New York Orphanages - A View To The Past

Thomas E. Pryor at orphanage in 1914

I have a strong interest in the history of New York City orphanages. My grandfather, Thomas E. Pryor, spent seven years in Father Drumgoole’s Staten Island orphanage, Mount Loretto. Father Drumgoole first orphanage at 53 Warren Street two blocks from City Hall was for homeless newsboys. Prior to building the Staten Island complex through farm purchases, Father Drumgoole built “City House,” a ten story orphanage which stood at the northeast corner of Lafayette Street and Great Jones Street. It’s now the parking lot directly across the street from the restaurant that used to be The Time Café. You can still see two City House chapel windows on a section of the building that remains behind the parking lot.

Thomas E. Pryor orphanage intake/outtake card

In 2011, I was in Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. I had time to kill before an appointment and walked around the neighborhood. At 12th Avenue and 64th Street I passed a property with a long tall wall surrounding most of the site. I saw an open entrance and walked in to a huge complex with a large garden taking up half the space. A fellow was working on his car, I asked him where I was, “The Angel Guardian Home for Little Children,” he said.

The Home opened in 1899; if you go to the link above you can read a New York Times article about the event. I walked around for 20 minutes and thought about the loss of family and being little in this place and though the garden was pretty not much else cheered me up. The worn beauty is interesting and the enormity of the institution is awe inspiring but it’s a sad spot. I can only imagine how difficult it must be trying to get through your childhood without family.

Here is a link to the photos I took.

If you like my work check out my memoir, "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood." Available at Logos Book Store or online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

"Thomas Pryor's Stoops to Nuts I'll Always Love My Momma Show"

Saturday, May 9th @ 7pm to 10pm 

Ryan’s Daughter, 350 East 85th Street (between First & Second Avenue).

Our Stoops to Nuts artists: Abbi Crutchfield, Walter Michael DeForest, Joe Dettmore,Apryl Miller, Liz Phillips, Luke Thayer and Eric Vetter and musical guests. I'll host and tell a good one. Free storytelling, free music, free comedy, a beer special and real prizes. I’m giving good stuff away. I’m 61, what’s my daughter going to do with this crap?

“The Angel Guardian Home for Little Children,”

Sunset on Great Jones Street

Tuesday night, I met two old friends, Anna & Chris at Chinatown, a restaurant at the corner of Lafayette Street and Great Jones Street for dinner. The spot formerly was the Time Cafe.

We sat outside and enjoyed the view. There's a parking lot across the street, and in the rear of the lot an old chapel abuts the property on the north side. You can see the outline of stain glass windows on each side of the building. This chapel was part of City House, one of the largest orphanages in the world. My grandfather, Thomas E. Pryor, spent time in City House between 1909 and 1916. He also lived in Mount Loretto a working farm orphanage in Staten Island on the Raritan Bay until he was emancipated.

Sitting there, I thought of my grandfather in the orphanage across the street 100 years ago. That close to his lonely place with my old friends connected me to him. I sent my warmth towards his spirit.

Here is a link to "Lonelyville," by Garland Jeffreys off his terrific 1992 album, "Don't Call Me Buckwheat."

http://mp3lemon.org/song/389963/Garland_Jeffreys_-_11_-_Lonelyville

City House Orphanage in the East Village

This is a photograph of City House, the largest orphanage in the United States in the late 1800s'. It stood at the northeast corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Street. It was built by Father Drumgoole after his success with a smaller orphanage at 53 Warren Street called, Father Drumgoole's Home for Homeless NewsBoys.

My grandfather, Thomas E. Pryor and his older brother, Edward, lived in the City House after they spent many years living in Father Drumgoole's 500 acre Farm & Orphanage at the southern tip of Staten Island now known as Mount Loretto. They were sent to the orphanage by Mary Pryor, their aunt, in 1909 after their parents died of pneumonia.
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