The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-31
VILLAGE OF ORPHAN CHILDREN.
Cottage System for Caring for Juve-
nile Wards Established.
Public Opinion.

BUDl1c opinion.
On the hills back of Dobbs Ferry, over
looking the Hudson. is being built a re-
markable village, with cottages, schools, a
hospital, a church, gymnasiums and rec
reatiOn grounds Ii is the new home OF the
New York juvenile asylum. and as soon
as the buildings OF the new community re
completed this institution intends TO aban-
don its huge brick building at Amsterdam
avenue and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
street, which II has occupied for nearly
half a century, and which the rapid growth
Of the city ~northward has now made I'M
desirable. But the removal OF the asylum
is by no means one Of situation alone. An
entirely new system is TO be established
In the training and education OF the thou
sand or more boys and girls who have been
picked up from the streets and alleys OF
the great city with the hope and purpose
of making them useful citizens. In their
present home they have been herded to-
gether in one great building. There nearly
one thousand sleep, study. work and play.
on entering the institution many OF them
thought il was a Jail. and even the kind
treatment which they received in the years
that followed was not enough TO dissuade
them from such "A belief. But i'm the new
home at Dobbs Ferry, il is believed by the
men at the head OF the institution, there
will be no jail horror haunting the minds
of the children. Instead OF one great pen
itentiary building there will be sixty cot
tages. each a little home in itself. presided
over by n man ana his wife. called the
house mother and the house father. There
will be boys cottages and girls cottages,
each large enough for twenty. Each cot
tage is TO have its own dining room, sitting
room and bathroom.
The Hudson farm, with its aggregation
of buildings, is 10 be the most compTehan-
sive Institution OF its kind in the United
States. Within an Enclosure OF 27 acres
there are To- be forty cottages accommo-
dating 80 boys: twenty cottages for 800
girls; three buildings. which are termed the
administration group, for the superintend-
ent and other officers, a library and mu-
scum. and separate gymnasiums. with lock-
ers and swimming pools, for boys and
girls. There are schools where the Younger
children may study and the older ones
work at various trades and VOcatiOns. such
as blacksn.ithing. tailoring, shoemakine.
shorthand and biography. a church occu-
pies the southern hill OF the grounds. The
dining rooms are supplied with food from
individual kitchens. where food may be re-
heated IL necessary. The whole group OF
seventy-hve buildings will be heated and
furnished with water from central plants.
The change OF surroundings from the
prisOnlike halls or the present building 10
the cottage life or the DObbs Ferry farm.
although entailing a greater cost. will. II
IS believed. have a marked effect on the
after life Of the children. These waits are
brought TO the asylum through the courts
and the Gerry Society. Nearly all. even al
their early age. nave committed a Grim
inal offense. Because OF their extreme
youth-for all are between the ages OF five
and fifteen ~years-they are not sent 20 Ran
dalls island with older and more hardened
offenders. but kept by themselves. At the
Dobbs Ferry farm they will be still fur
ther removed from criminal associations.