However, he was persuaded, and duly elected, made chairman of a finance committee, and soon succeeded to the presidency, which he held until his death. Within a few days he had raised thirteen thousand dollars and rented a vacant house at Fullerton and Racine Avenues. This first Home ran along with some difficulty until 1887, when under the will of Mrs. Clarissa C. Peck, an eastern woman, it fell heir to over six hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Higinbotham became president of the nine trustees under this will, and at once property was purchased and buildings erected at Ellis Avenue and Fifty-sixth Street, the present location. The property has been increased by numerous bequests—notably six hundred thousand dollars from Otto Young and a quarter of a million each from Albert Keep and Daniel B. Shipman—until its value is now nearly two million dollars. A little while before Mr. Higinbotham’s death he said: “Since the Chicago Home for Incurables was opened in 1890, it has had but one superintendent, Mr. Frank D. Mitchell; one matron, Miss Hattie I. Miller; one physician, Dr. W. P. Goodsmith; and one president. And they are all still on duty.” Miss Eleanor Quin, secretary to Mr. Higinbotham for the past ten years, is still assisting; without these people, whose love and devotion has been unfailing, the work could not have been carried on successfully. It is difficult to follow without emotion the story of Mr. Higinbotham’s devotion to the Home. From the time of his retirement from business in 1902, it became, after his family, the chief interest of his mind and heart, with which nothing was allowed to interfere. When in town he made daily visits, always becoming personally acquainted with—indeed, the friend of—each inmate, and cheering them all on with unfailing sympathy and humor. The coldness of many institutional “charities” was never allowed to enter here, and the love which rewarded him in life, and mourned his death, was pathetic in its fervor. When the death of other early benefactors had made him the sole survivor, he presented to the Home, as a memorial to those who had been associated with him in its establishment, a bronze tablet bearing the following inscription: A. D. 1909 “This tablet is placed in loving memory of those good and faithful women and men who gave unselfishly of themselves, and generously of their means, for the establishment of this Home. Their names are not recorded here. Yonder in the Infinite they are written on pages more glorious and far more enduring. This tablet is the gift and the tribute of one who knew them well and loved them fondly. “May patience and peace and plenty ever abide within its walls. “May those who suffer and those who serve, those who sing and those who pray, as well as those who, unable to do more, stand by and cheer, be equally blessed.