The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-09-05
THAT QUEER OLD "ROOKERY."
A Glance at School No. I5, Which Mar
ion Children Attend.

A Glance at School No. Is, Which Mar
ion Children Attend.
Superintendent Poland, as quoted in q
recent article in THE JERSEY CITY NEWS,
speaking of the condition of schools Nos.
8 and Is, at Marion, Iikened them to O
''rookery" and "stable.n
When / visited them yesterday the jan
ftor of School No. was not at home; but
through the courtesy Of amiable Mrs.
Murphy, who looks after the No. Is school
building, L was allowed to inspect the in
terror of the 'rookery"
Some twenty odd years ago Giles,
Wales & Co., a New York firm, erected a
match factory at Marion. In order to ac-
commodate the several hundred hands
employed great four. story frame hotel
was hastily constructed. 1t faces Broad
way, and extends from Giles avenue to
Wales avenue.
Soon after the firm failed; the hands
moved away, and the big hotel building
was closed. For ten years the weeds grew
up around it,. and decay attacked the
cheap material of the deserted structure.
NSbody seemed to be owner, and it be-
came veritable rendezvous for tramps
and squatters. 1t next passed through
the hands of a Green street, New York,
firm, who converted the building into a
silk and worsted mill. The hotel build
ing was cleansed and some repairing was
done This firm also failed and again the
hotel building was neglected. The fac
tory building is now the Daft Electric
Works. just who is the owner of the
mammoth 'rookery" was unable to as
certain.
AS l approached the tall yellow struct-
ure and glanced aloft / saw an array of
dilapidated brown window shutters,
-, rT<,Jr
and cornices, about which lowered flock
of chattering birds in quest of insects and
worms. | wildly recalled Mr.. Poland's
designation.
In one of the Broadway corners is a
butcher shop. A candy store occupies the
other, and cobbler's sign hangs over tn g
centre. Several families occupy rooms in
the upper stories.
/ mounted rickety fight of steps lead
ing to the primary school on the first floor,
and was ushered Immediately into small
class room, whose miniature benches (of a
pattern, by the way, that Rider Haggard
wouldn't have been surprised to stumble
upon in the heart of an Egyptian noun
tain) informed me that it was devoted to
the occupancy of infants.
/ passed from this room into larger
one adjoining, containing eighteen little
desks. The plasterers had been at work
here, and the job was not yet finished.
There were large holes in the ceiling, and
piles of lime and broken cement were
scattered over the desk tops and about the
floor. The plaster about the walls and
ceiling hung loose, and my guide informed
me that the plaster with the exception of
the holes) had been in this condition for a
long while, and had threatened at all
times to fall upon the heads of the little
ones beneath. As matter of absolute
necessity some repairing had to be done
here to prevent an accident.
This room is connected by sliding doors
to the main school room, where about
sixty pupils can be comfortably accom-
modated, provided the weather is not in
tensely cold. For two stoves, in addition
to the furnace pipes, and loose, rattling
window frames, told a graphic story OF
shivering pupils in winter.
The furnace is in the cellar The pipes
aresnot-and cannot be-kept in proper
condition. The plumbers have been at
work, and the water pipes have been put
in shape; but there is an awful sugges-
ton of the ''pennywise and pound
foolish" maxim in expending money upon
such dilapidated concern.
Still, this cannot be helped at present.
Director Moran is doing his level best
with the amount of school money at his
command But if the STABLE is as bad
as the "rookery," certainly Marion is en-
titled to consideration in the matter of
new school buildings.