St. Joseph's Villa

Saint Joseph's Villa, founded 25 Nov. 1834 and incorporated 3 Oct. 1868, is one of the oldest-operating children's institutions in the United States. For 143 years administered by the Catholic Daughters of Charity as an orphanage and girls' school, it first was located at 4th and Marshall Streets in downtown Richmond. Boys were first admitted in 1919. Railroad magnate Maj. James H. Dooley endowed Saint Joseph's in 1922. The current campus opened in a new facility in 1931 as the first cottage-plan orphanage in the East. The Daughters of Charity withdrew in 1977 and the Villa's mission changed from an orphanage to multiprogram nonsectarian agency.