VMP History

VMP is the coporate name for a family of senior retirement communities and health services owned and operated by a single not-for-profit Christian based company.

VMP started in 1925, as a home for the aged on 11th and Kilbourn Ave.  As years passed the names and location changed, eventually becoming VMP located on the south side of Milwaukee. Based on Christian values, the tradition continues today.

Our Historic Timeline (1869 - Today)

1869 – The city and the state’s first Women’s Foreign Missionary Society (and the second in the entire United States) is organized at Summerfield Church in Milwaukee.

1883 – The first Deaconess Home was established.

1881-1883 – The Milwaukee “Mission and Extension Society” is organized by the Rev. Henry Colman.  This body of generous, substantial Methodist men of business and “fine consecration” makes possible the financing of six Milwaukee Methodist churches in ten years.

1884 – Mrs. R. W. Patterson, a Methodist member of the Summerfield Church and president of the “Women’s Working Band” founds a protestant, non-sectarian home for the aged.

1885 – The “Chicago Training School for City, Home and Foreign Mission” is established by Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer and her husband, J. Shelley Meyer, in rented quarters with packing box furniture.

1886 – The work of the American Methodist Deaconesses begins.

1888 – The Methodist Church’s General Conference authorizes the “Office of Deaconess” in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1890 – The City Mission is legally reorganized and incorporated as the “Milwaukee Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.”

1892 – Edwin Hyde aids the Summerfield Methodist Church and Mrs. Patterson in the erection of a new home, the Milwaukee Protestant Home for the Aged.

1893 – Methodist women in the Milwaukee area, feeling that there should be organized deaconess work in the city, organize the first Deaconess Aid Society on June 6th naming Mrs. A.W. Kellogg president.  Mrs. R.P. (Elizabeth) Elmore, after whom a Methodist facility for the elderly would later be named, purchase the old Summerfield Methodist Episcopal parsonage at 186 Biddle Street (1986 location somewhere on Kilbourn Avenue) for $7,500 and presents it to the Deaconesses as their new home.  She requests that it be called “The Milwaukee Deaconess Home.”

1893 – Grant Hall is self-sustaining.  It is owned and operated by The Milwaukee Deaconess Home of The Methodist Church, a Wisconsin (non-profit) Corporation.  The Deaconess Home began. 

1893 – On June 29, Repairs are completed and furnishings purchased for The Milwaukee Deaconess Home.  The Deaconesses immediately write to Mrs. Meyer in Chicago for a superintendent and are sent Mrs. Jennie Eberman.  The home formally opens with a donation party.

1894 – In August, the Deaconess Aid Society becomes a corporation and the Articles of Association are filed.  A Board of Managers is elected with the Rev. J.R. Creighton, presiding elder of the Milwaukee Methodist Church district, as president.

1894 – The Milwaukee Deaconess Home of the Methodist Church was incorporated by the state of Wisconsin.

1895 – On November 13th, the Board of Managers assigns one Deaconess to each of the area churches and missions.

1898-1899 – That winter, Mrs. Elizabeth Elmore, a Board Member and longtime supporter of the work of the Methodist Deaconesses, passes away.  Also, throughout this two year period, a city-wide movement of Milwaukee Methodists, under the leadership of “E.P. Elmore of Summerfield and City Mission,” (unclear whether or not this is Mr. or Mrs. Elmore) attempt to pay off all debts on Milwaukee Methodist churches.

1899 – In January, a new superintendent, Miss Comstock, is named.

1899 – On May 20th, an offer is made to purchase the Milwaukee Deaconess Home and remainder of the old Summerfield parsonage property.  The Board of Managers set the selling price at $6,500 and appoints a committee to investigate future sites for a new Deaconess Home.

1901 – On October 22nd, Superintendent Comstock of the Milwaukee Deaconess Home encourages the Board of Managers to consider establishing a mission under the care of a Deaconess.

1901 – In November, the Good Samaritan Mission, 558 E. Water Street (now 1016 N. Water Street), is opened.  The work of the Deaconesses here includes parish visiting, statewide evangelistic work, home nursing, distribution of food and clothing and other material aid, fresh air work, finding work for the unemployed, and many other forms of service.

1903 – On May 9th, The Deaconess Aid Society requests of the Board of Managers that improvements be made on The Milwaukee Deaconess Home or that a new one be built.

1903 – On June 16th, the Milwaukee Deaconess Home is listed for sale with a real estate agent.

1904 – On September 27th, the Board of Managers elects Miss Demis Smith of Chicago as the next superintendent upon the resignation of Miss Mary Comstock, effective October 1, 1904.

1905 – On March 20th, an amendment is made to the bylaws of the Deaconess Aid Society that a Deaconess shall receive a compensation of $96 per year and one month of vacation after 11 months of employment.

1907 – On October 2nd, Superintendent Smith resigns and although many names surface as possible replacements, there is no success in finding a successor to Smith.  Instead a number of “acting superintendents” are named through 1909.

