What to do with orphaned or runaway children was a major question in New York City (and most urban areas) throughout the nineteenth century. In many cases they were housed in orphanages while infants and toddlers in the city and then sent out west to foster homes on what would be known as “Orphan Trains” (something I should do a post on at some point). This had mixed success with some children finding happy lives with families that treated them as one of their own while others were regarded as servants or even abused.
Another concern this system created among religious groups was that children would be raised in a faith other than the one they were born to, especially among non-Protestant religions. A Catholic priest, Father John Christopher Drumgoole, took special interest in providing needy children with both safe living conditions and providing access to the Catholic faith. Recognized for his charity work and programs to help children in 1871 he was put in charge of St. Vincent De Paul Society’s Newsboys Lodging House. This provided shelter, schooling, and religious services for boys surviving on their own as newsboys. Drumgoole would also establish the St. Joseph’s Union to raise funds and work to build a larger building to house newsboys. This larger building began construction in 1879 and opened its doors to working children by 1881.
By 1883 he also had established an orphanage and vocational school in a rural area of Staten Island he named Mount Loretto (pictured above). Mount Loretto would go on to add housing for girls as well and would continue to operate for over a century and would adjust as the United States shifted from the orphanage system into foster care.