The first Presbyterian church in New York was erected in 1719, since which many costly structures have been reared, and the denomination now ranks among the most populous, wealthy, and benevolent of the city. But while the members of this church have contributed liberally to many excellent enterprises, it is a little remarkable that no charitable institution distinctly Presbyterian was ever projected until very recently. April, 1866, several ladies, members of the different Presbyterian churches of the city, moved with the laudable desire to provide for the poor members of their own communion, invited their pastors to confer with them and consider the propriety of establishing a "Home for Aged Women," in whose advantages Presbyterians might specially share, and in whose direction they should have entire control. The meeting was held in the lecture-room of the First Presbyterian church, and was entirely successful. The facts disclosed at this conference showed so clearly the want of such an Institution, that the pastors and members present pledged a cordial support in the undertaking. A board of thirty-two female managers, and an advisory committee of five gentlemen, were accordingly elected, and measures taken to immediately inaugurate the enterprise. On the eighth of June the building No. 45 Grove street, then known as the "Lincoln Home," which had been a temporary hospital for disabled soldiers and sailors, was rented, and after much cleansing pronounced ready for occupation. The first inmate was received on the ninth of July; the next day another was added; on the twenty-third one more, and the report at the end of the year showed that fifteen had been admitted. No regular matron was appointed until October, and her official relation to the Institution was dissolved the following spring, and the present incumbent appointed. The society continued its operations in the same house until April, 1870, when, its new and commodious building having been completed, the family was removed to it. The house in Grove street was never able to accommodate over thirty, besides the matron and servants; hence a small number only of those anxious to gain admission could be received. During those four years, however, fifty beneficiaries were admitted, three of whom died the second year, six the third, and several the year following. Among the inmates the managers mention the mother of a Presbyterian clergyman, the widowed mother of a devoted and successful missionary to China, and the daughter of Dr. McKnight, one of the early pastors of the First Presbyterian church of this city. The act of incorporation passed the Legislature December 7, 1866. The Institution is called the Presbyterian Home, but its doors are open to Congregationalists, to the Reformed Dutch, and to the several divisions of the Presbyterian family, making it very general in its character, certain of numerous beneficiaries, and of liberal supporters. All applicants for admission must be sixty-five years of age, residents of New York city, having been three years a member of the church, and recommended by the church session. Three dollars per week must be paid for board, and at death the funeral expenses defrayed by the church or party made responsible at her entrance.

The auspicious beginning of the enterprise led the managers at the close of the first year to confidently appeal to the benevolence of the denomination for the means to build and furnish an asylum in some sense adequate to the wants of the churches interested. This was soon responded to by Mr. James Lenox, by the donation of four choice lots of ground on Seventy-third street, between Madison and Fourth avenues, worth $40,000. Donations of money came also from many sources, so that at the end of the year $13,000 were invested as a building fund, and the third report showed that $62,000 had been contributed toward building. The building when completed was appropriately dedicated, Drs. Paxton, Murray, Thomson, Hall, and several distinguished laymen taking part in the exercises. The edifice is an elegant four-story brick, trimmed with Ohio freestone, surmounted by a chaste tower, and is charmingly arranged for the accommodation of the inmates. All its rooms and halls are lighted from the exterior. There are two staircases extending to the upper story, and its heating and ventilating apparatus are of the most approved character. The basement contains kitchen, laundry, and other appropriate rooms. The first floor contains visitors' room, committee-room, and well-arranged chapel, with seating for a hundred and fifty persons. The next floor has an infirmary, a ladies' room, and the rooms, for the most infirm. The interior is supplied with iron doors, and the entire structure nearly fire-proof, the staircases being of iron, with little wood-work exposed to the action of fire. The edifice cost over $100,000, and is the finest building of its kind yet reared on the island. The Institution will, however, soon be too small to accommodate the aged and worthy poor of the one hundred and sixteen churches connected with the enterprise. May these consecrated homes of piety and rest for the comfort of the worthy poor be multiplied in all our denominations, until saintly pilgrims are no longer left in penury to suffer alone.