USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 22
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Building and Loan Associations-Building and loan associations, as agencies for saving, sprang into existence ten years before the Civil War and fifty-one such associations were organized between 1848 and 1852. The first of these was the American Building and Loan Asso- ciation, of which there were four separate companies all under the presidency of John Bruce. Among those that followed were the Chelsea, the Greenwich, the German, the Knickerbocker, the Fulton, the Dry Dock, the Excelsior, the Citizens' and the Irving Building and Loan as- sociations. The rapid increase of these savings organizations was doubt- less due to the general prosperity that prevailed in the decade before the Civil War. These financial institutions have found a definite place in the investment activities of The Bronx and New York. In the present century the number of these cooperative associations within New York have declined, due to the changing conditions in real estate values, the disappearance of the private home before the apartment house, and the introduction of new schemes for savings by regular banks.
Among the strong associations of the cooperative type still flourishing in The Bronx is the Railroad Cooperative Building and Loan Associa- tion. This association was organized in New York in 1890 by a group of employees of railroad and express companies. After thirty-four years of service, during which period three thousand depositors have secured their own homes, the association has earned a new home for its head- quarters, a sixteen-story structure on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Forty-fourth Street, completed in 1925. In 1925 the association had resources of over $11,000,000 and fifteen thousand depositors. The Provident Loan Association also does considerable business in The Bronx. Its aim is to relieve the small borrower from the technical cleverness of the loan shark, and it was organized with that object in 1894. A capital fund of $100,000 was raised by subscription from thirty- six well-known financiers, and beginning with loans from one dollar to a thousand dollars, the Society, during its first year, issued 14,234 loans, aggregating $220,000. The interest charged was one per cent a month. The terms of a loan was fixed at one year, and any objects of value were accepted as security. This financial agency has offices in The Bronx as well as in other centres. The average loan is slightly
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over fifty dollars. In 1923, the maximum loan was extended to $2,000.
The increase in population in The Bronx is reflected in the ever-in- creasing deposits in the savings banks, while the marked increase in business bank deposits during the past ten years shows clearly that industry and business, while increasing slower, have taken a firm hold in Bronx County, and that both are growing in proportion to the ex- panion of The Bronx.
CHAPTER XVII CHARITABLE AND PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS
Welfare organizations in the County of The Bronx and The Borough of The Bronx have grown in proportion to the needs of the vast com- munity having the Harlem as its base and boundary line. The densely populated region is studded with agencies for relief of various kinds, reformatories and nurseries, hospitals and dispensaries. There are Board of Health centres at several points. The chief Bronx office of the Board of Health is at No. 464 East Tremont Avenue. There is an Anti-Rabic clinic at the same address. There are Baby Health Stations at No. 513 East 149th Street, No. 2380 Hughes Avenue, No. 428 East 133rd Street, and No. 1354 Webster Avenue. There are Children's Dental Clinics at Public School 43, Brown Placec and 136th Street; at Public School 27, St. Ann's Avenue and 148th Street; at Public School 4, at 173rd Street, Fulton and Third avenues; and at Public School 55, Pauls Place and Washington Avenue. There is a Children's Eye Clinic at Public School 9, No. 481 East 138th Street. There is a Disinfecting Station at the foot of East 132nd Street. There is an Occupational Clinic at No. 428 East 133rd Street. There are Pre-natal Clinics at No. 511 East 149th Street, and No. 2380 Hughes Avenue. There are Tuberculosis Clinics at No. 493 East 139th Street, and No. 464 East Tremont Avenue. There is a Venereal Disease Clinic at No. 464 East Tremont Avenue.
