The Spokane Children’s Home was one of the most successful orphanages in Spokane in 1935 when a scandal involving the superintendent and his assistant exploded in the headlines.

While the Spokane Children’s Home provided shelter for homeless and delinquent children during the era before public assistance the facility is best remembered for a 1930s scandal.  

The Ladies Benevolent Society of Spokan Falls formed in 1884 to help children roaming the streets. They opened two orphanages.  The Home for Friendless Children in 1887, and the Spokane Children’s Home in 1909. 

The Spokane Children's Home housed 100 children. Police often took undisciplined children to the home, where they did chores as a way to regulate their behavior. The orphanage was well respected because of the exemplary behavior displayed by the children within it, so when the people of Spokane learned of the atrocities that transpired within the home it came as a shock.

In August of 1935 stories of molestation regarding the Spokane Children’s Homes Superintendent, Fred Hunter, and his assistant Fred Schueler came to light. Multiple eye-witness testimonies stated that Hunter was having improper relations with an underage boy, he adamantly denied the accusations. Police investigations into Hunter led to corroborations and evidence of additional molestations by Hunter as well as the fact that Schueler was also taking advantage of several children.

A Spokesman-Review story in 1935 stated “Children’s Home Troubles Over,” with only a brief description of the events. But the scandal led to the home relocating many of the children. Over time the number of children housed in the home continued to decline until 1951 when the Spokane Children’s Home was finally closed.

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Carl Maxey was an NCAA Boxing legend, whose most important fights were outside the ring. He was the first black man to graduate from Gonzaga Law School in 1951 and fought for African American's civil rights during the 1960s and 70s.

One of Carl Maxey's earliest memories of fighting was against racism during his childhood. Maxey was adopted and then orphaned and ended up at the Spokane Children's Home in 1933. Maxey remembered that when the orphans took a trip to Camp Cowles, he was not allowed to "swim with the rest of the kids. " He also recalled having to wash dishes for the other children.

Though a gifted scholar and athlete, Maxey always had to overcome the barrier of racial discrimination. In 1941, he attempted to walk on the football team at Eastern Washington College of Education (now EWU) but was forced to quit after multiple assaults and racist bullying. His attempt to join Gonzaga's football team in 1942 also failed. But this was most likely due to the hiatus of Gonzaga's football team, because of the United States entrance to WWII.

Maxey did return to Gonzaga 5 years later for his law degree. At that time law students were eligible to be athletes. Maxey joined Gonzaga's boxing team and went undefeated during his 4-year career at Gonzaga.

In 1951 Maxey became the first African American man to graduate from Gonzaga Law School. He never stepped foot in a ring again, fighting instead for civil rights. An example of this was the "Haircut Uproar" in 1963. Jangaba Johnson, an exchange student from Liberia, was denied a haircut from John M. Wheeler’s downtown Spokane barbershop on the account of his skin color. Maxey filed an official complaint with the Washington State Board Against Discrimination.

Maxey won the case against the barbershop--and many others. Maxey opened the Maxey Law Office in 1980 under the three principles: integrity, equality, and justice. His work inspired his two sons, Bill and Bevan Maxey, to become lawyers and take over the law office in 1997.

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