In five weeks, Florence will be published!!! It's hard to believe the time is nearly here.

I wanted to share her thoughts upon seeing the orphanage for the first time. It was a grand and impressive building, and surely must have taken a girl from a one-room tenement apartment by surprise.

The Colored Orphan Asylum in New York consisted of classrooms, a seamstress room, and a shoe room where a tailor made the black brogans the students wore. The first floor accommodated a dining hall, a parlor for visitors, Hope Chapel for worship, a library, an infirmary for the sick (in a far wing), and a kitchen. The upper levels included a nursery for toddlers, dormitories, and more. The superintendent resided in a home on the grounds, and there were workshops behind the orphanage for the boys to learn woodwork. Beyond the playground was a garden where they grew fruits and vegetables. They even had some farm animals! Sadly, the building was destroyed during the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots.

"The hospital became a reality with the receipt of a five-thousand-dollar legacy from Elizabeth DeMilt, who died on August 31, 1849. The managers used the unexpected funds to erect a thirty-by-sixty-five-foot building that corresponded "in height and architectural proportions with the main building," about fifteen feet apart from it." (Seraile, 2011).

Today, that five-thousand-dollar donation is equivalent to $215,000!

Dr. James McCune Smith was the children's doctor until his death in 1865. I'll write about him soon!

Resources:

Seraile, W. (2011). Angels of mercy: White women and the history of New York’s Colored Orphan Asylum. Empire State Editions.