History 1922-1932

1922-1927 Members 56-120

On September 9, twelve charter members met to organize the Junior League of Portland Maine.  By the end of the year the membership had increased to a total of 56.

During these first years, an Occupational Therapy Unit was inaugurated at Children’s Hospital and at Maine General Hospital; the Unit was also carried to shut-ins.  At this point the League sponsored two workers in the Occupational Therapy Department.

The Children's Theatre was started in 1924. The first performances for the theater were Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Ann's Birthday Party. 

In 1925 the Braille Committee’s manuscript of K. D. Wiggin novel was added to the Braille Library in Washington. October of 1926 marked the beginning of the Thrift Shop (then known as the Salvage Shop), which opened on Free Street in conjunction with Baby Hygiene Welfare Association.  The shop employed two paid workers.

1927-1932 Members 120-162

The first monthly news sheet, “Missing Link,” was published in 1927; by 1931 it had become self-supporting through advertising.

During this period the Maine General Hospital benefited by two League supported projects, the initiation of a Hospital Service Library and a full-time therapist.  And in 1931-32 the “Junior League of Portland” became the “Junior League of Portland, Maine, Inc.”