Children's Hospital

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  • Childrens Hosppital
  • Childrens Hosppital

Children’s Hospital

(former, now Elm Terrace)

68 High Street

Founded to serve physically-handicapped children, Children’s Hospital was located here from 1908 to 1948 and was a center for women’s volunteer work. Thirty-two women were on the Ladies’ Advisory Board in 1927, and 40 women were on the Board of Lady Visitors, who provided Christmas gifts, parties, and movies. The Junior League assisted with occupational therapy and arts and crafts. An affiliated nurses’ training school continued until 1930. The empty lot next door was the site of the Storer Mansion, The Elms, built in 1801, acquired by John Mussey in 1817, and later used for Children’s Hospital. The Children’s Hospital Building was purchased by the Salvation Army in 1948, became the Urban Adult Learning Center in 1962, and the University of Maine School of Law in 1972 (now at 246 Deering Avenue, which also houses executive offices of the University of Southern Maine) and was used as administrative offices by the University of Southern Maine until the construction of the Linda Abromson Continuing Education Center on USM’s Portland Campus. Community Housing of Maine in 2010 sought to convert the building to and construct affordable housing on the adjacent lot. The complex, Elm Terrace, was completed early in 2013. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in March, 2012.