Effie Maud Aldrich Morrison (January 2, 1876 – March 29, 1957) was a jeweler in

Millville, New Jersey Millville is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 28,400,senior housing A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple i ...

project in the United States, which consisted of 14 homes. She was a deputy director of the

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

Welfare Board in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Morrison received several awards for her work designing retirement communities.

Early life

Morrison was born at

Monson, Massachusetts Monson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Monson Center lies at the ...

, on January 2, 1876. Her parents were Henry Edward Aldrich and his second wife Sarah Elizabeth (Lamphear) Aldrich. She had two brothers: Louis Edward Aldrich (18711954) and Harry Earl Aldrich (18801970), and three half-brothers; Charles Frederick, George Henry and Rufus Leland Aldrich.

Mid life

Morrison married Carl Viets Griffin in Massachusetts when she was about 21 years old in 1897. They had one son, Carl Henry Griffin. They moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

sometime around 1905. Morrison's husband was employed as an advertising agent and worked in the Drexel Building. The two were divorced in December 1914. Morrison remarried in Philadelphia the following year to Edward Carlton Morrison when she was 39 years old and her new husband was 23 years old. In 1916 they moved to

Millville, New Jersey Millville is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 28,400, Morrison was the deputy director of the

Welfare Board in 1932, where she developed a concept for a "colony for senior citizens". Morrison contacted several people to transform the concept into a policy and then worked on its implementation in reality. Morrison first conveyed the idea to New Jersey Governor

Arthur Harry Moore Arthur Harry Moore (July 3, 1877 – November 18, 1952) was an American Democratic politician and attorney who was the 39th governor of New Jersey, serving three nonconsecutive three-year terms between 1926 and 1941. As of , Moore remains t ...

, who forwarded the concept to

Leon Henderson Leon Henderson (May 26, 1895 – October 19, 1986) was the administrator of the Office of Price Administration from 1941 to 1942. He also served as a member of several United States federal government agencies during World War II. Life and career ...

. He was a Millville native and an economic advisor in the Roosevelt administration. The concept was added to the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) as the first senior housing project in the United States. The WPA spent $30,000 () to build the 14 houses before it turned them over to the town of Millvill, which had donated of land for the venture. As part of the turnover, Millville agreed to keep the houses in good repair and served as the landlord. The retirement colony was built on land the town of Millville had repossessed for back taxes and became known as the "Roosevelt Colony". It was later renamed to the "Roosevelt Park" old age colony and was sometimes referred to as the Colony for the Aged at Roosevelt Park and Roosevelt Park Colony for Aged. When it opened on October 23, 1936, it became the first senior citizens' retirement colony in the United States. The colony consisted of 14 houses, each named after a flower, on lots . The houses were in a large square which had graded streets and sidewalks. There was a central community house for social activities within the project square with a resident colonist as a manager and caretaker. The community house had a fireplace, an assembly room, and game rooms. Each of the 14 white cottage-style houses at Roosevelt Park had a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. Seven houses for married people rented for $7 () per month. There were seven slightly smaller houses designed for single people that rented for $5 per month, which included water and electricity. The houses were designed with the elderly in mind so that housekeeping chores would be minimized, and each came with a vegetable or flower garden. Residents received $15 monthly from the state under the Old Age Assistance Act that established the "old-age assistance" program in 1932. Morrison's experiment in old age living was a successful project and expanded to 33 homes with 50 people by 1952 and she became its superintendent. Roosevelt Park was expanded to 37 homes with 58 people by 1959. File:Roosevelt Park Millville NJ houses.jpg File:Roosevelt Park Millville NJ house 1.jpg File:Roosevelt Park Millville NJ house 2.jpg File:Roosevelt Park Millville NJ house 3.jpg

Societies and clubs

Morrison was an active member in the Soroptimist Club, the South Jersey Social Workers, Millville Red Cross, Eastern Star, Horticultural Society and Woman's Club of New Jersey.

Awards and honors

Morrison in 1949 was named Millville's citizen of the year by the city's Board of Trade. She was awarded in 1950 a plaque at the New York convention of Soroptimists for her civic work. Morrison was a winner of the 'South Jersey Woman of the Year' award for 1951 for work with the elderly. She was chosen as "Woman of the Year" by the

New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs (NJSFWC) was founded in 1894 and is currently located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. NJSFWC is the largest volunteer women's service organization in the state of New Jersey and a member of the General F ...

in 1951. She received in 1952 the Cecilia Gaines Holland Award for founding the Roosevelt Park as a retirement community.

Later life and death

Morrison died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

at the age of 81 at Zurbrugg Hospital in

Riverside, New Jersey Riverside, New Jersey may refer to: * Riverside Township, New Jersey, a township in Burlington County * Riverside station (River Line), a light-rail station in Riverside Township * Riverside, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, an unincorporated communit ...

, on March 29, 1957. She is buried at the Lakeview Memorial Park cemetery in

Cinnaminson, New Jersey Cinnaminson Township is a township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. Cinnaminson Township borders the Delaware River, and is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 1 ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Effie 1876 births 1957 deaths People from Millville, New Jersey American social workers Elder rights activists Real estate and property developers Housing for the elderly in the United States Social workers People from Monson, Massachusetts 19th-century American women 20th-century American women 20th-century American people