The Siskin Story is an American Story

The story of the Siskin family is the quintessential American success story. Mose and Garrison’s father Robert Hyman Siskin came to the United States in the late 1890s. A non-English speaking immigrant escaping religious persecution in his native Lithuania, Robert stepped off a cattle boat at Ellis Island, N.Y., with a few dollars in his pocket and the dream of a better life. A fellow shipmate was on his way to a cousin’s home in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Robert tagged along. He started life in Chattanooga as a back peddler sometimes traveling 75 miles from home with his wares. In 1900, Robert started a scrap metal business in partnership with a local Chattanoogan, a Mr. Rubin. In 1910 with $6 in start-up capital and a rented lot at the corner of 19^th Street and Chestnut, Robert went into business for himself, establishing Siskin Steel and Supply Company. A timeline of the Siskin family’s accomplishments and key dates associated with their philanthropic work follows.

Late 1890s

• Robert Hyman Siskin (Mose and Garrison’s father) immigrated to America through Ellis Island, N.Y., from Lithuania where he had fled religious persecution being perpetrated on those of the Jewish faith.

January 29, 1900

• Mose Aaron Siskin was born.

January 29, 1903

• Garrison Siskin was born.

1914

• Mose left Chattanooga High School during his sophomore year to work full time for his father.

1920

• Garrison graduated from Chattanooga High School with honors.

1926

• Robert Siskin’s leg is amputated due to gangrene from diabetes complications.

1942

• Garrison Siskin is injured when stepping off a train in Bristol, Tenn. while on a business trip to Washington, D.C. After a touch and go night in the hospital with doctors holding out little hope that his injured leg could be saved from amputation, Garrison prayed to God that if his life and leg were spared, he would fully dedicate himself to helping those in need. Mose joined him in his vow.

1950

• The Siskin Memorial Foundation was established with a $16,000 investment and is chartered through a B’Nai Zion Synagogue Congregation trust agreement on December 29.

1950-1954

• The foundation is operated informally through a fund kept in a Tzedakah giving box at the Siskin Steel Company offices.

1953/1954

• The Siskin brothers build a chapel for free community use.
• Educational buildings on Vine Street are built to provide rent-free space to local organizations including
• Hebrew School kindergarten and older classes (1955)
• Big Brothers (1957)
• Chattanooga Area Literacy Movement (1959)
• Adult Education Council (1959)
• Easter Seals (1960)
• Tennessee State Speech and Hearing Regional Office (1960)
• Big Sisters (1962)
• Muscular Dystrophy Association
• Siskin School opens to provide education/rehab services to children with disabilities

Late 1950s                                                                                                                

• Education building expanded to include an auditorium, additional office space, a large space for the museum of religious artifacts and a large room for a rare book library

1957

• Operation Crossroads is established through which the idea for a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center comes.
• Third district Dental Society partnered with the Siskins to provide free services to indigent children and adults with disabilities.

1959

• The Siskin Memorial Foundation is awarded the President’s Distinguished Service Award for promoting the employment of people with disabilities

1959/1960

• $1 million rehabilitation center opened.
• Dental clinic is opened on the first floor.
• The preschool classrooms are housed on the first floor and include United Cerebral Palsy classes.
• The physical therapy department is housed on the second floor and treated children and adults.
• Chattanooga Hamilton County Speech and Hearing Center occupied the entire third floor. Although the organization was its own operation, they were not charged rent for use of the facility.

Early 1960s

• The 365 Club Annual Fund was established.
• The first 365 Club benefit show, the forerunner to today’s StarNight, took place with Tony Martin as the inaugural entertainer.

1964

• The first 365 Club sweetheart, Karen Renee Benefield, was named.

1975

• Mose Siskin’s leg was amputated during an accident in the yard at Siskin Steel and Supply Company.
• Congress enacted Public Law 94-142, The Education of all Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which recognized that children with disabilities must be provided with needed programs and that there must be a federal, state and local sharing of responsibilities and resources.

1977

• The first fashion show to benefit the 365 Club was established, the forerunner to today’s StyleWorks.
• The charter for the Mose and Garrison Siskin Memorial Foundation was officially filed with the state of Tennessee.

