Deutschen Allgemeinen Protestantischen Waisenvereins

The Deutschen Allgemeinen Protestantischen Waisenvereins was founded in 1867 to care for children orphaned by the Civil War. Architect Diedrich August Bohlen, who designed many of the structures in Crown Hill Cemetery and is buried in the cemetery, designed the home’s first building.

For both the organization and the home, the official language was German. But during the anti-German sentiment of WWI, they anglicized their name and rebranded as the German General Protestant Orphan Association. In 1941, the Indianapolis Orphans’ Home and the Evangelical Lutheran Orphans’ Home closed their homes; the children from their organizations moved to the General Protestant Orphan Association home.

By the 1960s, the home had evolved from housing orphans to a treatment center for abused, abandoned, and neglected children. In 1971, the organization changed its name to Pleasant Run Children’s Home to reflect this shift in mission. The organization has since closed.