264 – Guardian Angel Home
December 6th, 2008
Located at 2900 W. Heading Ave, Peoria Il., Guardian Angel Home is run by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria.
Guardian Angel Home is a long-term residential treatment facility for boys and adolescent males ages 6-18 referred by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). These young men often present significant mental health and behavioral issues, and many have been abused and neglected. Guardian Angel Home meets the social and emotional needs of its residents by providing a structured environment, focusing on behavior modification. Residents are generally DCFS wards who need significantly more structure and treatment than what is available in a foster home placement.
1880 – St. Mary’s Orphanage was established in Metamora by Archbishop John Lancaster and operated by the hospital Franciscan sisters.
1913 – Bishop Edmund M. Dunne decided to move the orphanage to Peoria. For $13,000 the 28-acre Oesterles’s Grove, a popular picnic ground in West Peoria, was purchased.
Aug. 15, 1914 – St. Mary’s orphanage moved from Metamora to Guardian Angel Home in Peoria. The name change is attributed to Bishop Dunne’s fond memories of his Chicago Italian parish, Guardian Angel.
1925 – Bishop Dunne asked a community of sisters from the East to organize a Peoria Diocesan Catholic Charities.
1972 – Bishop Edward O’Rourke assigned the ration of Guardian Angel Home to CSS. This was the first major change in 50 years at Guardian Angel. Under the direction of CSS, Guardian Angel facilit were expanded to serve a variety of needs including an emergency reception center for emotionally-disturbed children and a long-term home for pre-teen and teenage boys and girls. The Heading Avenue Sisters (Sisters of St. Francis of Immaculate Conception.) withdrew from Guardian Angel after 83 years of service.
1979- Tha Huong residential program for unaccompanied refugee children opened in a wing of Guardian Angel. The program ended in 1991.
