INSPIRE ARTS & CULTURE

It all began in 1914 when Mrs. Lizzie Glide, who had lived her entire adult life dedicated to helping others, learned of the need for safe and affordable housing for young working women in San Francisco. Mrs. Glide used her personal resources to build the 92-unit home-away-from-home, The Mary Elizabeth Inn, named after two of her daughters. In the 1930's, Mrs. Glide donated the building to the National Office of the United Methodist Women (UMW), and established the public nonprofit organization, Mary Elizabeth Inn (MEI). The UMW and its predecessors had been established since 1869 and began when eight women in Boston travelled to India to address the desperate needs of women there. Upon their return to the states, these eight women continued to organize and grow, and establish mission centers to respond to the needs of underserved women and children. When Mrs. Glide donated her building to the UMW it became one of the nearly 100 National Missions Institutions serving women and children..

Primary location: San Francisco United States