The Union Rescue Mission is a homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles. It was founded in 1891 and is now the largest private homeless shelter in the United States.

History

The first organizational meeting was on December 4, 1891, for a work called the Pacific Gospel Union. In 1891, the population of Los Angeles was about 55,000 and growing rapidly. Major George A. Hilton, a popular evangelist who had founded the Central Union Mission in Washington, DC and directed it for nearly ten years, was the first superintendent. Hilton (1836-1908) had served in the 12th Regiment of the New York Volunteers during the Civil War. He was promoted to major and captured at Harper's Ferry by Stonewall Jackson. He worked for the U. S. treasury department for fifteen years while developing a ministry as an evangelist, eventually being ordained in the Presbyterian church.

The first board of directors included Samuel Ingham Merrill (president of the board), E. B. Hays (secretary), Judge B. M. McDonald, W. W. Cockins, H. W. Mills, A. M. Armour, Lyman Stewart and George J. Binder.

The downtown mission had its own Bible institute beginning in January 1892 and employed a Bible woman, Clara Carver, who did home visitation. Florence E. Weir, the mission's part-time secretary, also did home visitation.

After Major Hilton retired in 1893, a Rev. Mr. Hare became superintendent, succeeded by Colonel C. S. Mason in 1894. Mason filed a report indicating the following statistics for one year of activity: 648 meetings, 35,580 people attended, 408 converts, 19,188 meals served, 456 people given clothing. Mason's 1894 list of board members included a whole new set of prominent laymen. Lyman Stewart was still on the list, and new members included H. G. Wylie, H. A. Getz, Charles H. Barker, T. E. Nichols, B. Bassell, W. A. Spencer, Dr. Carson, M. Pierce, J. H. Myrick, Dr. Galbraith, and Dr. Morris.

In 1903 the mission relocated to permanent quarters on Main Street, changed its name to Union Rescue Mission, and retained a Mr. Jeffrey as director. Records for this period continue to be spotty; chairman of the board Benjamin F. Pearson reports that Will C. Trotter was superintendent around 1905.

The 1906 board of directors includes several names that overlap with Biola's history: Giles Kellogg, H. A. Getz (vice president), Frank F. Pratt (secretary), W. E. McVay (treasurer), Judge Curtis D. Wilbur, Walter H. Fisher, Benjamin F. Person, John A. Merrill, S.A. Brown, T. L. Ambrose, J. M. Irvine, Dr. W. B. Percival, John Lowe, Dr. F. E. Corbin, G. Aubrey Davidson, Leon V. Shaw (state president of Christian Endeavor), T. J. O'Kelly, and James G. Garth. Garth, known as "sunny Jim," had been converted under the preaching of William R. Newell and Will Trotter.

In 1907, superintendent Will Trotter allied himself with the brand new Pentecostal movement (the Apostolic Faith Church) and its teaching on tongues. The board of directors met with Trotter and all sides agreed on an amicable separation. Pearson filled in as superintendent until George Trotter, Will's brother, came to take over.

The mission incorporated on January 23, 1908 with fifteen directors: Giles Kellogg (secretar of Union Oil and president-elect of the new board), Frank F. Pratt (secretary), W. E. McVay, Walter H. Fisher, H. A. Getz, John A. Merrill, John Willis Baer (banker and president of Occidental College 1906-1917), Curtis D. Wilbur (later on the US Circuit Court of Appeals), Benjamin F. Pearson (superintendent of the Edison Co.), T. C. Horton, S. A. Brown (funeral director), T. L. Ambrose (later judge of Superior Court), J. M. Irvine (rancher), James Garth, and Leon V. Shaw.

In January 1906, Lyman Stewart paid a salary for T. C. Horton to be assistant pastor in charge of Bible teaching at the rescue mission. After Horton moved his ministry to the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, his Fisherman Club continued to meet one evening per week in the mission. A number of Bible training schools were started around this time, all short-lived. The mission had one in the 1890s, as did Central Presbyterian Church. Britton Ross, described as "Biola's very first student," was a convert of the mission.

I. L. Eldridge had come to Los Angeles to study at Biola in 1912, and served as superintendent of a mission branch from 1912-1919, then of the entire mission from 1929-1934, and again in the 1940s and 50s.

R. A. Hadden was superintendent in 1914.

In 1915, during a financial crisis, Milton Stewart and W. E. Blackstone offered $100 per month to help cover operating expenses. (p. 94)

In 1931, Union and Biola considered merging, but decided that their goals and needs were too different. By 1937 the mission launched its own Bible training school featuring free board, lodging, clothes, and books. 34 students enrolled under Biola graduate Rev. Joseph W. Johnstone. The work was short-lived.

Sources

Helga Bender Henry, Mission on Main Street (published by Union Rescue Mission, Los Angeles, 1955). Preface by Wilbur M. Smith. 200 page book by the wife of Carl Henry.