Sullivan Street Industrial School

219 Sullivan Street | also 209 Sullivan Street | Greenwich Village | built 1910

Open on the map6 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1887

    May 6

    A tinsmith sitting on the stoop of the earlier house on this site is shot in the eye

    Before the school, an earlier Federal-style brick house stood at this address, long past its days as an upscale 1830s residence and now full of blue-collar tenants. At 8:30 on the night of May 6, tinsmith John Murray is sitting on its stoop when John Hays of 11 Carmine Street walks up and shoots him in the right eye, blinding him. Murray tells doctors at St. Vincent Hospital he had never seen the man, and The New York Times blames liquor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1892

    December 21

    The Children's Aid Society opens its Sullivan Street school with a Christmas program for 420 children

    The school, paid for in 1891 with $90,000 from Mrs. Joseph M. White and Matilda W. Bruce and designed by the firm of Vaux & Radford, is finished in September 1892 and formally opens on December 21. Its 420 pupils, aged 5 to 13, arrive in new clothes supplied by Bruce, salute the flag, give recitations and sing carols beside a Christmas tree with a gift for each child.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1893

    In its first year the school enrolls 449 children, serves 50,293 meals and makes crutches in shop class

    In the school's first year, 449 children enroll, about 365 attend on an average day, and 50,293 meals are served. Items the girls sew in class are sold, raising $140 for their families, and the boys in manual training make brushes for use at home. One of the first pieces from the carpentry shop is a pair of crutches for a disabled child.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1937

    August 2

    Joe DiMaggio visits the West Side Center and escapes by tossing autographed baseballs

    By the Depression the building is the West Side Center, home of a boys' Yankee Sandlot League. In 1937 the members vote Joe DiMaggio their favorite Yankee, and he visits on August 2. Knowing the youngsters will mob him, he ends the visit by throwing out a dozen autographed baseballs and slipping away while they scramble.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1943

    A turtle named Florence wins "most bashful" at the West Side Center's pet show

    At the center's annual Pet Show, two-year-old Alfred Pruzzin enters his turtle, Florence, before 200 children. She withdraws into her shell and refuses to come out, and the judges name her the most bashful turtle in the show. Cats, insects and dogs also compete, and a dog named Saddler appears for the War Dog Fund, recruiting 4-F dogs for the Army.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 2010

    December

    The Children's Aid Society announces the sale of the building after more than 115 years

    In December 2010 the Children's Aid Society says it is selling the building, noting that the neighborhood's median income is now more than double that of the Morrisania section of the Bronx, where help is needed more. Preservationist Andrew Berman warns that the site sits just outside the Greenwich Village Historic District and could be demolished. Instead the 1892 building is gutted and built into a new residential building by Rawlings Architects.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village