Orphan Asylum

Edwin Burrows & Mike Wallace tell us in Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 that in 1806 Isabella Graham and her daughter Joanna Bethune got the idea of founding an orphanage for working class children. Their idea led to the formation of the Orphan Asylum Society. Their purpose was to tech children habits of cleanliness, subordination and order. Its first home was on Barrow and Asylum (now 4th) streets.