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Jessie
Binford
"In her six
decades as a social worker, Miss Binford battled with local and
state politicians in what she called a crusade aimed at the delinquency
of adults against children." — The Des Moines Register, July 11, 1966
Jessie
Binford, once known as "the conscience of Chicago,"
was a longtime associate of Jane Adams, founder of Chicago's
Hull House. She was born in Marshalltown in 1876 and worked for
60 years as a social worker and advocate for the poor at Hull
House on Chicago's slum-ridden west side. In her efforts for
children's rights, Binford opposed child labor in the garment
industry. She founded the Juvenile Protection Association and
was its director for decades. At over 80 years of age, she waged
a two-year court fight to save Hull House from demolition. When
she lost, Binford returned to Marshalltown, where she organized
a club for underprivileged boys. Shortly before her death in
1966 at age 90, she donated her family home to the community
and moved into a hotel. Binford was inducted into the Iowa Women's
Hall of Fame in 1977.
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