Agencies and institutions of relief of every kind are numerous. The Andrew Freedman Home for the Aged is at Grand Concourse and 166th Street. The Beth Abraham Home for Incurables is at Allerton Avenue and Bronx Boulevard. The Bronx Eye and Ear Infirmary is at No. 459 East 141st Street. The site for a new hospital has been acquired on Grand Concourse near McClellan Street. The Bronx Hospital and Dispensary is at 169th Street and Fulton Avenue. The Bronx Maternity Hospital is at No. 1072 Grand Concourse. The Catholic Institute for the Blind is at Eastchester Road and 221st Street. The Church of God Missionary Home is at No. 2132 Grand Avenue. Fordham Hospital is at the junction of Southern Boulevard and Crotona Avenue. The Hebrew National Home for Incurables is at No. 1801 Anthony Avenue. The Home for Aged People (Eastern Missionary Assocication), a Swedish Institution, is at East Tremont Avenue and Lafayette Avenue. The Home for the Aged, conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor, is at the junction of Belmont Avenue and 183rd Street. The Home for the Destitute Blind is at Grand Concourse and 193rd Street. The Home for Incurables is on
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Third Avenue, between 182nd Street and 184th Street. The Home of the Daughters of Jacob is on 167th and 168th streets, Teller and Find- lay avenues. The House of Calvary, Cancer Hospital, is at Feather- bed Lane and McComb's Road. The House of Good Shepherd is projected at Old Ferry Point. The House of Holy Comforter is at Grand Concourse and 196th Street. Hunt's Point Hospital is on La- fayette Avenue and Manida Street. The Lebanon Hospital is at West- chester and Cauldwell avenues-the site for the new building has been acquired on Grand Concourse, at Mount Eden Avenue. The Lincoln Hospital and Home is at 141st Street and Concord Avenue. The Monte- fiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases is on Gun Hill Road and Bainbridge Avenue, near Jerome Avenue. The New York Baptist Home for aged and indigent invalids, is at No. 839 East 233rd Street. The New York Blind Asylum is at Bronx and Pelham Parkway and Williamsbridge Road. The Peabody Home for Aged and Indigent Women is at No. 2064 Boston Road. The Pullman Porters' Home is at No. 280 East 160th Street. The Riverside Hospital is on North Brother Island. St. Clare's Mission House Settlement is at Nos. 282-290 East 153rd Street. St. Fran- cis' Hospital is on 142nd Street and Brook Avenue. St. Joseph's Home is on Belmont Avenue and 182nd Street. St. Joseph's Hospital for Con- sumptives is on 143rd Street and Brook Avenue. St. Margaret's Home for Working Girls is at No. 213 Alexander Avenue. Seton Hospital for tubercular men is at Spuyten Duyvil. Seton Hospital for tubercular wo- men and children is also at Spuyten Duyvil. The Susan Devin Residence for Self-Supporting Women is at 199th Street and Grand Concourse. The Trinity Chapel Home is at No. 1666 Bussing Avenue. The Union Hos- pital is at the junction of Valentine Avenue and 188th Street. The United Oddfellows' Home is on Havemeyer Avenue and East 177th Street. The United States Veterans' Hospital No. 81, the United States Public Health Service Hospital, is at Sedgwick Avenue and Kingsbridge Road, The Van Cortlandt Private Hospital is on Gun Hill Road and Bain- bridge Avenue. The Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, Shipbuild- ers' Home, is on Sedgwick Avenue and 188th Street.
Relief for Children-There are also a great many agencies the par- ticular purpose of which is the welfare and relief of the children of the borough. Among these is the American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless, which is situated at No. 936 Woodycrest Ave- nue, near Jerome Avenue. The Big Sisters' Home is at No. 124 East 146th Street. The Bronx Catholic Big Brothers' League is at No. 563 East Tre- mont Avenue. The Bronx Dental Clinic, Inc., the Northern District Dental Society, is at No. 327 East 149th Street. The Bronx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is at No. 355 East 137th Street- new building, Grand Concourse, near McClellan Street. The Catholic Big
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Sisters are at No. 355 East 177th Street. The Children's Welfare Centre is at University Avenue and Kingsbridge Road. The Colored Orphan Asylum is at West 261st Street, Riverdale. The Darrach Home for Crippled Children is at No. 369 East Mosholu Parkway. The Daughters of David Home for Working Girls is at 178th Street and Crotona Park- way. The Free Home for Girls is at No. 318 East Mosholu Parkway. The proposed Hebrew Orphan Asylum will be at 233rd Street, Bayches- ter Avenue and Boston Post Road. The Home for Hebrew Infants is at University Avenue and Kingsbridge Road. The Jewish Big Brothers Association is at No. 355 East 137th Street. The Kingsland Orphan Chil- dren's Home, Edwin Gould Cottages, is at Pelham Parkway and Still- well Avenue. The Sevilla Home for Children is at Lafayette Avenue near Manida Street. The Shield of David Home for Orphan Girls is at No. 718 Bryant Avenue. The United Oddfellows' Orphanage is at Havemeyer Avenue and East 177th Street. The New York Catholic Pro- tectory is at East Tremont Avenue and Unionport Road.
