A History Worth Celebrating: Martin Luther Home Founded 100 Years Ago
Seeing a need and responding to it has driven Mosaic’s mission from its beginning. In 1925, a group of Lutherans in Southeast Nebraska saw the need for a residential school that could educate children with disabilities and train them in a skill that could help them earn a living.
They responded by opening Martin Luther Home in Sterling, Nebraska, and from the start, the goal was for people to learn and then to return to their hometowns and lead full and productive lives. That was quite forward thinking for 1925.
This year, Mosaic is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Martin Luther Home, which, along with Bethphage (also started in Nebraska), formed Mosaic in 2003. Both Martin Luther Home and Bethphage’s stories are part of Mosaic history.
The announcement of the school was welcomed by families across the Midwest. Just 11 days later, four children arrived by train from North Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa. The building, which originally housed the Martin Luther Academy and had closed, was not yet ready for them. So the wife of one of the founders welcomed the students into the family home and cared for them alongside her own children until the school was ready about three months later.
The residential school, where staff also lived, relied only on donors’ support. Individuals and churches in the area would provide canned goods at harvest time, help with darning and sewing, participate in coin programs to generate gifts for the home and more. Finances were often tight. At one point, one of the founders took out a personal line of credit to keep the home running, trusting in faith that he would be repaid through donations from the next Home Day, an annual celebration that started in 1926 and continues today.
Over the years, Martin Luther Home came to house not just children but adults with disabilities who had no place else to go. It had its own farm, with crops, poultry and livestock. The ministry survived the great depression, World War II and countless other challenges, only because of the dedicated staff—which included a couple of Lutheran Deaconesses—and generous donors and volunteers.
By the 1950s, it was evident the building was growing too decrepit to continue using, so they raised the funds to build a new, state-of-the art school in a neighboring community named Beatrice. That campus still exists, now with an added physical development center with gym and swimming pool, a large chapel and a workshop.
In the 1970s, public funding through the state and federal government became available. At the same time, a national movement away from institutions was happening, focusing on the rights of people with disabilities to live in communities. Martin Luther Home was ready to expand.
In 1978, the organization expanded into Colorado and opened homes for eight children. Eventually, Martin Luther Home grew to have services in 10 states: Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Texas, Delaware, Kansas, California and North Carolina. It also explored assisting with service development in Tanzania. When the organization united with Bethphage in 2003 to form Mosaic, that reach grew even farther.
An anniversary celebration will take place October 5, 1–4 p.m. on the Mosaic Campus in Beatrice, Nebraska and is open to the public. A highlight of the anniversary celebration will be the opening of the Martin Luther Home Museum on the campus. It’s a history worth sharing, because a small response to a recognized need has now benefited thousands of people with disabilities, their families and their communities.
That same impulse moves Mosaic today, as an organization that is called to love and serve others.
Learn more about the Martin Luther Home Centennial Celebration. Please RSVP to the event below.