The Gates Historical Society will host a presentation by Michael Keene on the Untold Story of Orphan Asylums in New York. “Abandoned” presents eye-opening, true-to-life tales of the Five Points area of New York City and the desperation of a million Irish immigrants who hoped to find better conditions in New York after leaving behind the famine they experienced in their homeland in 1848.
Unfortunately, after arriving in Lower Manhattan, they found squalor, gang violence and disease. As a result of this crisis, the Age of Orphan Asylums began, culminating in one of the most improbable and audacious episodes in American history, known as the orphan train movement. The “Rochester Orphan Asylum” was part of the orphan train movement.
The presentation will take place on Monday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at the Gates Town Hall Annex, 1605 Buffalo Road, Gates. The Gates Town Annex is fully handicapped accessible.
For more information, call 281-2069, email famuscato@aol.com, or visit www.gateshistory.org.
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