Special Relief Agencies-Special relief agencies in The Bronx in- clude the Association for Aid of Crippled Children which is situated at No. 3219 Third Avenue and the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, Victoria Apartments for Consumptives, which is at No. 315 East 158th Street. The Association for Catholic Charities is at No. 213 Alexander Avenue. The Bronx Social Service Exchange is at No. 406 East 149th Street. The Federation of Bronx Jewish Charities is at No. 1685 Topping Avenue. The New York Diet Kitchen is at No. 583 Court- land Avenue. The New York Tuberculosis Association is at No. 448 East Tremont Avenue. Visiting Nurses (Henry St. Settlement), are at No. 520 East 149th Street ; No. 2169 Westchester Avenue; No. 2549 East Tremont Avenue ; No. 2021 Arthur Avenue ; No. 2737 Webster Avenue ; and No. 1160 Jackson Avenue. The Oliver Tilden's Woman's Relief Corps is at No. 1931 Washington Avenue. The Salvation Army is at No. 329 East 157th Street and at No. 4100 Park Avenue. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is at No. 509 Willis Avenue. The United Hebrew Char- ities is at No. 322 Fast 149th Street.
Day Nurseries-There are seven day nurseries. . The Bronx Day Nur- sery, Abby House is at No. 339 East 142nd Street. The First Ladies' Day Nursery is at No. 1381 Fulton Avenue. The Free Day and Night Shelter, Federation of Bronx Jewish Charities, is at No. 1695 Topping Avenue. The Hebrew Nursery of The Bronx, Isaac Gerson Foundation, is at No. 726 Beck Street. The Jewish Ladies' Day Nursery is at No. 1697 Washington Avenue. Our Lady's Institute Day Nursery is at No. 4691 Park Avenue. St. Margaret's Day Nursery is at No. 211 Alexander Avenue.
This list will give us an idea of the development of philanthropic
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and relief organizations in The Bronx. In recent years the term "Wel- fare" has broadened its meaning to include the activities of local gov- ernments which deal with health, care of the poor, resorts, playgrounds, sanitation and the like. These are now generally regarded as matters of public welfare. There are other activities in great variety, necessary to the public welfare though they do not directly concern the govern- ment. Governmental and private functions frequently overlap, and the coordination which has been worked out between them forms an inter- esting element in the local government. This is noticeable in the har- monious administration of public and private hospitals, ambulances, and numerous agencies which seek to relieve the unfortunate. In almost every field in The Bronx and in the city generally private enterprise and departmental authority supplement each other for the welfare of the public. From the beginning almost of the history of New York there is evidence of a readiness to extend emergency relief. In the greater city the prevalence of street beggars furnishes evidence of the city's easy charity. A noted institution for first aid to the hungry was the bread line nightly maintained by the Fleischmann's Vienna Bakery on Broad- way and Tenth Street. From its first establishment in 1876, this free distribution to the poor was never omitted until the business was finally sold out in 1918. A similar food line used to form in the rear of the Knickerbocker Hotel, where hot food and coffee were served to the needy ; but that too, was discontinued when the Knickerbocker was con- verted into an office building. Among the regular organizations for relief work the Havens' Relief Fund Society was a pioneer founded in 1870.
The modern tendency to philanthropy is toward systematized organ- ization. Charitable agencies have so multiplied that cooperation of some sort was seen to be a prime necessity in New York. In 1892 the United Charities was incorporated, and other great cooperative agen- cies, such as the Charity Organization Society, the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, whch has been in existence since 1843, the Children's Aid Society, the New York Mission Society, and a number of others were all brought together.
Church Early Welfare Agency-Aiding the poor and what is now known as public welfare, in early colonial days, devolved on the church. Each society had its fund for voluntary subscriptions and church offi- cials assisted the needy in their homes, or, in the case of homeless ap- plicants, in a house hired for the purpose. There are records of an alms- house situated on the west side of Broad Street, just north of Beaver, but not until 1690 or 1691 was the church fund augmented by appro- priations from the public treasury. At that time two Overseers of the Poor were appointed, whose duty it was to visit the different wards of
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the city and estimate the needs of the poor. In 1695, as a result of their visits, the sum of one hundred pounds was appropriated by the city for charity. Poor laws, which provided funds for charity by taxes, were also passed in this period, but the church still bore the main burden.
