About Red Cross
On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton, a former teacher and government worker from Massachusetts, founded the American Association of the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. That same year, the first chapter was established in Dansville, New York. In the Dansville Chapter’s first disaster relief operation, supplies were shipped to Michigan forest fire victims.
In 1900, the U.S. Congress granted the American Red Cross a charter, providing a national mechanism for the American Red Cross to provide services to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and relief to disaster victims at home and abroad. The charter was revised in 1905.
In 1910 the American Red Cross first aid and safety programs began. And, in 1914, the water safety program was established.
In 1917, America entered World War I, and the American Red Cross became a major humanitarian force with more than 30 million contributors and volunteers.
That same year, the first Red Cross chapter in the area was founded in Tuscarawas County in 1917. In 1980, American Red Cross chapters in Dover City and Tuscarawas, Harrison, and Carroll counties merged to become the Muskingum Lakes Chapter. Today, the Muskingum Lakes Red Cross serves over 125,000 residents in Carroll, Harrison and Tuscarawas counties in Ohio.
The Muskingum Lakes Red Cross headquarters is located in Tuscarawas County, approximately halfway between the city of New Philadelphia and nearby Dover. With the largest population in this rural region, these two cities are the focal point of health care and human services for the surrounding communities. The tri-county service area comprises a large, rural region of Northeastern Ohio with more than half of the land area covered with remote forests and more than 289,000 acres of farmland.
Wherever disaster strikes, the entire community can count on a rapid response from their Muskingum Lakes Red Cross. The chapter serves residents from the more populated areas of Tuscarawas County to the smaller communities of Carroll and Harrison counties. Volunteers and staff from the chapter headquarters are no more than 30 miles from the major population areas of the sister counties.
The complete history of the American Red Cross is quite interesting and can be found by visiting the History Section of the National Red Cross website.
