Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 20.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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The Home opened.

On the 12th of November, 1884, the Home property, consisting of thirty-six acres and an old house, was purchased for $14,000, and on January 1, 1885, the institution was opened, the first inmate being a Mississippi man.

Soon thereafter Mr. Robert I. Fleming, of Washington, at a cost of $2,500, enlarged, improved and remodelled the building on the grounds, and gradually handsome and commodious cottages were built and donated to the Home by Major Lewis Ginter, Hon. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington, Captain A. G. Babcock, Mr. Mark Downey, Mr. James B. Pace, Mr. W. H. Appleton, of New York, and the children of ex-Governor William Smith. In 1888 the board raised by private subscription from the people of Richmond about $5,000, with which they built and furnished the picturesque and and handsome Home chapel. The additional buildings erected by the board, including the mess hall, stable, &c., and the hospital, which last-named was completed this year, cost $35,000.