History

With roots tracing to 1919, the Munroe-Meyer Institute has provided more than a century of caring for children with disabilities.

Support and Growth

It all started in 1919, when a group of Omaha citizens – including several doctors from the budding University of Nebraska Medical College, known today as UNMC – formed a charity dedicated to helping children during the nation’s polio epidemic.

Other key landmarks

• The charity’s founding of the Hattie B. Munroe Convalescent Home in 1922.
• The co-location of the Hattie B. Munroe Home with the new C. Louis Meyer therapy center on the UNMC campus in 1959.
• UNMC’s assumption of management of the previously privately run Munroe and Meyer facilities in 1968.
• MMI’s explosive growth in the half century that followed, the institute rising up to address needs both in Omaha and across the state in emerging fields like genetics, recreational therapy, autism, learning disabilities and behavioral health.

Hattie B. Munroe

It was a typical summer day in 1926 at the big red brick home that the resident kids came to simply call "Hattie B." Confined to bed with her body in a cast, Gertrude sang "Polly Wolly Doodle" at the top of her lungs. Outside, kids were playing a game of tag. Tommy fell down, calmly picked himself up, placed his crutches back under his arms and resumed his running. Another boy, Johnny, didn't join in the game, walking slowly with the aid of crutches across the yard. But given his progress, perhaps one day he would be able to engage in such play. Just a year earlier, the boy had been unable to stand, only getting around by crawling.

From the beginning, it's clear that Hattie B. Munroe Home for Convalescing Crippled Children was making a mark.

Excerpt from, "A Century of Caring - The History of the Munroe-Meyer Institute" by Henry J. Cordes.