Hendrick Home for Children (HHC) was established in 1939 by Thomas and Ida Hendrick with the vision to help children and families. Today the HHC campus sits on 52 acres in Abilene, Texas, and has served hundreds of children and families.
Our History Timeline
• Thomas “Tom” Gould Hendrick was born on October 23, 1862, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
• Ida Nations was born on August 12, 1866, in Gonzales County, Texas.
• On May 13, 1888, Tom and Ida married in Union Church in Alpine, Texas.
• The Hendricks had one child, Joseph, in 1889, who died in 1892 of dysentery diphtheria. They did not have any other children.
• The Hendricks bought acreage in Winkler County in 1917, which turned into the beginning of Hendrick Field due to a lucky strike of oil on the property in 1926.
• Tom and Ida moved to Abilene in 1932 and became generous contributors to the West Texas Baptist Sanitarium (now Hendrick Health), Hardin Simmons University, First Baptist Church (Friendship Mission), and several individuals who wanted to attend college or had basic needs.
• The Hendrick Home for Children building was designed by architect, David S. Castle, in 1938. The doors opened in 1939 with 12 children from three families.
• From 2019 – 2021, Hendrick Home underwent a major renovation to the main building and several of the cottages on the campus.
• Today the campus includes one main building with 14 apartments, administrative offices, a dining facility, nine structures for living quarters for the Family Care and Basic Care programs, playgrounds, gymnasium, swimming pool, baseball field and horse barn. The third floor of the main includes a museum of the Hendrick legacy and exhibits of the original building.
