The Little Missionary's Day Nursery - 93 St. Mark's Place

 

The change of brick color testifies to the addition of the fourth floor around 1885.

Like their neighbors, John Christopher Thatcher and his wife, the former Mary Fitch, were well-to-do and their three-and-a-half story, 27-foot wide house at 93 St. Mark's Place reflected that.  Faced in red brick, its entrance would have originally included a substantial Greek Revival-style stone frame and entablature.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor windows opened onto an exquisite cast iron balcony adorned with palmettes, an important Greek Revival motif.

Born on February 29, 1812 in New London, Connecticut, Thatcher was a commission merchant.  He and his family were listed at 93 St. Mark's Place as early as 1843, when the children, Thomas Fitch and Mary Olivia, were five and two years old respectively.

Mary Fitch Thatcher was the daughter of Dr. Thomas and Olivia Fletcher Fitch of Philadelphia.  After Dr. Fitch's death on August 9, 1849, Olivia moved into the Thatcher residence.  She died there only five months later, on January 4, 1850 at the age of 75.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

John Thatcher owned at least one other property in the neighborhood.  On April 29, 1852, he advertised the "superb" mansion at 99 St. Mark's Place for lease or sale.  He described the 37-and-a-half-foot wide, "three story and attic, basement, cellar" house as having, "bath, fine figured marble mantel pieces, &c; four rooms on each floor."

Thatcher's offering may have been prompted by the waves of immigrants that were engulfing the neighborhood by now.  And, indeed, the following year the Thatchers had moved out of 93 St. Mark's Place, leasing it to a Mrs. Clauson who operated it as a boarding house.  She advertised in the New York Herald on June 4, 1853:

Furnished Rooms with Board, at No. 93 St. Marks place.  The house contains all the modern improvements, gas, baths, &c.  Stages pass the door.  References exchanged.  Dinner at 3 and 6 o'clock.

The boarders received an early morning fright at 2:00 on August 30, 1853.  They were wakened from their sleep when, according to the New-York Tribune, "a fire broke out on the first floor of the dwelling house, No. 93 St. Marks place, occupied by Mrs. Clauson."  Happily, firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.  The damages were estimated at $500, or about $20,900 in 2025 terms.

On April 25, 1856, the house "with dining-room extension and all the improvements" was offered for rent again.  It became home to Horace A. Schreiner and his wife, the former Julia Elizabeth Nelson.  The couple had at least five children, Jacob, Osmond H., Adelia, Anna and Susan. When the family moved in, Jacob was working as a bookbinder.  His brother would be listed as a cashier in 1859.

In the autumn of 1858, the Schreiners were victims of a burglary.  On September 27, The New York Times reported that Samuel Morris, "a Hebrew, about 80 years of age," had been arrested and "charged with stealing wearing apparel, &c., from the house of Mrs. Schrimer [sic], No. 93 St. Mark's-place."  But the elderly man was in even more trouble.  The article said, "He is also charged with bigamy" and explained:

It appears that in July, 1856, he was married in Court to Amelia Lowenthal, but abandoned her soon after, and since that time, he has been in the habit of taking board at different boarding-houses and marrying one girl at each place, whom he soon after abandoned.  The last victim was Mary Ryan.

The parlor was the scene of Adelia Schreiner's marriage to Pierre Trainique Tunison on February 11, 1858.  Born in New Orleans in 1831, Tunison was the bookkeeper for Jahne, Smith & Co., jewelers.  Eventually, he would become what The Jewelers' Circular Weekly would call, "one of the best known men in the jewelry trade in the east."

The room that had been the couple's joyful marriage would be the scene of their sublime grief.  On March 1, 1860, the New York Herald reported that the funeral of Pierre T. Tunison, "only child of Pierre T. and Adelia Tunison," would be held that day at 1:00.

The extended Schreiner family left 93 St. Mark's Place the following year.  For a few years it was again a boarding house, operated by Helen Goldsmith, the widow of David Goldsmith.  Then around 1864, newlyweds Henry and Helen Dodge Cox Campman purchased the house.

Henry was born in Germany in 1825, and Helen in New York City in 1831.  They were married on October 27, 1863.  Helen was pregnant when they moved into the St. Mark's Place house, and their first child, Marie Louise Campman, was born on August 27, 1864.  They would have four more children: Clara, born in 1866; Jane Eliza Dodge, born in 1869; and Henry Dodge and Mary Dodge, born in 1871 and 1872 respectively.  Sadly, Jane Eliza died at the age of one year and seven months on October 19, 1870.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on October 21.

Henry worked as a clerk--a term that ranged from an office or store worker to a highly responsible executive.  Helen invested in real estate and by the late 1870s was the owner of several tenement buildings.  The family moved to Fourth Avenue in 1874 and leased 93 St. Mark's Place to the Leopold Adler family.  Adler was a furrier.  The family took in several boarders and in 1876 they included August Otterbourg, a physician; Francis C. Urchs and Charles F. Urchs, who listed their professions as musician and vocalist, respectively; Frederick Puls, a tailor; Karl F. Witte who worked as a clerk; and leather merchant Patrick C. Costello.

