The block just north of Montefiore Park at 138th Street and Broadway used to have a set elegant retirement homes built on the site in 1889. This land belonged to the Sir Moses Haim Montefiore who was an Italian Jewish philanthropist who lived in Britain but donated money all over the world to help his people live better lives. A theater would take over this corner within three decades but the area just west of the City College Campus is still known as Montefiore Square. Check out our past post to see what the block looks like now:
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Archival photo courtesy the Museum of the City of New York
Lots of philanthropists were active uptown with orphan asylums (Jewish and "Colored"), old age homes, homes for the blind and deaf, mental clinics, etc. I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but I guess they were the garbage transfer and bus depots of the 19th century--some people didn't want them in their neighborhoods downtown.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've long wondered how Montefiore came to be connected to this property. Any ideas, short of tracing the deed history?