Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/413

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NEW YORK (CITY) 399 ment. The grounds occupy a lofty eminence, and are laid out in gardens and shaded walks, drives, and play grounds. The libraries con- tain about 2,000 volumes. The inmates are between 5 and 14 years old, and consist of truant and disobedient children placed in the institution by their parents for discipline or committed by the magistrates for reformation, and of the friendless and neglected commit- ted as vagrants. They are required to work a portion of the day, and also receive literary instruction. But few remain more than six months, the plan of the institution contem- plating the early return of the inmates to their parents, or their indenture to families in the west. The number of children received to the close of 1874 was 17,772. There is a house of reception in W. 13th street, with accommo- dations for 130 children, and the greater part are retained here a few weeks before being ad- mitted to the asylum. The New York orphan asylum, on the bank of the Hudson between 73d and 74th streets, is a fine Gothic building 120 by 60 ft., with two spacious wings and about nine acres of land. The society was or- ganized in 1806 by ladies, and is supported by private donations. It has purchased 37 acres of land at Hastings on the Hudson, and contem- plates moving the asylum thither. The Leake and Watts orphan house, near 112th street and 10th avenue, is a large and handsome edi- fice, delightfully situated in a plot of 120 acres. It has a permanent income, and supports an average of about 120 orphans. The colored orphan asylum was incorporated in 1838. The present beautiful building, occupying a fine plot of ground at 143d street and 10th avenue, was completed in 1868. It is of brick, three stories high with basement, with a frontage of 234 ft. and a depth of 125 ft., surmounted by three unique octagonal towers, and has ac- commodations for more than 300 children. The colored home was organized about 1840. The grounds on 1st avenue, between 64th and 65th streets, were purchased in 1848. The buildings form a hollow square, with a fine flower garden in the centre. The institution consists of four departments, the home for the aged and indigent, the hospital, the nur- sery, and the lying-in department, and annu- ally cares for about 1,000 persons. The union home and school for the maintenance and in- struction of the children of volunteer soldiers and sailors, incorporated in 1862, is finely situ- ated at 151st street and the Boulevard. The Five Points mission in Park street, and the Five Points house of industry in Worth street, have been instrumental in reforming that lo- cality (so called from the converging of three streets), which 25 years ago was the worst in the city, crowded with the degraded and crim- inal. The mission was established in 1850, and the building was opened in 1853. It sup- ports a day school, with an average attendance of from 400 to 500, a Sunday school, and a free library and reading room_ The scholars 603 VOL. xii. 26 are clothed by the society, and receive a daily lunch. More than 2,000 children have been placed in good homes, and many thousand adults have been furnished with situations. The house of industry had its origin soon after the establishment of the mission, and was de- signed to furnish employment to women desi- rous of escaping from an abandoned life. It was incorporated in 1854. The buildings now occupied were partly erected in 1856 and partly in 1870. The school rooms have accommoda- tions for 500 scholars, and the dormitories for more than 300 beds. Meals are furnished to the poor, and other forms of charity adminis- tered in the neighborhood. The New York Catholic protectory, incorporated in 1863, re- ceives children of Roman Catholic parents committed by the magistrates for reformation. It is situated at West Chester just across the city line, and has extensive grounds and fine buildings. The number of inmates on Sept. 30, 1874, was 1,842 ; whole number in the in- stitution during the year ending on that date, 2,877; entire number since its opening, 8,771. The Howard mission and home for little wan- derers, in New Bowery, in the midst of one of the most wretched quarters of the city, was es- tablished in 1861. It supports day and Sun- day schools, and a home for needy children, and distributes food, clothing, and fuel to the deserving poor. The prison association of New York was organized in 1844, for the pur- pose of aiding discharged convicts to reform and obtain employment, of befriending per- sons charged with crime, and of studying the subject of prison discipline. The women's prison association of New York, an outgrowth of this, maintains a home at No. 110 Second avenue. Other institutions, most of which own spacious and handsome buildings, are the Chapin home for the aged and infirm, in E. 66th street ; Baptist home for the aged and in- firm, in E. 68th street ; home for aged Hebrews, in Lexington avenue and 63d street; young women's home, in Washington square ; home for women and mission, in Water street ; Wil- son industrial school, at Avenue A and 8th street ; Catholic home for the aged poor, in W. 32d street ; Sheltering Arms, for destitute and helpless children, in 129th street and 10th ave- nue ; St. Luke's hospital (Episcopal), in 5th avenue and 54th street ; German hospital, in 4th avenue and 77th street ; Mt. Sinai hospi- tal (Jewish), in Lexington avenue and 66th street ; nursery and child's hospital, with lying- in asylum, in Lexington avenue and 51st street ; New York eye and ear infirmary, in 2d avenue and 13th street; institution for the relief of the ruptured and crippled, in Lexington avenue and 42d street ; house of rest for consumptives, at Tremont; New York infirmary for women and children, in 2d avenue near 8th street, to be removed to Livingston place; New York ophthalmic hospital, in 23d street and 3d ave- nue ; New York ophthalmic and aural hospi- tal, in E. 12th street ; Manhattan eye and ear