New York House of Refuge

A wood engraving representing the NY House of Refuge in 1855

The New York House of Refuge was the first juvenile reformatory established in the United States.[1] It opened in 1824 on the Bowery in Manhattan, New York City[2] and was destroyed by a fire in 1839, before being relocated first to Twenty-Third Street and then, in 1854, to Randalls Island.[3]

Through its 111-year history, the reformatory was privately funded, receiving only guidance, supervision and additional funding from state agencies.

Beginning in 1901, female inmates were removed to the newly opened New York State Reformatory for Women, now the Taconic Correctional Facility. In the 1930s, younger male inmates (ages 12 to 15) were transferred to the new state training school at Warwick, and the older boys to the newly constructed state prison in Coxsackie.[4] The House of Refuge closed on May 11, 1935.

References

  1. ^ "New York House of Refuge". New York State Archives. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2011-05-05. The New York House of Refuge was the first juvenile reformatory in the nation. ...
  2. ^ Smith, Caleb (March–April 2014). "The Haunted Convict". Yale Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  3. ^ "OUR CITY CHARITIES.; The New-York House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents". The New York Times. 23 January 1860. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  4. ^ Eisenstadt, Peter R.; Moss, Laura-Eve (2005). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse University Press. p. 1088. ISBN 9780815608080. Retrieved 6 October 2016.

40°47′42″N 73°55′23″W / 40.795°N 73.923°W / 40.795; -73.923