Evening star., 1937-04-16
5OTH ANNIVERSARY
p OF WOMEN'S HOME
Three Portraits viii Be Un-
yelled at Ceremonies
Next Tuesday.

Founders and perpetrators OF the
Young Women's Christian Home will
be honored Tuesday at ceremonies
celebrating the f1ftieth anniversary of
the founding of the home, now To-
Gated at 235 Second street northeast.
Three portraits will be unveiled dur
ing the program, beginning at 4:3O
pm. They are those of Mrs. Mary G.
Wilkinson, who founded the home in
1887 and was its first president; Miss
Bessie R. Kibbey, who in 1892 con-
tributed her grandfathers mansion,
at 311 G street, as new location for
the home, and Mrs. Flora M. Thomp-
son, whose trust of S250,000, left upon
her death in 1881, financed construc-
ton of the new and present home.
The portrait of Mrs. Wilkinson will
be unveiled by her grandson, Edgar B..
Laferty of Los Angeles, who will at
tend the golden anniversary celebra-
ton at invitation of the homes board
of trustees.
Mrs. Roosevelt is scheduled to make
a brief address, and Bishop James E.
Freeman will deliver the invocation.
Early Need Realized.
The home, a prominent Washington
institution for two generations, had
its birth in the realization of Mrs
Wilkinson that there was an urgent
need for a home where girls and
young women of good moral character
and restricted income could live un-
n
her own daughters death Mrs. Will
kinson set aside two rooms in her own
home, at 232 c street, and took in
two girls. This became the first
Young Womens Christian Home.
On February %, 1887, the home was
incorporated with the following trus-
tees: Mrs. Wilkinson, Benjamin H
Warder, Octavius Knight, Thomas P
Morgan, Eliza N. Blair, Emma E. Dor
sey, Nathaniel Wilson, Francis H
Smith, f.. J. Falk, R. D. Mussey, E
D. Powell, Carolina M. Lawrence
Francis E. Childs, H. A. Hall, AL
phonzo Youngs and Addison Smith.
Without an endowment, the home
struggled along for several years, with
Mrs. Wilkinson and her associates
literally begging supplies from the
markets and benevolent merchants.
House Rented in 1890.
In 1890 the original two rooms were
outgrown, and a house was rented at
404 Sixth street to make a home for
between 25 and 80 girls.
MiSc Kihhnu'c njf of ~ etr
mansion was made two years later.
The mansions IS stately rooms we're
converted into AZ rooms, with money
received from life and honorary men,
berships set aside as a fund to re-
model it.
Mrs. Sophia Rhodes, meanwhile,
had made the home her residuary
legatee should she survive her son.
Both she and her son lost their lives
when the steamer Elbe sank in 1895.
returning from Europe. After years
OF litigation, the home won the case,
and its trustees received Sl3,9O449.
Four thousand dollars of this legacy
was used to pay the mortgage, thus
leaving the property entirely free from
debt.
In 1904 funds from the Rhodes leg
aCy also were used for addition of a
kitchen, dining room, dormitory and
several bed rooms, increasing the
homes accommodation to 50 girls.
For number of its early years the
institution received 81 900 year from
Congress. This appropriation was dis
continued in 1906 because trustees
felt the work was well established and
could continue without Federal as
sStanCe.
In 1911 a house at 315 C street was
purchased and connected with the
Kibbey mansion by large dining room
constructed from two stables and over
looking the garden between the two
houses. The home sheltered IS girls
with this addition and carried on its
work there for 20 years.
During the early part of its exist