New-York tribune., 1903-01-18
FOR ORPHANS OF MASONS.
GIRLS HOME FOUNDED IN PHILADEL-
PHIA BY WILLIAM L. ELKINS.

PHA BY WILLIAM l.. ELKINS.
William L. Elkns, the Philadelphian, gives
eacn year a Christmas dinner to the inmates OF
the Masonic Home of Pennsylvania and at the
dinner always some announcement is made that
IS bound to surprise pleasantly the Masons-
This year the announcement concerned a gift
from Mr.. E1ki1s to the Masonic order Of a lone
for orphan girls to cost 100000
The home is to be in an open suburban part
OF Philadelphia, in North Broad-st. 1t is to
house one hundred girls, and the girls are to be
educated thoroughly, and are also to be taught
tiades-such trades millinery, bookkeeping,
dressmaking, stenography, cooking etc.-so that
they may secure lucrative work readily.
1t was through q talk with General Louis
Wagner about Girard College that Mr.. Elkns
came to set aside 100000 for the girl orphans
of Masons.
General Wagner is the head of the great
Girard Trust, the fund left by Stephen Girard
to conduct Ciirard College and other charities
in Philadelphia, and the office of General Wag-
ner is in the Pennsylvania Railroad Building,
near the statue of Grard, that stands in the
plaza of the City Hall. Girard from the pedestal
of his statue, look into General Wagners
office, and they say in Philadelphia that he
does SO; they say the old keeps his eye
the head of his trust fund. That is a
Philadelphia joke.
With General Wagner Mr.. EIkins talked,
and in the talk he learned what Girard
College is. The boys reading rooms there,
their gymnasium, their brass bands, their rifle
corps their athletic aero attic baseball and foot
BAH teams; their excellent food, the trades Of
fered them, the many courses of study, and the
magnitude of Girard College, together with its
perfect organization, which admits of it's being
conducted as admirably as a small house-an
tha 1taI Iii JTith
enthusiasm and eloquence, and they caused him
to say:
What have the girls of Pennsylvania got to
match this boys institution"
They have nothing" General Wagner an
swered.
Then III give them something" said Mr..
Elkins Il have been contemplating some sort
of charity for a long time. 1 have been
Mason for thirty years FL give the Masons
home for their orphan girls"
And at once he directed Horace Trum-
bauer who is the architect of the Elkins. the
Widener the Berwfnd and many other notable
houses in Philadelphia and Newport, to prepare
the plans for girls home in North Broad-st-.
on a lot $50 feet square.
Mr. Trumbauer's plans for structure OF
red brick and white marble in the Georgian
style. There to be three connected build
ings that will have total frontage of 80
feet. The central main building will be for
the school rooms, the training rooms, the Of
fices-this will be the administration building
and those on each side of it will be dormi-
tories, each to accommodate fifty girls.
The grounds to be surrounded with an
ornamental brick wall. in the case of the
Broad-st. front, which will have a fence of
iron and wrought iron gateway.
One of the architectural features of the building
will be the large central pOrtco extending to the
roof. This pOrtico will recall many of the best
examples of municipal architecture of the
Georgian period
Features of the home itself will be the huge
and we'll equipped gymnasium in the basement,
the two isolated hospital wards and the graded
system of the dorntCries-a system whereby
the smaller girls arranged according to their
ages. will sleep in rooms holding from eight
TO twelve persons while the older girls will
each have separate reom.
The interior OF the home Will be simple and
quiet but at the same time ii will be decorative
Quarters more sanitary. comfortable, charming
and expensive than those of the new Elkins
home do not exist in any charitable instltu-
ton in the world to-day.
Work on the new home will begin on April !