In the winter of 1713 and 1714 there was unusual distress among the poor, and the city was obliged to borrow one hundred pounds for their relief. The question of erecting a public poorhouse was often discussed, but nothing was done. In 1731 New York had fourteen hundred houses and a population of 8,626, including many vagabonds, beggars and criminals, as well as paupers. An epidemic of smallpox occurred in 1731, which did not improve civic conditions, but revived talk of the poorhouse. Finally, in 1735 it was begun on the site of the present City Hall, and finished the next year. This "Publick Workhouse and House of Correction of the City of New York," as it was called, was the beginning of the great Welfare Department of the twentieth century.
Department of Public Welfare-At the close of the Revolution the distress among the poor was so great that the "Publick Workhouse" was more than filled, and in 1796 a new Almshouse was built in the rear of the old building. There were then six hundred and twenty-two in- mates and the new house was soon insufficient. But early in the nine- teenth century the city acquired possession of the Belle Vue and the Kip's Bay Farms on the East River, and in 1816 the Almshouse and the various corrective institutions were moved there, along with an embryo hospital destined in a few short years to crowd out everything else. In 1828 the city paid $32,000 for the island in the East River which had been in the possession of the Blackwell family for about a hundred and thirty years, and then, as rapidly as possible, the benevolent as well as the corrective institutions were removed. In token of the work to which it is devoted, the name of the island has now been changed to "Welfare Island." First the Penitentiary was built there and next the Insane Asylum. In 1843 provision was made on the island for the Almshouse and other institutions quickly followed, such as the hospitals for children and adults, the Workhouse, and the Infants' Hospital on Randall's Island. From these beginnings grew the Department of Welfare of the City of New York, upon which rests the ultimate re- sponsibility for the care and treatment of all dependents. It was organ- ized in 1860 as the Department of Public Charities and Corrections which in 1895 was divided into two separate departments. In 1902 there was another separation of authority by giving Bellevue and its allied hospitals their own administration. Finally the name of the Charities Department was changed to the name of the Department of Public Welfare, a change of deeper significance than mere nomenclature, since it implied the adoption of the modern idea that the care of the
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unfortunate is a matter that is the concern of the whole community. It meant too a greater inclusiveness of function and a closer central- ization of government and social service. Kansas City was the first to establish such a department in 1910, and the example has been followed by a great number of American cities.
Modern welfare departments, such as that in New York, place the emphasis on the preventive lines of work and aim at treating each case individually ; not with the attitude of dispensing charity, but rather with the idea of giving sympathetic constructive aid. It is individual recon- struction which results in the public welfare. To these ends the depart- ment conducts a great number of humane enterprises. There are hos- pitals under its supervision, homes for the aged and infirm, cottages for aged couples and women, a municipal lodging house, a mortuary, a social service department in connection with the hospitals, four schools of nurs- ing, and four training schools for attendants.
Private Philanthropies-In the meantime private philanthropies, be- ginning with those in early colonial days, steadily multiplied until in modern times they assumed great proportions, requiring new general associations for their practical cooperation. The directories of the early nineteenth century list such charitable organizations as the Manumission Society for promoting the manumission of slaves and protecting such of them as have been or might be liberated, and the Humane Society, formed for the relief of poor persons, and for "supplying the poor with soup at a cheap rate," and a great number of benefit societies, such as the Provident, the Mutual Benefit, the Benevolent, the Albion Benefit, St. Patrick's, and the like. The Tammany Society, which dates from 1789, maintained a considerable fund for the relief of distressed brothers, and their widows and orphans. In 1806 the Orphan Asylum Society came into existence. As a sort of apology for the launching of another charity, its first advertisement expressed the belief that, al- though "charity in this country consists more in finding employment for the needy than in supporting them in idleness," some exception mnight well be made in the case of orphans. Societies for child wel- fare and children's homes, orphanages and the like became in time very numerous. Of interest are the constructive movements of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Big Brothers' Society and the Big Sisters' Society, all tending to inspire high ideals in the minds of boys and girls of all classes. The Big Brothers' movement aims to help boys who for any reason are in special need of friendly encouragement. A court representative always stands ready to help boys in trouble, and summer camps and other enterprises supplement the good work. The Big Sisters' offers the same friendly service to girls.
An agency that has done good work is the Society for the Prevention
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of Cruelty to Children, which, curiously enough, came into existence as an indirect result of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The first work for the education of the deaf and dumb in the United States was begun in New York City in 1807 by the Rev. John Stanford.
