Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/633

Rh the river. And from this fact the Albina ladies were compelled to rely on what aid they could get from a community of people all struggling to build homes of their own. But in spite of all discouragements, the "Home for the Friendless" took deep root and continued to grow. From the six-room cottage, it was enlarged into a two-story building of eighteen rooms ; and within the past year the eighteen rooms have grown into forty with the building of an annex, furnishing comfortable quarters for forty-two aged ladies and eight aged men. One of these aged ladies is past ninety-five years of age, with a mind bright and clear. Some of these aged people have a little income of their own and pay their way. Others are supported by churches, or relations, or fraternal societies; and a few are kept at the expense of the society. The average cost of each inmate is thirteen dollars a month; and some are confined to their beds, requiring a nurse. Mrs. Mary A. Knox, the first president of the society, is still retained in that position, having now faithfully devoted twenty years of her life to the building and care of this most worthy institution.

The Old Ladies' Home Society — prototype of this home, was organized March 3, 1893, Mrs. Mary H. Holbrook, a pioneer woman of Portland, noted for good works, being its first president. The object of the society was declared to be the establishment of one or more homes for aged women. The need of institutions of the kind had been recognized before this formal organization; and Mrs. Holbrook, Mrs. W. W. Spaulding, Mrs. R. B. Wilson and Mrs. F. E. Beach, together with Mr. C. A. Dolph, Mr. W. W. Spaulding, and Mr. Richard Williams, had entered into an agreement to promote the establishment of such home or homes.

It was first decided to limit the beneficiaries of the society to aged women; and a committee was appointed to prepare articles of incorporation, which were on February 28, 1893, presented and signed, and thus organizing "The Old Ladies' Home." From this time on the membership of the society increased, and a number of liberal donations were made, the most notable of which were bequests of the late Amanda W. Reed and Henry W. Corbett, Mrs. Reed giving block No. 124 of the city, and Mr. Corbett bequeathing $15,000 in cash and some real estate. But the advance in the price of land suitable for a home site, the cost of construction, and the necessity of enlarging the plans at first proposed, made the task of securing sufficient funds to execute so large an undertaking too great to be attempted by the society.

In this emergency, and during the spring of 1908, Peter John Mann, a resident of the city of Portland, generously proposed to the society that in case the scope of its beneficence could be enlarged as indicated by a change in the name to "The Old People's Home" he would purchase a site and erect a suitable building for old people of both sexes; adding thereto, the suggestion that he did not think it right to separate aged couples, and that in his opinion, a home was not complete without both men and women. And after due consideration, the society unanimously decided to make the change, and a committee was appointed to legally make it.

But before this change could be entirely consummated, Mr. Mann was suddenly called by death. Upon the death of her husband, Anna Mary E. Mann, president of the society, desiring to carry into effect the wishes of her departed companion, took up the work planned by him; and in the hope that in thus applying the fruits of his industry, many old people, both men and women, may be afforded in their declining years the comforts of a home, and the society continue to be a blessing to the city in which he lived for more than forty years, she dedicates a large portion of the fortune left her by her husband, to the