Timothy Dempsey

Timothy Dempsey (October 21, 1867 – April 6, 1936) was an ordained Roman Catholic priest who was born in Cadamstown, Ireland, and served the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri, from 1891 through 1936.

Dempsey was instrumental in helping the working class and the poor of St. Louis, founding a hotel for working men in 1906, a hotel for working women in 1911, and a segregated hotel for working African American workers in 1922. Dempsey created "Father Tim's Free Lunch Room" during the Great Depression, serving millions of free meals to the public in a time of great need. He served as mediator for many labor disputes, helping to bring resolution to several strikes during the 1920s. In 1909, Dempsey purchased a portion of ground in an existing cemetery and devoted its use to those who had no families, naming it "Exiles' Rest," which is where he was interred in 1936. The legacy of Father Tim Dempsey has continued long after his death and the organizations that he started continue to help the homeless in St. Louis, operating as "Father Tim's Charities" under the administration of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Early life and career Timothy Dempsey was born in Cadamstown, Ireland, in 1867, the first of eleven children born to Thomas Dempsey and Bridget Ryan. Baptized Catholic at birth, he began studying for the priesthood by the age of thirteen. He studied at the National School at Mullingar and then at Navan College. He went on to the foreign missionary college at St. Patrick's, Carlow College, Ireland, for seminary training and was ordained a priest on June 14, 1891. Soon afterwards, he was sent to the United States to serve, immigrating in 1891. Dempsey served at several Catholic churches before being assigned to his desired post at St. Patrick's Church, located at 1201 Sixth Street in the city's original Irish neighborhood, celebrating his first Mass there on July 4, 1898. Realizing that he needed a larger space to accommodate more people, six months later Dempsey leased the buildings at 111-1121 North Seventh Street, allowing him to expand capacity in what used to be the St. Patrick's School (also noted as "Shields School"). The hotel could house 400 and posted a sign that said, "Never Closed." From its founding through Father Tim's death in 1936, the hotel had recorded providing 600,000 free lodgings and over 300,000 free meals.

Soon after the founding of the hotel, Dempsey obtained a large section of ground in Calvary Cemetery in 1909 and named it "Exiles Rest," which was the moniker he sometimes used for the hotel. Dempsey reportedly was granted this land in the cemetery by its board of directors. He also successfully appealed to the funeral home of Bensiek-Niehaus to provide caskets and hearses, free of charge. By obtaining this plot of cemetery land, Dempsey intended to provide plots for destitute men so that they could be buried in consecrated ground. In 1910, he started a daycare for children in a building at 1019 North Sixth Street,

Once the day nursery was established, Dempsey was approached by Nellie Sullivan, with the request that he establish a hotel for women just as he had for men. Father Tim agreed and in 1911 Miss Sullivan became the first guest in the St. Patrick's Hotel for Working-women, located at 1402 North Broadway in St. Louis, the former location of the Bemont Hotel. Later, the hotel was moved to 1421 Hogan Street. By the time of Dempsey's death in 1936, the hotel for working women had provided 150,000 free lodgings and 200,000 free meals. In addition to serving meals, Dempsey's program also provided 500 weekly food baskets to poor families. and it recorded providing shelter for 60,000 per year. In one accounting from 1934, his church congregation was described as, "Old and young, colored and white (all intermingle here) they fill three-fourths of the pews. Toward the front are a few colored women."

Labor relations Throughout his time as a priest, which coincided with the era when organized labor unions were being established as well as the Great Depression, Dempsey was instrumental in settling many labor disputes, serving as both mediator and arbitrator. By the time of his death, he had reportedly aided in the resolution and settlement of over 50 different conflicts over wages and labor conditions. The agency of "Father Dempsey's Charities," part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and located at 3427 Washington Avenue, gives up to 78 residents a place to live and help with daily nourishment, getting a job, obtaining needed medical treatment, and accessing government benefits. Father Dempsey's Charities offers guests a room equipped with a bed, dresser, nightstand, lamp, and bedding. Bathrooms and kitchen facilities are shared. Breakfast and dinner are provided.

Dempsey's charitable work inspired others to do the same. In New Orleans, a newly ordained priest who attended Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Father Peter M.H. Wynhoven, started the St. Vincent's Hotel in 1911, complete with inexpensive rooms, meals and an employment bureau, all based on the work of Father Timothy Dempsey. Other similarly inspired institutions were founded in Seattle, San Francisco, Newark, Omaha, Milwaukee and Kansas City.