A Brief History of St. Agatha Home
by Nancy Canfield
In January, 1884 five Sisters from St. Joseph Home in NY and four little
homeless girls, set up housekeeping in the Little Flower House on the
present site of St. Agatha Home. That summer, a small building was erected
for a chapel, children's dining room and kitchen. Next, they built a school
room, then a dormitory. One year later, there were 185 children residing at
St. Agatha and four additional Sisters were added.
Five boys arrived from NY Foundling Hospital in 1889 with the new idea of
keeping families at the same facility. St. Joseph's dorm became classrooms
and dormitories for the boys. Before long, there were four hundred children
in residence. In 1897, the Home celebrated it's first reunion of 75 girls
who had left St. Agatha.
In 1898, ground was broken for the present day Administration building with
a large chapel, a convent for the Sisters, and larger dining areas for the
boys and girls. A boys dorm was built, a twin to the main building, just to
the left of it, but it burned down in 1906, and was never replaced. The
boys were sent to neighboring homes including St. Dominic's, in Blauvelt,
and St. Agnes, in Sparkill. In 1917, a Preventorium was built behind the
boys dorm, to house children whose parents had TB, so that they would not
contract the disease.
In 1920, the first high school class began, and a vocational school was
built up on the hill, where it later became the High School girls cottage.
Girls were taught sewing, dressmaking, cooking, while boys learned
carpentry, chair caning, and printing. The Hackensack River was diverted to
provide a place to swim, and later, commonly called "The Brook." A boys
dining room, or refectory, and an assembly hall which is still called "the
band room", were built so that families could eat together. In 1923,the
Preventorium moved up on the hill by the vocational school, and the vacated
building became the boys school. Later it became St. Agnes cottage, for
girls.
The population rose and fell according to conditions such as the Depression
and WWI and II. With the shortage of Sisters, the high school closed in 1936, and
the nearly 100 boys were transferred to a Sparkhill. Beginning in
1938, most of the eighth grade girls were transferred to a convent in NYC
and attended neighborhood schools.
During World War II, from 1939 - 1945, Seminarians from St. Joseph's
Seminary began to work with the boys. In 1947 they became counselors
during the summer. In 1945, the girls went by bus to Pearl River High
School. In 1946, an Alumnae Association was formed which still exists. In
1947, Reverend Terence J. Cooke was assigned as chaplain at St. Agatha, and
brought many innovations. He went on to become the Archbishop of NY, and a
Cardinal.
In 1955, Seton Hall was built for High School boys. St. Agatha received a
director for it's expanding social services dept. Loyola and DePaul followed
shortly thereafter, to house teens and pre-teens. In 1958, five new
cottages were built to accommodate twelve children, each, with a group
mother and a counselor, at the top of Duryea Lane. In the 1960's, Hayden
Circle was built to house younger boys. The construction of these smaller
cottages, in a group home atmosphere, was the fulfillment of a dream that
began before the turn of the century, to move away from large scale
institutional life, towards the Cottage Plan, and a more homelike
atmosphere.
Throughout its existence, St. Agatha has had to evolve, grow, and adapt
itself to the changing times. In 1977, St. Agatha merged with the NY
Foundling Hospital in order to offer a wider range of services to both
facilities. Today, St. Agatha continues to provide care in group homes
dispersed throughout NYC, Nanuet, and the neighboring counties, including
Westchester. Much of the original Home is still intact. Some buildings,
mostly on the north side of Convent Road, have been demolished, and new,
Senior Care housing has been built, to respond to the needs of this growing
population. Some children who spent their youth on these very grounds, are
now applying to spend their remaining years at the only real home some of
them ever knew as children.
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