PASTE of posts previously appearing in the "Cliipper's Summerfest" thread, now moved here to "St. Vincent's."Stoney, you had asked me where the building in this panel had come from:
It is St. Vincent's Industrial School, which I think was also called the Male Orphan Asylum at Utica. Residential training facility to prepare boys for future jobs. I can't find any other info on it at the moment, but I believe it was near Mohawk St. in the vicinity of South or Rutger. I don't now why I think that. Must have seen some other reference at one time.
Here's another post card photo of the facility:
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When I was a kid, there was an area between St. Vincent and Mohawk, running from James to Arthur that was a wasteland. We used to play there, just south from St. Agnes Cemetery. Lots of rubble and piles of dirt, maybe the former site of something large. And there was open land used for a bus loop on the south side of James St., between Conkling and St. Agnes, directly across from the "new" Blessed Sacrament Church. Across from Roosevelt School, there was empty land running from Taylor to Conkling, until they began to build homes there in 1952 or so.
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FROM JON:
NYPL Plate K of 1584706 the Zoom just stopped working for some reason.
I found a pdf that has EVERYTHING you would ever want to know about the property.
Utica NY Observer 1889a - 0586.PDF
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FROM DAVE:
I got through the first couple of paragraphs before my eyes shut from fatigue. Tough reading, given the quality of the copy. But St. Vincents Industrial WAS near the South St. church (St. Mary's?), and according to the article was bounded by South, Rutger, Taylor and Third (Conkling.) In my mind, I had it further east toward Mohawk, and in fact I even wondered if it wasn't over toward Kossouth. I'll try NYPL again tomorrow.
Now I just gotta get to NYPL soon tofigure out what was just south of St. Agnes Cemetery that we used as a playground. And it did not extend up to James st. It ran from Arthur up to Rosemont. On the way home from Blessed Sacrament school, we would go in where Rosemont bent into Emily St. and then exit on Arthur, continuing on to skirt St. Agnes as we wound our way home.
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FROM FIONA:
What a beautiful, beautiful building. What a shame that Utica is/was such tear down/rebuild city. So much has been lost. This looks as if it was designed by Jacob Agne, a prominint Utica architect at the turn of the century. Most of his homes and buildings were monumental. I believe he designed and built the House of the Good Shepard where Pin O rama is now and also the Home for Indigent Men on Sunset Ave, where the Heritage Home is now. They ( the home) have a photo of it in their meeting room. it was mammoth structure with huge porches. mabye someone of us can find a pic of it on line and post it.
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FROM WESTMO:
What is NYPL you refer too Dave?
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FROM DAVE:
Fiona wrote:
What a beautiful, beautiful building. What a shame that Utica is/was such tear down/rebuild city. So much has been lost. This looks as if it was designed by Jacob Agne, a prominint Utica architect at the turn of the century. Most of his homes and buildings were monumental. I believe he designed and built the House of the Good Shepard where Pin O rama is now and also the Home for Indigent Men on Sunset Ave, where the Heritage Home is now. They ( the home) have a photo of it in their meeting room. it was mammoth structure with huge porches. mabye someone of us can find a pic of it on line and post it.
Was that the large wooden building across the street from Faxton Hospital?
I delivered papers there in the summer of 1957.
(See my story, "Forgiveness" at:
www.windsweptpress.com/forgive.pdf )
We just called it the old age home, and although I remember men there, I'm not sure if it was men-only at that time.
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FROM JON:
I remember it being called the Sunset Nursing Home even back in the '50s. My parents had friends there that we would visit. Very dark and depressing. I also knew several people that worked there in later years.
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FROM KIT:
The American Red Cross also had some offices there. I photographed a group of their directors in front of the beautiful staircase that went to the 2nd floor. And then they tore the building down. What a shame.
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FROM JON:
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FROM JON:
Committee Discusses
St. Vincent's School
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Discussion of fire hazards at last evening's meeting of the fire prevention committee held at the Central Fire Station brought recognition of the abandoned St. Vincent's Industrial School as a serious fire and accident hazard.
The structure was declared to be badly weakened through the removal of brick and wood and the general deterioration brought about by its vacant condition was regarded as the reason to place the building on the dangerous list.
Reports of various committees were received and routine business was transacted. Charles B. Bennet presided as chairman.
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FROM DAVE:
WestmoGuy wrote:
What is NYPL you refer too Dave?
Hi Westmo,
Here's the starting url:
digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=UticaClick on the "Index Map" and find which ward you want. Then choose a map containing the ward. Then zoom in. It's like a map version of a city directory of Utica for 1883.
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FROM DAVE:
Jon,
This is interesting. (To me, anyway.) On the NYPL map, "St. Vincent Orphan Asylum" is emblazoned across the map from south to north through all the blocks between Third Ave (Conkling) and St. Vincent St., from Arthur to South Street. St. Vincent Street runs through the "middle" of what we today know as St. Agnes Cemetery. Actually it's what was a dirt road on the east side of an empty field that I remember as a kid. The NYPL map shows only a few buildings in that swath of land, although individual lots (the size of home lots) are laid out.
ALSO: I've been noticing thin lines drawn along the streets in these maps. I almost want to guess they're trolley or horse-drawn bus routes, as you can see in the printscreen, below. But they often rip right across properties and sometimes through indicated houses. Elsewhere on the maps the same style of lines appear only as demarcation lines. What do you think? Maybe gas lines?
PS: Shall we move this to one of the historical threads?++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FROM CLIPPER:
I think it would be a great candidate for the "Past History and Reminiscences" area. I love this kind of historic reading. I hope you guys keep it coming. I am not sure how to move the existing posts, but maybe Ralph can do it when he finds time.
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FROM JON:
Yesterday at 4:50pm, Dave wrote:
ALSO: I've been noticing thin lines drawn along the streets in these maps. I almost want to guess they're trolley or horse-drawn bus routes, as you can see in the printscreen, below. But they often rip right across properties and sometimes through indicated houses. Elsewhere on the maps the same style of lines appear only as demarcation lines. What do you think? Maybe gas lines?
PS: Shall we move this to one of the historical threads?
The lines appear to me to be:
large brick sewer lines about 4 foot in diameter.
All roads lead to Rome and the sewer lines lead to the Mohawk River.
Definitely move this to another thread.
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FROM DAVE:
Ah, very observant, Jon! I didn't notice they lead to the river. Of course, the gas plants were down there, too, but sewer lines are just as good candidates. Probably better.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
