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