the Arlington School. 
Then in 1934, the women’s 

department at nearby Cook Home 

closed. Since the Cook Home 

was just across Arlington Avenue 

from Arlington Home, the female 

residents moved to the Arlington 

Home as a companion building 

to Cook Home and part of the St. 

Louis County Poor Farm. Cook 

Home had previously admitted 

both men and women going back 

to 1905 with a second floor for 

women paupers. Cook Home also 

had a tuberculosis pavilion built in 

1910 with an upper floor just for 

women. 
Arlington House now admitted 

women needing temporary 

convalescent care, while Cook 

Home continued to house long-

term care women residents, having 

their own lounge and dining room.
In 1947, Cook Home started 

changing their mission from poor 

farm to nursing home as fewer 

transients and more permanent 

residents needed care. By 1948, 

Arlington Home also changed its 

policy to include women requiring 

long-term care as well. This 

change was inspired by federal 

funds, which made aid available to 

counties. 
As the mission changed for 

Arlington Home and Cook 

Home to become county homes 

for the aged and infirm, their 

administration changed within 

the county as well. Now operated 

under the supervision of the County 

Welfare Department, Arlington 

Home’s staff remained the same 

with building superintendent Chris 

Jensen and home supervisor May 

Morrow.
May R. Morrow was hired as 

supervisor at Arlington Home in 

1934, after working as a registered 

nurse at the Duluth Clinic for 19 

years. When she started, Arlington 

Home had just been converted 

from the girls’ industrial school into 

a women’s care residence. Under 

Morrow’s supervision, an infirmary 

from

arlington 

home

to 

McCarthy 

Manor

North Country History 
by Rachael Martin
Photos by  
Rachael Martin