May 21, 1978

• Mose Siskin died.

May 5, 1979

• Garrison Siskin died.

1981

• First executive director was hired.
• Strategic planning began, including an assessment of community needs.

1983

• The Siskin preschool and rehabilitation center achieved national accreditation by the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
• The rehabilitations hospital’s first medical director was hired.

1985

• The annual celebrity fundraiser was named StarNight and Pearl Bailey was the featured entertainer.

1986

• A separate corporation was established by the Siskin Memorial Foundation to develop the new rehabilitation hospital.

1987

• The Siskin Memorial Foundation announced the $12.5 million capital campaign to build a regional rehabilitation center; $5.5 million was raised in the first 90 days.

1990

• The Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation opened.

1991

• Siskin Memorial Foundation volunteers are named the 607th “Point of Light” by the Bush administration.

1995

• The Siskin Memorial Foundation collaborates with Head Start.

1996

• The Children’s Wellness Center—the first injury prevention program—was established in collaboration with T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital and became a lead agency for the Chattanooga SAFE KIDS Coalition.

1997

• Siskin School partnered with Hamilton County Schools to provide programming to children with moderate to severe disabilities. The Westside Child Development Center was established, providing educationally based childcare programs for ages 3-5 in the inner city community.

1999

• The Carter Street property was purchased. The Children’s Wellness Center became the Siskin Injury Prevention program.

2000

• A $10 million capital campaign was launched to remodel the Siskin School.

2001

• The Siskin School’s name was changed to Siskin Children’s Institute. Siskin Children’s Institute occupied the newly renovated building on Carter Street and included all programs that were part of the Siskin School and Community Education and Outreach. The Westside Child Development Center was incorporated into the school program, and the Siskin Injury Prevention program became part of Community Education Outreach.

2002

• The Siskin Children’s Institute capital campaign was successfully completed and the Kresge challenge grant for $500,000 was awarded.

2008

• The Siskin Early Learning Center’s second campus opened on Gunbarrel Road in Chattanooga’s East Brainerd community.
• The Siskin Center for Child and Family Research was formalized.

2009

• The Siskin Early Learning Center-Downtown earned National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation.
• The Siskin Engagement Classroom Model was adopted at both Early Learning Centers
• The Siskin Children’s Institute-T.C. Thompson Center for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics opened.
• The Siskin Early Learning Center-East Brainerd earned a three star rating from the Tennessee Report Card and Star Quality Program.

2010

• Siskin Children’s Institute-T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Center for Developmental Behavioral Pediatric served more than 600 families in its first year of operation, representing more than 4,000 patient visits.

Key to Photos:

1) Brothers Mose and Garrison Siskin (left to right) 

2) Mose (l) and Garrison (r) Siskin with portraits of their parents Anna and Robert Siskin in the background.

3) The Siskin brothers were dedicated to helping all those in need.

4) The Tzedakah giving box is a Jewish tradition that Mose and Garrison kept.

5) Mose and Garrison viewing a plaque from the Tennessee Better Speech and Hearing Center, an organization given rent-free space at the Siskin rehabilitation facility.

6) Mose and Garrison had a special place in their hearts for children, especially those with special needs.

7) Operations Crossroads was one of the early philanthropic arms of the Siskin Memorial Foundation.

8) Garrison at the outpatient rehabilitation facility in the 1960s.

9) Mose and Garrison with the 1971 365 Club sweethearts.

10) Dinah Shore was one of many entertainers who performed in the early days of the 365 Club fundraiser, which would take the name StarNight in later years.

12) Mose and Garrison sought to level the playing field for children with disabilities who were denied access to public schools in the 1940s and 1950s when the brothers began their philanthropic work.

13) Children with a range of disabilities were treated at the Siskin rehabilitation facility.

14) A sign at Siskin Steel and Supply Company encouraged the community to give to the 365 Club.

15) The old Operation Crossroads building on Oak Street.

16) The new Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation opened in 1990.

17) The Siskin School changed its name to Siskin Children's Institute in 2001 and now resides in its own building on Carter Street in downtown Chattanooga.