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History | Timeline
In January of 1900, the Industrial Home Society was born through the vision and courage of the Reverend and Mrs. Uriah Gregory. The Home would later, in admiration and respect for the late President McKinley, take his name.
Through those first years, the kind Reverend and Mrs. Gregory cared for orphaned, homeless and abused children at their 33-acre ranch site in Artesia. The early supporters of the Home and the first members of the Women's Auxiliary reads like a "Who's Who" of the pioneers of Los Angeles. Some of the generous contributors that first year were Mrs. I.N. Van Nuys and her mother, Mrs. Lankershim, Gail B. Johnson, S.I. Merrill and H.E. Huntington. Within the next few years the other now famous names of Whittier, Canfield, Doheny, Keck, Brock, Hershey, Gilmore, Bekins, Chandler, O'Melveny and many other prominent citizens of Los Angeles joined these dedicated individuals.
About 1906, when the Artesia ranch site became too inaccessible from Los Angeles to be retained for a permanent facility, the Board of Directors decided to relocate on the electric car line to Gardena where, for the price of $12,000 they purchased an 80-acre parcel.
Only nine years later in 1915, and with over 100 boys in residence, it became obvious that, once again, it would be necessary to relocate the home. The city was growing up around them and the facilities became inadequate. By now the buildings included the cookhouse and laundry, the hospital, the school building, the chapel, the administration building and several dormitories.
 Following World War I, the need to improve and enlarge the Home was overwhelming. Through the gifts and extraordinary efforts of Mr. Mericos Whittier and the Kiwanis Club of Los Angeles, a new 200-acre site in Van Nuys was acquired. The new home was completed in 1923 and the capacity rose from 100 to 250 boys.
By the time McKinley was relocated to the Van Nuys site, the Home's program had changed. The Home still cared for many orphaned boys; however, a greater number of the youngsters came from half-orphaned or otherwise single-guardian home where quality care-giving and adequate supervision were difficult.
These boys were not delinquent. They were admitted to McKinley only after the parent or guardian made formal application. The application process included a thorough investigation of the boy's background, school grades, citizenship and attitudes, as well as proof of the family's financial inability to obtain enrollment for the child in a boarding school type facility.
The Home functioned for 38 years in Van Nuys, but following World War II, progress and community-housing demands almost swallowed McKinley. A new freeway (the Ventura 101) cut its way through the property and less than 30 acres of the original 200 remained.
Again, McKinley's Board of Directors was faced with finding a site for a new facility. Several commercial offers were made for the remaining McKinley land which was now very strategically located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. One such offer was accepted and, consequently, when the current site in San Dimas was found, it was purchased and plans for the rebuilding of McKinley Home were completed.
In 1961, ninety-six boys occupied the McKinley of today for the first time. The move to San Dimas would mark yet another historical change in McKinley's program of service to children.
During the next two decades, McKinley addressed the needs of the communities it serves by steadily increasing the level of its program intensity until, in 1985, the Home received a psychiatric rating from the State of California. The new rating set into motion the significant expansion of Treatment programs and services for McKinley's boys.
The McKinley Group Home was established to provide a homelike setting for at-risk young men with community living in a comfortable family-style atmosphere; giving them the opportunity to grow physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. They are assisted in creating positive and bonding relationships with each other and the group home staff. The primary goal is to prepare these young men to take their rightful place in society. To help advance this goal, weekly sessions are held at the group home in conjunction with participation in the California Community College Foundation Youth Education Service's Independent Living Program. The young men are counseled in making appropriate choices and accepting responsibility for the consequences of their action.
Another milestone was reached in 1992 with the establishment of the agency's own non-public school on the grounds of the main campus in San Dimas. After 20 years as a public program operated by the Los Angeles County School System, McKinley's Canyon View School became a direct component of the agency's service spectrum. For the first time in our history, educational services joined therapeutic, recreational and residential services in a single, cohesive program of healing and growth for our children. For each student, Canyon View School educators utilize a teaching plan designed in conjunction with the boy's treatment program. They simultaneously teach the three-R's while reinforcing self-esteem, teaching self-control and encouraging new levels of positive effort in all aspects of the child's life.
In 1994, McKinley's continuing program evolution made another leap into needed new services. The Family Ties Foster Family Program has been devised as an actual extension of the agency's successful campus-based residential treatment program. Individuals, couples and families who qualify for the program receive an extraordinary amount of training in basic parenting skills and foster parenting techniques before children are placed in their homes. Then they receive the full professional resources of McKinley's staff for counseling and guidance for the entire time children are in their home. Family Ties accepts both "graduates" of McKinley's residential treatment program who require continuing care, and at-risk children from surrounding communities. Foster homes are available for all ages of children from newborn infants to teenagers as old as 18 years. To reflect the expansion of services to include girls as well as boys, the agency modified its name in 1995 to McKinley Children's Center.
In 2003, McKinley Children's Center proudly celebrated the inaugural anniversary of its Day Rehabilitation program. Contracting with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, the seven days a week, four and a half hours a day program includes managing aggression, movement therapy, dealing with separation and grief, and preparation for expansion of life skills.
McKinley's Outpatient Mental Health program was developed in 2004 to offer mental health services to the community. Through a contract with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, McKinley provides mental health services to minors who are Medi-Cal recipients and who meet medical necessity to obtain treatment. The key component that separates this program from McKinley's other programs is that McKinley provides direct counseling services into children's homes. McKinley supplies weekly individual and family therapy as well as case management services to the child and his/her family. McKinley also offers multilingual services (Spanish and Japanese) and provides:
- Psychiatric treatment on our San Dimas campus
- Group therapy
- Transportation if needed
- Assistance with emancipation and independent living skills and
- Assistance in finding community support to help a family stabilize in the community
The children the Center now serves unfortunately reflect the changes observed throughout society: children trying to survive in abusive environments that are often related to parental use of drugs, alcohol or both. Some of the children have been abandoned. They arrive depressed, sad and angry. These are children who are suffering severe individual difficulties caused by the intense physical and psychological burdens of turbulent environments. At McKinley Children's Center they face the opportunity to grow and learn in a safe, stable and caring place.
As it was in 1900, and following in the footsteps of its founder, McKinley's mission and deep commitment remains to improve the quality of life for our children. McKinley was founded and continues to operate as a true outreach to the community. With no fundamental attachment to any specific organization, but with widespread ties to hundreds of individuals, families and groups in dozens of neighborhoods, McKinley serves as a pivotal point where the care and concern of the community-at-large turns into direct action and aid for some of its most vulnerable children.
The Center has provided over a century of service to more than 20,000 boys and girls. We are proud of our programs and the results we have achieved, and we remain committed to assisting today's youth for the personal and professional challenges of tomorrow.
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