Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society was founded in 1915 by Woodstock, Vermont, businessman Frank Mackenzie in memory of his wife, Lucy. Lucy was a caring woman with a “practical interest in humane work and in the various social and religious activities, which always appeal to one of her sympathies…(and a) readiness to do helpful things at every opportunity.” Mackenzie quietly worked to support those who needed help. Upon her death, Mackenzie’s husband established the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society to care for “abused (and neglected) children as well as animals including horses.”
In a large Victorian building at the center of Woodstock, Vermont, dogs, cats, horses, and children found a refuge where they lived in harmony, well-cared for, when the world let them down. Half a century later, the building moved to another location in Woodstock, and the need to serve children was no longer necessary.
Today, Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society is one of the oldest continuously operating no-kill humane societies in the United States. After almost 100 years, and now located on 14 semi-wooded acres in West Windsor, so much has changed, yet the heart of Lucy Mackenzie remains the same.
