Floyd Starr, [Clay, Plaster and Wood]

Dublin Core

Title

Floyd Starr, [Clay, Plaster and Wood]

Subject

Figure sculpture, American--20th century

Description

Small clay portrait of Floyd Star mounted on a white plaster and wood base.

The History Behind Almost 100 Years of Changing Lives

Floyd Starr, affectionately known as "Uncle Floyd," founded Starr Commonwealth as a refuge for "homeless, dependent, neglected and wayward boys." His idea for a commonwealth came to him as a young boy when he was growing up in Albion, Michigan. One evening, he overheard a conversation about a man who had adopted many young children. The next day, Floyd asked his mother what adoption was. She told him that it meant taking children who don't have a home, providing for them, and giving them a permanent home with good families. Floyd was so impressed, he told his mother that when he grew up he was going to buy a farm and adopt 50 children.

As a young man, Floyd studied at Albion College, and upon graduating, was employed for a brief time at the Bernard McFadden's Hollywoodite in Chicago. He then went to work at the Beulah Home for Boys. When the facility closed, Floyd, the assistant Director at the time, was able to find new homes for all but 13 boys at the facility. It was then that his dream started to become a reality. He purchased a 40-acre farm outside Albion, Michigan and set to work making a home for these troubled boys.

The forty acres that Starr purchased in 1913 included a barn where he stayed with the first two boys, Harold Belloir and Thaddeus Newcomb, until Gladsome Cottage was built.

Founder's Day, which is observed the first Sunday of every October, marks the anniversary of Floyd, his family and thirteen boys moving into Gladsome Cottage on October 3, 1913.
By 1915, enough boys were coming to Starr Commonwealth that Gladsome Cottage was no longer large enough to house them all. That year, Newton Hall was built as a dormitory for the boys and in 1917 the boys had a new school, the Emily Jewel Clark Building.

Just 5 years after he began Starr Commonwealth, more than 200 boys had a home to stay with "Uncle Floyd", as the boys affectionately called him.

Additional facilities were added during the 1920s as well as the '50s and '60s. The campus now totals nearly 30 buildings.

Creator

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998

Date

1990

Rights

Use of this image requires permission from the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum

Type

Sculpture

Coverage

University Center (Mich.)

Sculpture Item Type Metadata

Physical Dimensions

10.5" x 6"
Clay head: 3.75" x 2.25"

Materials

Plaster
Clay

Catalog Number

2000.433

Object Location

Storage Room B - A1

Provenance

11/15/2000 gifted to MFSM

Files

2000.433.jpg

Citation

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998, “Floyd Starr, [Clay, Plaster and Wood],” Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, accessed March 28, 2024, https://omeka.svsu.edu/items/show/6631.