Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1763
Today’s illustration shows the Dorchester High School girls’ gym class about 1901.
Photo from City of Boston Archives:
http://cityofbostonarchives.tumblr.com/
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I’m confused in my reaserch about St. Mary’s Infant Asylum and this caption referring to a newer hosital called St. Margaret’s Hostal and the postcard caption St. Margarite Hospital . Are they one-in-the same, as far as a historical progression of the facility and a move in location from Homes Ave/Bowdoin sts. to Upham Corner?I have a copy of the 1900 Census for St. Mary’s where two children Irish relatives of mine are listed as inmates. One dying of Cholera there later that year. I would just like clarity as to the facilities, if they are the same. Thanks for your help! I love your site, very informative and some good stuff is available here. Thank you for your dedication to it!
St. Mary’s Infant Asylum was founded in 1872 under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. It was first started by the “White Bonnet” Sisters on the old Seaver estate at the corner of Homes Avenue and Bowdoin Street. Dr. Benjamin Cushing, a well-known Dorchester physician, was a great supporter of the work of the Asylum until his death in 1895. The house at the Bowdoin Street location was inconvenient for the work of the Asylum, and in 1883 the institution was moved to Jones’ Hill at Upham’s Corner where the Green estate had been purchased and the house renovated for its use. For a while the charity passed into the hands of another community of Sisters, but efforts to maintain the success of the Asylum failed. Father Peter Ronan stepped in and became builder, planner, supervisor, and treasurer. In 1901 he supervised the construction of a new building, and he went to New Hampshire to personally choose the brick. Father Ronan obtained much of the money for this building by appeals to charitable business and professional men boston, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. In 1910, the Asylum claimed to have received 17,332 children into the institution since its foundation, and that the number born there each year averaged 200.
The children’s building is a rectangular structure, 50 feet by 100 feet, five stories in height. In addition to the main building, a heating, ventilating, and laundry plant connects the children’s building with the maternity department. The exterior of the children’s building is of water struck brick with limestone trimmings in the style of the Georgian period.
The completion of the new children’s building allowed for the comfortable use of the original building and a new addition by the Maternity Department. In 1901 the Maternity Department consisted of the remodelled old house and the addition of a four-story brick building, 40 by 80 feet, used for hospital purposes. This department had its origin in a small ward in Carney Hospital, known as St. Ann’s Ward. Its move to St. Mary’s created efficiencies since the St. Mary’s staff could care for the newly born as well. In 1910, a new maternity hospital, to be called St. Margaret’s, was constructed. This was an adjunct to the Infant Asylum and was also to be conducted by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.