Mary Bartelme papers

Biography/Profile

Mary Margaret Bartelme, the daughter of Balthasar and Jeannette T. (Hoff), was born on July 24, 1866 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents owned farmland located on north Halsted Street. Bartelme, along with her two sisters and brother, attended the West Division High School and Cook County Normal School. At age 19 Bartelme graduated and began to teach at Armour Street and Garfield Park schools. She enrolled in law school at Northwestern University in 1892, graduating in probate and real estate law two years later. In 1894 she was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

Bartelme co-founded the Chicago Business Woman's Club in 1894 becoming president of the club in 1902. She also was a member and office holder of the Chicago Suffrage Club. Bartelme retained active membership in the Chicago Women's Club, the Cordon Club, the Women's City Club of Chicago, the League of Women Voters (after 1920), the Friendly Big Sisters League, and the Everyday Club. Bartelme accepted honorary memberships of the Chicago College Club and the Big Sisters.

Illinois Governor John R. Tanner appointed Bartelme to be Public Guardian of Cook County in 1897. She was the first woman to occupy this office, her tenure lasted 16 years. In 1899, Bartelme with Julia Lathrop, Lucy Flowers, the State Board of Charities, and other reformers she lobbied for and established the juvenile court in Chicago. That same year, with Louise deKoven Bowen and Sara Hart, Bartelme established a detention home instead of adult jail for juvenile offenders. Bartelme resigned from her position as public guardian in 1913 to become assistant judge to Judge Merritt W. Pinckney who presided over a growing number of juvenile court cases. In 1914, she established a "Mary Club" in her house as a place for girls to be supervised before their placement in foster care. In 1916 she created a second Mary Club for white girls and five years later she established a separate Mary Club for black girls. By 1923, over 2,600 girls passed through the houses. Elected judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1923, Bartelme was assigned to the Juvenile Court. She included social scientists in the hearing and sentencing portions of court proceedings. Bartelme believed the county should provide public services to juveniles and worked with the Juvenile Protective Association and the Chicago Park District to give juveniles an opportunity to experience city services. In 1925 she organized the Service Council for Girls. Though elected for a six-year term in 1927, the economic depression just two years later undermined public financial support for juvenile services. Bartelme retired in 1933 and moved to Carmel, California with her brother until her death on July 25, 1954.

Bibliography:

Schultz, Rima Lunin and Adele Haste, eds. Women Building Chicago 1790-1950. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. 66-70.