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

God Bless, Curious Friends ~ Third Avenue El Memories

If I had a collaborator working with me on Yorkville memories as talented as John F. Harvey, the fellow who organized the postcard history of Maplewood at the link below, I'd be in research heaven.

Today John's 55. Happy Birthday, My Curious Friend!

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Check out John's book, it's terrific.

http://www.amazon.com/Maplewood-Postcard-History-John-Harvey/dp/0738513474d-Postcard-History-John-Harvey/dp/0738513474

The Third Avenue El and my grandfather are on my mind today. Thomas E. Pryor was born on the third floor at 820 Third Avenue on December 15, 1900 while steam engines going up and downtown rattled by the apartment's front windows (a 1940 picture of the block frontage is below). The rail was electrified in 1904 after the IRT came uptown. Thomas belonged to the St. Patrick's parish. He was baptized in the Cathedral and that certificate (below) has his correct birth date and baptismal date.

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Thomas's parents, James and Mary, died of pneumonia in 1909 when he was 8. He and his older brother Eddie (Buster), 12, were committed by their Aunt, Mary Weil, to Father Drumgoole's Orphanage for Homeless Newsboys, also known as Mount Loretto, a 500 acre working farm at the southern tip of Staten Island on Raritan Bay (much of the orphanage property looks the same as it did 100 years ago). Father Drumgoole's City House with his tall statute in front (pictured below) was on the n/e corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Streets (the property is now a parking lot directly across from Chinatown, formerly The Fez under the Time Cafe, home of the Losers Lounge).

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City House, ten stories tall, was Fr. Drumgoole's second orphanage after the success of his first at 53 Warren Street. Mount Loretto was Fr. Drumgoole's third orphanage. Thomas's orphanage intake card with dates is below, along with a picture of him at 14 in front of Mount Loretto's Church.

Thomas was released from the home in late 1915, after six years at Mount Loretto. Most news on his time spent there was suppressed and rarely discussed in my family. I overheard he was hardened by the home, he hated authority, got fired a number of times, and settled into being a hack driver. I was told he was charming, left-handed, artistic, and he didn't treat my grandmother well. She loved him but he broke her with drink, infidelity and last, Tuberculosis that led to Potts Disease and an early death at 40. The church wouldn't bury him. The wake took place in the front bedroom of apartment 2 South at 1582 York Avenue (funeral bill below). My Dad loved his father dearly. Only 11, Dad missed his father's act, being too young to remember him healthy. After the wake, the family picked up the pieces and moved on.

The TB Sanatorium

My grandfather, Thomas E. Pryor (1900-1941), spent seven of his last nine years in upstate tuberculosis sanatoriums. There, TB victims were isolated and attempted to recover. In the picture (1937)on the left, he's the short fellow. He lost three inches in height from the disease. He had a deep stage TB called Potts Disease that ate away his spinal column. The picture (1914) on the top right, is my grandfather at 13, taken on the grounds of Father Drumgoole's Home for Homeless Newsboys, an orphanage at the southern tip of Staten Island on Raritan Bay.

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On the lower right is my grandmother, Ann Pryor (1938). She took nine hour bus rides upstate to visit him. This picture was taken by my grandfather on one of those winter visits.

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ps Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre on this date 144 years ago.

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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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Family Pictures Taken by the Police

Here's a picture of my grandfather, Tom Pryor, taken by those "dirty, rotten screws."

It's his NYC Police Department issued 1934-35 Hack license. Pop bore no love for authority. My grandmother told me, "he could hear somebody give him the finger from a block away. The cops were number one on his list." Nan said, "when he wasn't a bastard, he was charming, artistic and left handed."

He spent most of of his youth in an orphanage called: Father Drumgoole's Home for Homeless Newsboys - later known as Mt. Loretto. The largest orphanage in the U.S. at the turn of the century. A 500 acre working farm facing Raritan Bay at the southern tip of Staten Island. The picture to the right, is Tom in the orphanage in 1914. He's thirteen years old ~ he entered the home at eight years old and stayed till he was sixteen. I found this letter in my grandmother's strong box. It was written by Tom, the day before he died, February 20, 1941. It's addressed to his first great-grandchild, my daughter, Alison. He wrote:

Dear Alison,

My name is Thomas Edward Pryor. I am your great-grandfather. I was born on December 16, 1900 to James and Mary Pryor. Dad was a hostler, and Mom was a housekeeper. I was baptized in the new Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on December 23, 1900. My brother, Eddie was four years older than me. Everyone called him Buster.

We lived on 50th Street and our apartment over looked the Third Avenue El. The trains had steam engines until I was four years old. In 1905 they electrified the rails, the year after they opened the first New York City subway. My Mom and Dad died in 1909 from influenza. Aunt Mary put us in an orphanage in Staten Island. I got out seven years later. I met Anna Cuccia in 1921. We married in 1923. Thomas was born in 1925. Robert came along in 1929. We lived in several Yorkville apartments.

My Mom had a little Irish gypsy in her, and gave me the gift to see into the future. Here's what I see: Tom joins the Army at 18, marries Rose at 21 in Garguilo's in Coney Island, and Bobby's born in 1949. Robert joins the Navy on his 17th birthday. He tried to get in a year earlier but gets caught. Robert meets Patty Ryan at the East Side Settlement House in 1945. They win the Settlement House's 1949 Lindy Dance Contest and start keeping company. They marry in 1952. Tommy flies through the window in 1954. Rory falls from a plane in 1956. That’s all I’m telling you, right now. If we meet, I’m sure you’ll like me, because boy, do I love you.

All My Love, Great Grandpa Tom