Florence Edwina Pouty Robinson 1858-1942	William Oswald Robinson Died on August 29, 1927

Twin Lakes Camp serves Special Needs, At Risk and other children and youth from the Midwest States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and other states. Twin Lakes Camp provides physically challenged kids and young adults the opportunity to interact and socialize with others with disabilities. Campers come from diverse ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.

One of the First Teachers of Handicapped Children In the Chicago Public Schools.

THE EARLY YEARS – 1858-1896

Born at her parents’ farm home in Jericho, Chittenden County, Vermont on September 6, 1858, Flora E. Prouty later became known as Florence E. Robinson.

Her parents were one of New England’s oldest families, dating back to Richard Prouty, who came from England in 1667 to settle in Plymouth Colony. Her mother’s profession was that of a housekeeper; her father’s occupations varied from farmer to cabinetmaker to wheelwright to undertaker.

It is assumed that the family lived in a wooded frame house where the kitchen served as family living room and where the parlor was used for courting, weddings and funerals. Homes were heated by cast-iron stoves, lighted by kerosene lamps and protected from insects by iron meshed screens. Cooking was on a wood or coal stove and water was either pumped or hauled from a nearby well. A wooden washtub served for the weekly bath, and the back house served other basic human needs.

The cow barn, which doubled as a horse stable, afforded plenty of storage space for root crops and hay as well as space for country-dances. Much of the family’s recreation revolved around church socials. Horses served as pet, transportation and sport.

Little is known about Ms. Prouty's education. She undoubtedly attended an old-fashioned country schoolhouse. Since the nearest high school was some fifteen to twenty miles away, she either did not attend or boarded with a family nearer to the school and returned home on weekends. It is doubtful that the Prouty family could have afforded one of the private academies of higher learning. It is also unknown what prepared her for the life, which she would soon undertake in Chicago.

By the time the 1900 census was taken, neither she nor her parents were residents of Jericho.

THE MIDDLE YEARS – 1896 TO 1928

It is not known when Ms. Prouty left Vermont for Chicago. Her first classroom for crippled children was opened in Chicago in September of 1899 and she may have begun teaching in Chicago as early as 1886. Furthermore, it is unknown what took her from the tranquility of 19th century rural Vermont to the dirty, noisy, rough-and-tumble city that was Chicago at the turn of the century.

Her first classes for handicapped children were held at the William Fallon Grammar School at 4170 Wallace Street near the old Union Stock Yards on Chicago’s south side.

The following six (6) paragraphs are taken from a newsletter entitled The Spot Lite, dated May 20, 1942:

1. When her first class for crippled children opened in September 1899, Mrs. Robinson (then known as Miss Prouty) faced 16 children and a multitude of problems in the fields of medicine, food, and transportation.

2. No two of the 16 children had the same affliction; none had received previous medical care. There were no shiny busses to take them to doctors or clinics, and many came to school half-starved. Unflinchingly, sympathetically, in her own humanitarian way, Mrs. Robinson met these problems. For a long time she was teacher, nurse, matron, engineer, architect, everything. There was no money to be spent but there was an abundance of energy, all Mrs. Robinson’s.

3. The children were brought to school in horse-drawn bus attended by a city policeman. For many, the journey required from two to two and one half-hours. Most of the children came from poor families, too well indicated by their appearance and inadequate lunches. Mrs. Robinson served them soup, cocoa, or stews each day, and prepared the meal herself on a gas plate in the cloakroom until the Board of Education provided an attendant.

4. There were few competent orthopedic surgeons at the turn of the century; there were no nurses to attend the children at school; there were no bandages, antiseptics, or other medical supplies. However, Mrs. Robinson made bandages out of old clothes and sheets, and applied them before school, at noon, and at recess time.

5. Because it was unaware of these problems, the public was uninterested. Mrs. Robinson set out to combat this apathy. She talked to prominent persons (including William Wrigley of chewing gum fame and Gustavus Swift, the meat packer), women’s clubs, welfare organizations and other groups, and finally sought the aid of the best orthopedic surgeon in the city, Dr. John Ridlon. She presented her case so clearly, so forcefully, that at the end of the interview the doctor said, “I am yours to command. Anything that needs to be done for these children I am ready to do free of charge, whenever necessary.” It was through Dr. Ridlons' efforts that the old Wesley, St. Luke’s, Mercy and County hospitals offered to furnish free beds when needed.

6. Yet, the clinic transportation problem had to be solved. The manner in which Mrs. Robinson solved that problem, caused a Chicago newspaper reporter to later write, “It was a familiar sight in the Stock Yards district to see a strong young woman carrying a crippled child in her arms on the street cars between Fallon School and the Wesley Hospital.” The strong young woman was Mrs. Robinson. She took the children to the clinic herself, one by one, after school hours and on Saturdays, and never missed an appointment.

In time and with growing interest from prominent citizens, the school board gradually increased Mrs. Robinson’s budget.

