The first home was opened at 1219 Washburn Ave., Topeka, Kansas. Previous to this, a group of leading men had been interested in the work. Foremost among these was Judge T. F. Garver. He became the first president and the counsellor, and his wise counsels as well as his legal talent have aided in directing the society to its present carefully developed legal and philanthropic status. The first tour, to investigate Kansas, was made in December, 1900. The family reached Topeka in the Christmas holidays of the same year. Work began at once and culminated in April, 1901, in the organization of the first board of directors and the incorporation of the Kansas society for the friendless. The society was welcomed heartily by Governor W. E. Stanley, and by J. S. Simmons, superintendent of the reformatory at Hutchinson. The following June Rev. R. A. Hoffman, just leaving the chaplaincy at the penitentiary, became the first district superintendent, with headquarters at Salina, and served the society for six years. He did a great deal of hard and capable work and left to go to the Colorado prison association. The next superintendent to join was Rev. Frank Brainerd, a neighboring pastor of the general superintendent in Illinois. He remained with the society for seven and a half years and did excellent work. He left to become general secretary of the associated charities in Kansas City, Kansas. The third superintendent was Rev. George S. Ricker, a scholarly pastor, who desired to give the remainder of his life to work among the lost classes. He is still with the society, and is senior among all the district superintendents. By the autumn of 1901 the employment department and the temporary home were well established. Then the next important step was taken in the organization in the Kansas Penitentiary of the first of a series of prison leagues, which were to form the nucleus of the important department of jail and prison evangelism. Chaplain McBrian became the superintendent of this league and for the eight years of his chaplaincy, was the unwavering friend of the Society. It soon became evident that the religious work in the prison would not have its rightful opportunity unless the department of prison reform should be developed in the state. So the society began a campaign for the passage of the indeterminate sentence and the parole law to apply to the penitentiary the same as it was operating in the Reformatory. This passed the legislature in 1903, and has been one of the most successful laws bearing upon the crime problem, operating in Kansas. Under it the penitentiary has been changed from an old type punishment prison to an up-to-date reformatory. The improvement in prison management has kept pace with the change in the criminal code.