In 1840, “moved by a desire to be active”, a women's group from St. Luke's Methodist Church in Columbus, Georgia formed “The Ladies Educational and Benevolent Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Columbus”, working among the poor of Columbus and assisting in the education of deserving girls. The group was chartered by the State on December 27, 1845. In the same year the ladies built a Home for Destitute and Orphan girls, and built a frame building on the block-sized lot given to them by the City Council, bounded by 5th and 6th Avenues and 14th and 15th Streets. The building burned on December 16, 1852, and space was rented until the donation of a brick building donated to the group in 1854 by Richard Patten, Harry Hall, John Russe, John Jones and others. It was known as the Asylum for Female Orphans and Destitute Children. On February 15, 1854 the charter was amended to change the name of the group to The Ladies Educational and Benevolent Society of the City of Columbus. In April 1883 the City Council gave permission for the Society to subdivide their city block and sell the lots in order to purchase a new building. Part of the $11,000 raised went to buy a new building site and the rest was invested in other properties. In 1924 Colonel W. S. Shepherd bequeathed his family home, “Hill House” (also known as “Hillhouse”) and the eight acres on which it sat, to the society, with the stipulation that the property must be designated and maintained as the “Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Orphans' Home” for dependent orphan girls and could not be used for any other purpose. The name was officially changed on August 1, 1924 and the girls moved into “Hillhouse” on September 3 of that year. By 1963 the needs of the community had changed and the Society purchased the M. T. McDowell property on Double Churches Road, north of Columbus, to build a new campus. The newly renamed Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home, Incorporated occupied its new facility in June of 1965, which it still occupies.