The following statement was taken from an article by Mrs. Marion Stubbs Thomas (National Founder), which appeared in the first issue of the official publication, UP THE HILL, of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated. She tells in simple and beautiful language of the start and rapid growth of Jack and Jill. She also expressed the ideas which Jack and Jill have followed since its initiation.

“It is with deep and, I hope pardonable pride that I look back over the first ten years in the life of Jack and Jill. When the first little group of us organized in January 1939 in Philadelphia, we were seeking to stimulate a social and cultural relationship between our children. When I contacted the mothers and suggested a meeting to discuss plans for our new club, they were all enthusiastic and responded in a manner which was heart-warming. Little did we dream at the time that this idea which was so important and inspiring to us would grow to such proportions. As new members were welcomed, and then new chapters formed, the aims and ideals of Jack and Jill were strengthened, always with our children as the focal point. To us as mothers it has become a means of furthering an inherent and natural desire – the desire to bestow upon our children all the opportunities possible for a normal and graceful approach to a beautiful adulthood. It is intensely satisfying to predict a nationwide group of mothers and children bound together by similar interests and ideals. As we grow in numbers and achievements, may we always keep before us the lofty principle upon which Jack and Jill of America was founded.”

Since the day which Marion Stubbs Thomas wrote, January 24, 1938, Jack and Jill of America has avalanched into a strong national organization. The story of its growth is one of amity and felicity.

As a result of the meeting of those twenty mothers in Philadelphia, the idea of bringing together the children in a social and cultural relationship spread to New York City where a similar organization was started in 1939. The third club was formed in March, 1940, in Washington, DC. Thus, Jack and Jill, which began as a local group became an inner-city association.

Between 1944 and June 1946, Jack and Jill groups expanded to ten with the addition of the following chapters: Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Durham, North Carolina; and Memphis, Tennessee.