Worthy seamen and their dependents are provided with a fine home and young men of good character and intelligence are given a valuable training in marine construction at the Webb Seamen's Home and Institute of Naval Architecture at Sedgwick Avenue and 188th Street. This institute was established and endowed in 1889 by William H. Webb. The first guest was admitted to the home in October, 1893. There have always been in recent years philanthropic institutions which exist for the protection and aid of the working women of various classes. A pioneer in this line of work was the Working Women's Protective Union, which was established in 1863. Settlement work in all its phases has been another development of the growth of the population in New York and in the vicinity. Church missions were, of course, the pioneers.
The Salvation Army-One of the most important Salvation Army in- stitutions in the eastern territory of the United States, the eastern terri- tory comprising the twenty-two eastern and southern states, is located in The Bronx. This is the Training School for Cadets which occupies quite an imposing building at West Tremont and Andrews avenues. This building was originally erected as an orphanage by a wealthy family, and was turned over to the Salvation Army for a purchase price far below its actual cost in 1920. It was in that year that the Training School was moved from downtown Manhattan to this new institution. Every year the Training School prepares approximately two hundred men and women cadets for Salvation Army officerships. It has a staff of thirty-one members. There are three corps, all centres of religious work, in The Bronx. Corps No. 10, known as the Tremont, or Training School Corps, was opened on Sunday, April 10, 1921, at No. 1872 Web- ster Avenue. Since then its location has been changed to No. 1891 Washington Avenue. From September until June this corps is operated by the cadets of the Training School. Corps No. 5, opened in October, 1910, at No. 245 East 142nd Street, is now situated at No. 329 East 157th Street. Corps No. 13, opened in December, 1923, is located at No. 1066 Prospect Avenue. The Bronx also claims distinction in the social service phase of Salvation Army operations, for the reason that at 175th Street and Park Avenue, the Army in 1924 opened what has since be- come the largest Industrial Home for the reclamation of down and out men in the world. The Army now maintains a hundred and one of these institutions throughout the United States, but the one in The Bronx sets the pace for size.
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Visiting Nurse Service-Much good work is done by the Visiting Nurse Service administered by the Henry Street Settlement in The Bronx. The nursing work in The Bronx was undertaken because of the growing population there, and the frequent calls for nursing serv- ice which came to the Manhattan office from patients who had moved to The Bronx. In 1906 two nurses established themselves in an apartment on Dawson Street, which later was transferred to No. 862 Cauldwell Avenue. The work grew and the little office space in the apartment became too small to accommodate the growing staff. When The Bronx House on Washington Avenue was opened in 1911, an invitation to occupy an office there was gratefully accepted, and this continued as The Bronx Nursing Center until the space there also became inadequate, when in 1916 an office in the building in 163rd Street and Third Avenue was secured and a second center was opened on Tremont Avenue. In 1916 a baby health station was established in the Parish House of the St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Westchester, which continued there until the Westchester center was established.
Miss Catherine Leverich, secretary of The Bronx Chapter of the American Red Cross, which financed the Morris Avenue Health Cen- ter for two years and assisted in the organization and in the financing of the Villa Avenue Health Center, was also a member of the Nursing Committee of the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service. She suggested that Mrs. Alfred Page be invited to assist in the formation of a com- mittee in The Bronx in order that the borough might play a larger part in securing the budget needed for the Nursing Service. In January, 1923, Miss Viola Conklin of the Henry Street Settlement interviewed Mrs. Page, who consented to accept the chairmanship. During the spring of that year both Miss Conklin and Mrs. Page interviewed many people, inviting them to serve on local committees, planning to start active work in the fall. The chairman of the local committee met as a central committee in the year at the home of Olin J. Stevens, and plans were made for further work in the fall. Mrs. Page was taken ill and Miss Conklin had to leave the work. It therefore had to be organized, and Mrs. Richard Lawrence accepted the chairmanship. During the fall of 1923 and the winter and spring of 1924 monthly meetings of the local committees were held at the center offices. Two meetings of the Central Committee were held, one at the home of Mrs. Lawrence early in the winter, and the other in the spring at The Bronx Young Men's Christian Association, at which plans for the following year were made. The Central Committee consists of a chairman and all the officers of the local committees. Meetings are held at the call of the chairman.
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