The year was 1887, and the country's expansion westward continued at a feverish pace as land speculators rushed to stake their claim. Railroads forged track through the untamed prairies, leaving new cities in their wake. Train after train brought passengers to populate the bustling frontier towns.

One train brought some very special cargo to such a community. Abandoned children from the northeastern part of the United States came to Fort Worth on the railroad as part of the orphan train movement. Those who made it this far west were the "leftovers," the stronger having already been plucked from the trains to work in farms or factories.

Methodist missionary minister I.Z.T. Morris (photo at left) took in the little ones, and working with local residents and the railroad, helped find them homes. Thus began The Children's Home Society, which was chartered in 1904 as The Texas Children's Home and Aid Society. Renamed The Edna Gladney Home in 1950, the non-sectarian, state licensed adoption agency today is known as the Gladney Center for Adoption.

Some 118 years after its inception, one man's mission has evolved to become an internationally recognized institution that has placed more than 27,000 children in homes and served more than 36,000 birth mothers. "It's really remarkable that Gladney has celebrated over 100 years of service, and that we're still continuing to evolve and grow," says President Michael McMahon, the first adoptive parent to hold the position. "Over the years, Gladney has always responded to society's changes and our clients' requirements."

Consider that in 1929, when the orphan trains stopped, some 150,000 children had found new homes in what was called "one of the largest social experiments in American history." Orphaned, "illegitimate" children of this era at least had a chance for being cared for and loved. The young, unwed mother-to-be typically had almost no chance.

Thanks to one tenacious woman named Edna Gladney (photo at right), that all began to change. Superintendent of the Texas Children's Home in 1927, Mrs. Gladney (who planned to stay in the position only a year), retired 33 years later. In that time she fought two important legislative battles on behalf of adoption. First, in 1936 when, thanks to her efforts, a bill passed that made Texas the first state in the southwest to legally remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth records.

The second battle resulted in a bill being passed in 1951 that gave adopted children the same inheritance rights as biological children and recognized that they should be legally adopted rather than placed in long-term guardianship.

Also during Mrs. Gladney's tenure, services were expanded to birth mothers when a small Fort Worth hospital was purchased in 1949 so the women could have a place to receive good medical care during their pregnancy. In addition to the hospital, the agency operated an office where prospective parents were interviewed, and a baby home, where infants received care until their adoption, which typically took 14 days following birth. Today, through involved birth adoptions, babies can be placed in their adoptive parents' arms within 48 hours of delivery in an off-site hospital, and most often in the presence of the birth mother, who as recently as 15 years ago assumed a fictitious name.

Of course, adoptive parents still wait anxiously for "the call," but now have the opportunity to learn much more about the young woman who is about to give birth to their child. "Because adoptive parents have information about the biological parents, we believe the children will be able to resolve many questions they have about who they are and will have a good sense of belonging," says McMahon.

Having choices is an important feature at Gladney, where flexibility and personal adoption are emphasized because each case is different. For example, the type of post-placement relationship the birth parent and child have may vary from no contact to regularly sending cards, letters and photographs. When they turn 18, adopted adults can try to locate more information about their birth parents through Gladney's registry.

Among the other adoption choices that have evolved to meet society's changing needs, Gladney has been providing international adoption services since the early '90s. "As our world became more global and babies were not as available in the United States and as we became aware of the conditions of children in other countries, we found a real need for this program," says Paige McCoy Smith, vice president of Client Services. Of the 366 placements made by Gladney last year, 201 were international adoptions.

Gladney's ABC Program has also grown in the past couple years. Designed to help families who are seeking to adopt children of African-American or of mixed heritage, the program offers greater flexibility. The New Beginnings Program finds adoptive homes for infants and children who have medical needs.

To provide adoptive parents more flexibility, the Agency Assisted Program is available, combining the best of agency and private adoption. Directed and controlled by the adoptive family, who must first successfully complete a home study, they work at their own pace in locating a birth mother. Gladney's adoption outreach coordinators assist the family in its search and then once a birth mother has been found, Gladney's expert caseworkers and attorneys facilitate an adoption plan. The Gladney Center for Adoption continues to grow and is assisted today through eight regional offices. Gladney is also supported by 17 Gladney Family Associations, which provide support to those waiting to adopt and those parenting adopted children, raise funds, and educate the public about adoption. Created in 1992 as a separate not-for-profit organization, The Gladney Fund raises money to support the center and its expanding services.

On the horizon, Gladney anticipates there will be a need to place older children with adoptive families and is already working with the state on a program. "We are trying to anticipate rather than react to trends in adoption," says McMahon. "We recognize our clients -- birth mothers, adoptive parents and children, especially children -- have different needs. We will try to provide a balance for all those because we want to be around for another 100 years."