Evening star., 1927-11-27
"Hillcrest."

! betterment of Washington as regards
| the Federal civic, business and resi-
Dental building programs comes the
recent opening of "Hillcrest, new
and more than adequate home of the
Washington City Orphan Asylum in
the region of Massachusetts avenue
extended.
Enthusiastic approval was the SEN
timent undoubtedly carried away by
every one of the many visitors who
| called there Friday in response to the
institution "open house" invitation.
"A chidren's village" is the phrase
often used to describe this new and
ample plant of Washinctons oldest
orphanage and a chiidren's village in
very truth it is, with many detached
structures on the cottage system. and
annie and beautiful grounds, The his
tory Of the orphanage is bound up
closely with the early history of Wash
ington its benefactors having included
such notables AS Mrs. Dolly" Madi.
+. Van Ness the daughter Of that
canny Scot. Davie Burnes, owner of
SO much of the land on which the
Federal City now stands. and William
w. Corcoran. Mrs. Calvin Coolidge
lifted the first spadeful of earth at the
new and probably permanent home.
Fourteen acres located at the in
tersection of Nebraska avenue and
Loughboro road now accommodate
the organization which. housed orig
inally in downtown Washington. later
moved to the corner of Fourteenth
and streets and there stayed for
many years. Five separate buildings.
equipped and decorated down to the
last useful and artistic detail, are to.
day complete. with room for more as
they are needed. 1t was New York
phlanthropist, always deeply interested
in orphanages. Edwin Gould, who by
his offer to undertake the necessary
extensive landscape work. and also to
construct one of the principal buildings,
gave the final flip to the idea OF NOV.
ing. already long.considered and an.
ticipated by the purchase of the land.
With his enthusiasm and generosity
squirting them on. the heads Of the in
stitution have worked long and hard,
with results that are we'll worth a trip
Of inspection on the part OF any Wash
ingtonian. In another section of to-
days Star appears a detailed descrip-
tion of the new plant.
If any visitor shall go there and
come away able to make a suggestion
for improvement, it would be interest.
ing to know what it is. To the aver.
age eye and mind but one occurs
more orphans to enjoy the comforts
and the delights therein offered. This,
however. Immediately proves to have
been anticipated. The ground plans
have been most carefully studied with
a view to allowance for future expan.
sion, so that the number of orphaned,
half orphaned and dependent children
VIII pC tiiCI cdSCu III Tie Hcdi
1t is safe to say that in few Ameri-
can homes, even of the better class.
is the growing child surrounded by
such comforts, such pleasures and. at
the same time, such careful and sym.
pathetic supervision over health, NOR
ais and manners. Utmost care is used
also in placing the children when they
reach tho proper age to do battle with
the world One small girl, confronted
with what seemed an unusual oppor.
tunity for advantageous family affilia
ton. asked permission to hold off until
the new orphanage was completed,
thinking it likely she would prefer to
stay on as long as possible. Could
any more welcome testimony than that
be desired by any institution of this
sort?