The Legacy of Fannie Battle Lives On
By Mary Cady Bolin in General, History on November 5, 2024
Fannie Battle may strike you as an unusual name for an organization, but we are proud to be named after the woman who had the vision to being this work 133 years ago. According to The Legacy of Fannie Battle, Miss Battle simply “wanted more for the children” in her community, and her relentless desire to provide safe care for Nashville’s littlest residents continues to inspire us today. At 44 years old, she decided to devote her life to “good works,” and the day home she created was by far the greatest work of her lifetime.
In 1891 Miss Battle first rented a room to care for children who were left unattended after finding a young boy injured on the side of the road. Child by child, she cared for Nashville as a city with a belief that every child she educated mattered greatly. Today, Fannie Battle Day Home for Children serves over 100 children a day. In addition to providing quality care as she provided so long ago, we also provide over 79,000 meals annually as well as top tier programming and partnerships with Conscious Discipline and Frog Street Curriculum to ensure that our students are ready for Kindergarten.
It is truly incredible to reflect on the multi-generational impact of Fannie Battle on our city, and her charitable spirit lives on in our work today.