Jane Holmes: Pittsburgh's Founding Philanthropist

Jane Holmes was a nineteenth-century Pittsburgh philanthropist who quietly reshaped charitable life in western Pennsylvania. At a time when organized philanthropy was rare and social services for vulnerable people were almost nonexistent, Holmes created and funded numerous institutions out of her own resources. Among them was a school for blind children, which the marker places on this site.

She is remembered for giving that reached across lines of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. She is not a famous name today, but the institutions she founded outlasted her by generations, and the people they served measured her impact in ways that did not make the history books.