"Summerhill Homes was formed by the merger of the Montreal Ladies Benevolent and Protestant Orphan Society where it operated six group home for orphans in the Montreal Area. The head office for Summerhill Homes was located at 4444, Ste-Catherine West in Westmount."
Summerhill Homes evolved from the oldest English language social agencies in Montreal. In 1815 the Female Benevolent Society was founded to aid indigent women with small children, the sick, the aged and the infirm. Until its founding the only sources of relief for the poor and the sick were the Hotel Dieu, the convents and the bread lines of the Gentlemen of the Seminary. The name of the society was later changed to the Montreal Ladies Benevolent society.
In 1817 the society bought a house in Recollet Suburb and called it the House of Recovery. Its purpose was to provide for the sick and the poor and to educate children. In time the work of the Society led to the establishment of the Montreal General Hospital.
In 1822 the Montreal Ladies Benevolent Society was temporarily dissolved due to financial difficulties. The closing created need for new shelter for the orphans who had previously been cared for by the society. For several months the orphans were cared for by English and Scottish church parishes, but later that year, 1822, the Protestant Orphan Asylum was established to care for them. In 1832 the Montreal Ladies Benevolent Society was re-established.
After holding a public meeting in May 1856 the House of Industry and Refuge requested the Ladies Benevolent Society take over the inmates of their institution as it was about to be closed due to lack of funds. The House of Refuge was amalgamated with the Montreal Ladies Benevolent Society in 1868.
In 1947 the Montreal Ladies Benevolent Society and the Montreal Protestant Orphans' Home merged to form the Montreal Ladies Benevolent and Protestant Orphans Society (Act II, George Vi, c.128). In 1962 the Montreal Ladies Benevolent and Protestant Orphans Society ceased operation and sold the facility. The remaining children were placed in foster homes or returned to their families. At the request of the Board of Directors a survey of the agency and the total situation in the Protestant Child Welfare field of Montreal was carried out by the Child Welfare League of America. The final recommendation of the survey was that the Montreal Ladies Benevolent and Protestant Orphans Society should either operate small treatment centres for emotionally disturbed children or a number of group homes for boys and girls who needed to live away from their home but could not make an adequate adjustment to an ordinary foster home. In 1963 the Board of Directors chose to adopt the second recommendation.
In 1970, Summerhill Homes was formed by the merger of the Montreal Ladies Benevolent and Protestant Orphan Society where it operated six group home for orphans in the Montreal Area. The head office for Summerhill Homes was located at 4444, Ste-Catherine West in Westmount. In 1977 Summerhill Homes joined with the Girls' Cottage School, Weredale House and Allancroft reception centers to form Youth Horizons.