In 1910, she established what would become her most lasting legacy. The summer camp which she opened in northern Indiana that year and which she named “Happy Haven Camp for Crippled Children” has operated continuously, except for one year at the end of W.W.II, ever since. Her goal was to provide a summer camping experience for handicapped children from the Chicago area. In addition to the camp experience, she started taking her pupils to city parks, museums, and summer excursions to southern Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

The site, which she selected for the camp, was then serviced by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In her many excursions, she had noted that the children seemed to be “in the way”, and she wanted a place where they would receive the same consideration as if they were not deformed. This consideration is what she found at Twin Lakes where people took an interest in her pupils and sought to make their stay pleasant. Children were transported to Twin Lakes in a special railroad car, which took over one hour to load and off-load.

The site on which the Twin Lakes camp is located has a rich history. Between 1600 and 1700 the Yellow River Band of the Potawatmi Indians, under the leadership of Chief Menomonee, migrated to this area. Soldiers eventually forced the group from the Twin Lakes area.

During the early years of the camp, children slept in army tents. Eventually, permanent shelters/buildings were erected, including three dormitories, a large dining hall (also used for a meeting hall and kitchen), a craft building and outdoor toilets.

Funding was always a problem for Mrs. Robinson. During the depression, she did not know if she would be able to pay her staff, but the camp continued to operate. Buildings, though, deteriorated and conditions became critical.

On March 21,1923, she married William Oswald Robinson in Chicago. He had been a prominent attorney who was influential with Mrs. Robinson in many of her legal dealings. He served as President/Treasurer of the South Side Crippled Children’s Aid in 1926. William died on August 29, 1927 while at the camp. All of his estate was willed to Mrs. Robinson and eventually to the camp.

On March 3, 1933, she deeded the property at Twin Lakes to the South Side Crippled Children’s Aid for one dollar on the following conditions:

This property is to be retained and used for the benefit of crippled children. I further direct that no trees on the property be cut down or destroyed except insofar as the same may become dangerous, or unless necessary to make room for new camp buildings and improvements connected therewith.

It was in 1945 that the camping season had to be cancelled because of insufficient funds and the poor condition of the buildings and grounds. To make matters worse, a dam was constructed. It raised the level of the lake several feet, resulting in considerable flooding of the grounds.

In 1947, the camp became known as Kiwanis Twin Lakes Camp for Crippled Children. Clubs from Division IV of the Illinois-Eastern Iowa (I-I) District of Kiwanis International (Division IV used to included clubs which are now in Division III, including Archer Road District, Englewood, Hyde Park, Roseland, South Central, South Chicago, Southwest Chicago, Stockyards Area and Woodlawn South Shore and Oak Lawn) assumed the responsibility of assisting in the necessary fund raising and assisting the Board of Directors (mostly Kiwanians) in supervising and directing the administration of the finances and operation of the camp.

For approximately the last 30 years of her life and up to her death in her home at 5:45 P.M., February 6, 1942, Mrs. Robinson lived in a Afro-American ghetto on Chicago’s South Side. At this address 3443 Vernon Avenue, for an unascertainable amount of time around 1926, the South Side Crippled Children’s Aid Society maintained a home for crippled children. At one point, it was reported that in her home there were fourteen crippled kids long since grown to maturity. Nobody else wanted them. Florence had sheltered them for many years. They occupied all the bedrooms in her big house. Where did Florence sleep? Her cot was in the living room behind the piano.

THE FINAL YEARS – 1928 TO 1942

Mrs. Robinson was described as kindly, but strict, as far as camp rules were concerned. There were those who thought her to be a “crabby old lady”, but they certainly constituted the minority opinion. The majority remembers her with nothing but fondness and great respect for what was accomplished on behalf of those less fortunate, her underlying kindness, and her occasional impatience with childish misbehavior. After all, she was still running the camp in her seventies.

She retired from the Chicago Public School System in the mid 1920’s, but never stopped being a teacher. She instilled in her campers an appreciation for the trees and the birds, and for the Indians who were on the site earlier. She taught love for American heritage. Each morning and evening the flag was raised and lowered and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. She taught racial tolerance in an era of epidemic racism. She taught interdenominational moral and religious values and each Sunday morning taught the verse:

"One Rule to guide us in our lives, Is always good and true.

Tis do to others as you would, that they should do to you."

Mrs. Robinson was truly a pioneer in an age of pioneers. Her eighty-three years paralleled many historic events that shaped our American society. Eighteen presidents, from James Buchanan to Franklin Roosevelt, served during her lifetime. She was a young child at the outset of the Civil War, and old enough to remember the assassination of Lincoln. She was a young woman during westward expansion. Four major wars were fought during her lifetime and she witnessed such inventions as powered flight, radio, telephone, and the automobile.

She attended the camp annually from its inception in 1910 until the summer before her death. She once wrote, “I’ll come back to the camp after I cross the river, God willing and watch over my beloved crippled children forever and ever.” A sign on a wall at camp used to bare these words, written by Mrs. Robinson and her husband:

The waters of the blue lake will sparkle, and ripple and murmur; the sun will rise and set in his magnificent splendor; the moon will silver the sleeping forest; and the crippled children will laugh, and shout, and play forever; and we shall watch, and we shall listen, and rejoice.

It is the realization of many that an enormous debt is owed to this great humanitarian,

FLORENCE PROUTY ROBINSON.