Albion Fellows Bacon

Albion Fellows Bacon was born on April 8, 1865, in Evansville, Indiana. Throughout her life she championed many causes, famously fighting to improve housing conditions. She organized numerous activist groups, building herself a legacy that stands to this day. In 1888, Albion married Hilary Bacon, a banker from Evansville and had four children with him. Not long after the birth of her fourth child she became involved with local charities. She discovered through her volunteering the squalid conditions of Evansville’s riverfront slums. Residences were neglected by landlords, poorly constructed and maintained, and often lacked basic necessities. Despite these horrific conditions, Evansville residents who called these slums home could not afford to live anywhere else. She petitioned against low public housing standards but met with little success on the local front. Along with her housing advocacy she organized other activist groups, such as the Flower Mission (for poor working women), the Men’s Circle of Friendly Visitors (a group of men involved in the church and civic work), an Anti-Tuberculosis League (to prevent the spread of Tuberculosis), and the Monday Night Club (citizens dedicated to charitable works within the community). Another of her accomplishments was drafting an Indiana state law that would improve substandard housing. Though it passed in 1909, amendments limited the bill’s effectiveness. Despite this, Albion Fellows Bacon’s continued determination led her to organize the Indiana Housing Association in 1911. In 1917 she helped pass legislation that created state inspectors whose job was to condemn unsafe housing that was “unfit for human habitation”. This bill, along with an earlier 1913 law regulating multi-family home construction, went a long way to protecting the state’s poorer citizens who often lived in such buildings. After the passage of the 1917 bill, Albion Fellows Bacon continued to serve her community for the rest of her life. She spent time serving on the committee of the Indiana Child Welfare Association and as president of the Indiana Conference of Charities and Corrections, as well as pushing for child labor laws until her death on December 10, 1933. Albion Fellows Bacon’s legacy continues to live on. In the 1970s, a group of concerned citizens from Evansville began a coalition against domestic violence in their community. Inspired by Albion Fellows Bacon, they named their non-profit organization after her, the Albion Fellows Bacon Center. Today, this organization continues to serve victims of domestic violence.