On December 17, 1881, the Record & Guide reported that Helen Campman had hired architect Julius Boekell to replace 93 St. Mark's Place with a "five-story brick tenement."  She did not go forward with the plans, however, and on April 2, 1884, she sold the house at auction.  The winning bid was placed by her tenant, Leopold Adler.  

Louis Adler, presumably Leopold's son, was, like his former landlady, a real estate operator.  In 1888 and 1891, for instance, he erected "flat," or apartment, buildings.  It was most likely his construction savvy that resulted in the remodeling of 93 St. Mark's Place.  The outdated Greek Revival elements were replaced with molded cornices.  A stone bandcourse now marked the former attic level, which was raised to a full floor.  The paired windows of the new top floor shared an impressive bracketed cornice adorned with an anthemion.  A complex terminal cornice of small and large brackets crowned the design. 

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Interestingly, the Adlers' architect preserved the Greek Revival parlor balcony.  Other original ironwork, however, was scrapped.  The stoop was given beefy cast iron newels and railings, and the areaway received trendy Aesthetic-style fencing with stylized sunflowers.

The Adler family resided at 93 St. Mark's Place through at least 1891.  In the early 1890s, it was operated as a boarding house by Caroline Roehm, a widow.  Starting in 1896, the Adlers leased part of the house to the Hungarian Literary Society for its clubrooms.  On Christmas Eve that year, The New York Times reported, "At 93 St. Mark's Place, the First Hungarian Literary Society made 194 children's hearts glad last evening with gifts of clothing, underwear, shoes and caps."

On August 22, 1901, Leopold Adler sold 93 St. Mark's Place at auction.  It was purchased by the Little Missionary's Day Nursery.  

Sara Curry, who was born in Utica, New York in 1865, grew up as an orphan and factory worker there.  Her childhood experience prompted her to turn to social work in 1894.  She founded the Little Missionary's Day Nursery two years later.  The New York Times later explained, 

One day, on seeing a child crushed by a truck, she resolved to devote her life mainly to children.  With only enough money to pay a month's rent and immediate necessities, she rented a room at 204 Avenue C, which became her first nursery, and in it she cared for a dozen babies.

Sara Curry's project had come a long way in five years.  The nursery was brought to the attention of wealthy lawyer Louis B. Rolston by his 11-year-old daughter, Jean, in 1898.  She had held a bazaar and raised $200 for the cause.  Moved, Louis B. Rolston got involved not only financially, but by the time the St. Mark's Place house was purchased, he was its president.  When the nursery moved in, it was taking care of 200 children.

Children crowded onto the vintage cast iron balcony for this photo in 1908.  Harper's Weekly, January 25, 1908 (copyright expired)

The Little Missionary's Day Nursery relied solely on private donations.  To that end, fund raising was constant.  On December 13, 1903, for instance, The New York Times reported that the nursery "will be tendered a benefit concert at the Hotel Majestic, Central Park West, next Tuesday evening."  The article ended saying, "It is hoped that there will be a large attendance to aid this worthy charity."

Custom-fitted canvas shades kept out the hot summer sunshine.  New York Herald, August 4, 1918 (copyright expired)

Living in the nursery along with Sara Curry were employees (like nurses), as well as Robert Curry and his wife, Anna.  (Robert was presumably a relative, although not a brother.)  Robert J. Curry died on July 10, 1920 and his funeral was held in the house on July 12.

A week later, another tragedy occurred here.  On June 18, 1920, The New York Times reported, "While playing around a piano in St. Mary's Day Nursery [sic], 93 St. Marks Place, Peter Mandola, 8 years old...was killed yesterday when the piano toppled over upon him."  Sara Curry had tried to single-handedly lift the piano off the boy and injured her back in the process.

Anna Curry died in the house on September 26, 1929.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.  There would be one more funeral in the nursery building.  On March 4, 1940, Sara Curry was taken to New York Hospital.  Called "'The Little Missionary' to the needy of the lower East Side for more than forty years," by The New York Times, the 77-year-old died there a week later.  On March 13, the newspaper announced, "A service for Miss Curry will be held at 8 P.M. tomorrow at the nursery and another at 10 A.M. Friday at Bellport, L.I."

Sara Curry, Harper's Weekly, January 25, 1908 (copyright expired)

Sara Curry's death did not end the Little Missionary's Day Nursery.  Four decades later, when the Board of Estimate and the City Council were working out the city's budget, a group of children from the nursery showed up with a guardian.  They were there to lobby for funds for public parks and told the officials, as reported by The New York Times on May 18, 1985:  "We like to go to our park where we can walk, run and play.  We like to see in our park healthy big trees and flowers with bees.  We like to stay in our park where it is safe and clean to have wonderful dreams."

On October 5, 2013, the block of St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue was named Sara Curry Way.  Simultaneously, a plaque was affixed to the facade of 93 St. Mark's Place.  At the time, the Little Missionary's Day Nursery (which still operates from the building) provided full-time daycare to 50 children ranging from 2 to 4 years old.  By then, it was partially funded by non-profit organizations and grants from foundations.

photographs by the author