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In the late 1880s, Juliette Peak Fowler dreamed of building a facility to care for the elderly and orphaned children. She traveled throughout the country researching social service facilities, but died before launching her dream. Her will specified that 15 ½ acres of East Dallas land and a trust fund she had established were to be used for the benefit of elderly women and orphaned children. The first facility, a home for children, opened in 1904 in Grand Prairie. Harwood Hall, the first permanent structure on the East Dallas property, began housing the elderly in 1911. In 1913 the children's program moved to the East Dallas campus where Juliette Fowler Homes continues to serve those who need care. The institution is named for Juliette Peak Fowler, who has been described by The Dallas Morning News as «the city's first philanthropist.
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