1908 – A “Working Girls Home” comes into existence as a Methodist enterprise, a part of the work of the Deaconess settlement.

1909 – On January 1st, the Board of Managers votes to join the Deaconess Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1909 – On September 23rd, the Board of Managers moves to approve the purchase of a site at 3226 Wells Street for $7,000. (No record exists in the public library of this address or where it might be now.)

1909 – On December 7th, Miss Mary C. Grant’s name surfaces as a possible superintendent but her employers at the New York Deaconess Home and Training School respond to the Board of Manager’s request that they are unable to release her from her current responsibilities.
The Milwaukee Deaconess Home is again put on the selling block with a new minimum selling price of $6,500 including a 20% commission for the real estate agent. 

1919 – The Milwaukee Deaconess Home of the Methodist Church became a “Deaconess and Girls Home.”

1925 – The mission of providing quality care and services formally began, Milwaukee’s only Methodist retirement home called the Elmore Home for the Methodist Deaconesses.

1925 – Home for the Aging was built in Milwaukee.

1928 – The new building, erected from the purpose, was dedicated.

1934 – The building was named “Grant Hall,” honoring Deaconess Mary C. Grant who was retiring after 24 years as Superintendent.

1943 – Two houses, now known as Grannex and Grantmeyer were added for Deaconess, Business Girls and Students at a capacity of 150.

1953 – Deaconesses Maurine L. Humphreys and Margarette V. Stafford urged that Milwaukee Deaconess Home on 11th Street and Kilbourn Avenue be moved to the 20-acre site surrounded by 84th Street, Oklahoma Avenue and Beloit Road for the new “Elmore Home.”  With the help of Milwaukee businessman William Lohse, the land was purchased for $27,000. 

1956 – Methodist Manor is incorporated and purchases 20 acres of land in West Allis.

1956 – On June 24th, the Milwaukee Journal printed that “The new home will have a capacity of 228 men and women over 65.  A building fund campaign is now under way.  Construction is expected to start in 1957 and to cost an estimated $1,750,000.  The first residents, it is hoped, will enter in 1958.”

1956 -- Methodist Manor became incorporated by authority of the Wisconsin Conference of the Methodist Church.

1959 – Methodist Manor took over ownership of Elmore Home for the Aging. Plans called for 164 rooms with private baths and social areas with kitchenettes.  Reverend George Palmer felt a chapel was vital to have a place of worship.  Methodist Manor will be a “self-contained community with all necessary facilities for communal living,” proclaimed Rev. Palmer.  “It is intended to meet the spiritual, physical and social needs of its residents.”  Construction started shortly after.

1960 – On June 1st, Elmore Home moves to the West Allis location and becomes Methodist Manor.  The first 19 residents of Methodist Manor entered the doors of the new home.

1962 – Methodist Manor was complete and fully occupied by Methodists and non-Methodists alike.

1968 – On March 31st, ground was broken for a new 24-hour nursing and comprehensive rehabilitation care. 

1969 – Methodist Manor expanded their care with a nursing staff working with 168 skilled beds, supported by the Methodist Conference Campaign for Christian Concerns.

1969 – In October, Methodist Manor Health Center opened as patients took occupancy.

1976 – Wesley Park opened the west end of the campus for the independent living community for people 62 and older consisted of 226 apartments to provide a higher quality of healthcare for residents.  The on-site Senior Center was also built.

1977 – The Senior Center opens.

1978 – Senator Edward Kennedy visits.

1980 – Supportive Services Center completed.

1980 – Subacute Skilled Nursing Wing opens.

1984 – President Ronald Reagan visits.

1986 – Reginald M. Hislop, III began his service at Methodist Manor.

1991 – The name was changed to The Village at Manor Park.  Independent living retained the name Wesley Park.  Assisted living was named Palmer House, and the intermediate care facility was named Palmer Center in honor of Rev. Palmer.  The skilled nursing facility was called Maplewood Center.

1993 – The Board of Directors named Hislop President and Chief Executive Officer.

1994 – The Hickory wing of Wesley Park opens.  The new facility boasts 48 two-bedroom, two-bathroom independent apartments.  A new kitchen was installed at Wesley Park and Park Place Restaurant opened.

1995 – Olsen Rehabilitation Center opens with inpatient and outpatient service.

1996 – Governor Tommy Thompson visits.

1996 – Village acquires Comstock Care Center and Trepho Terrace.

1998 – Olsen Medical Clinic opens and Ruth Hospice, an inpatient residential hospice, opens.

2000 – The Village acquires Greenville Manor in Greenville, Wisconsin.

2001 – Palmer Center Ventilator unit opens.

2003 – Trepho Terrace becomes Ruth Hospice on Beloit Road.

2004 – The Village acquires Friendship Village, renaming it to Trinity.

2004 – Laura Bush, the First Lady, visits.

2005- VMP celebrated their 80th anniversary.

2007- Maplewood Ventilator Unit opens.

2009 – James Enlund becomes President/CEO