Edward La Breton’s dedication of St. Ann’s, “To Honor God and to Help My Neighbour”, was inscribed above the front porch
The back of St. Ann’s where Residents grew vegetables for the Home.
On July 26, 1979 the statue of St. Jeanne Jugan was blessed at the new Home in San Pedro which was dedicated in her name: Jeanne Jugan Residence.
On the same day that St. Anne’s Home in San Francisco was dedicated, Mr Edward Le Breton, their single benefactor, expressed his hope to help establish a second California foundation in Los Angeles—and he would be happy to pay for this one too!
It was on January 18, 1905 that the first Little Sisters arrived in Los Angeles by train from Chicago to start the 300th foundation. In a matter of weeks, three more arrived and the community leased a home to accommodate a new family of old people.
By July, Le Breton had purchased seven acres of land on First and Mott Streets and hired an architect to prepare plans for a large new Home for the Little Sisters. The cornerstone for St. Ann’s Home for the Aged was blessed on June 16, 1906 and new Home was officially inaugurated on March 25, 1908.
After 71 years of sheltering the aged poor in Los Angeles, the Little Sisters broke the news to the city on September 7, 1976 that St. Ann’s Home would have to be closed. Because of the building’s wooden-beam construction, it no longer met modern fire code requirements. Along with the Sisters’ announcement, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced their support of the Little Sisters by contributing to them the former Fermin Lasuen High School site which had closed in 1971.
Groundbreaking for the new Home was held on October 26, 1977. On August 7, 1979, amid tears and smiles, acceptance and anticipation, the Little Sisters moved their 120 aged Residents from St. Ann’s Home to the new home in San Pedro.
From the small beginnings back in 1905 right up to the present day, we have never wavered in our desire to humbly and joyfully live the charism of our foundress, Saint Jeanne Jugan, who said: “Never forget that the poor are Our Lord.”
For more information about Saint Jeanne Jugan and the Little Sisters of the Poor, click here.
