New York Training School for Girls facts for kids

The New York Training School for Girls was a special school in Hudson, New York. It was a place where teenage girls, usually between 12 and 16 years old, were sent if they had gotten into trouble with the law in New York state. This school was open from 1904 to 1975.

After 1975, the buildings became a prison for young adult men. Today, it is known as the Hudson Correctional Facility. The school is also famous because of important research done there in the 1930s by a scientist named Jacob L. Moreno. He studied how people connect with each other, using a method called sociometrics.

History of the School

The New York Training School for Girls opened in 1904. It was the only place in New York state that could help and train girls under 16 who had gotten into trouble. The school used the buildings of an older institution called the House of Refuge for Women.

The school was located on the east side of the Hudson River. It had a beautiful view of the Catskill Mountains. When it first opened, there were seven large, three-story houses, called cottages. About 26 girls lived in each cottage. The school also had sports fields, office buildings, and a chapel.

A superintendent was in charge of the whole school. Each cottage had a teacher, often called a "house mother," and other staff members. The house mother acted like a parent to the girls. Other staff, like those in the kitchen, helped guide the girls' daily activities.

How the School Helped Girls

Early Ways of Helping

The main goal of the school was to help the girls become healthy and happy. They wanted the girls to "do well" after they left the school. The school focused on three main areas to help the girls:

• Physical activities: Girls did special exercises and gymnastics to stay healthy.
• Learning and skills: Girls attended elementary school classes. They also learned important life skills like cooking, ironing, doing laundry, making clothes, and gardening.
• Good behavior and values: The school taught girls about good behavior by showing them examples, not just by telling them rules. The school strictly did not allow hitting or other physical punishments.

The 1930s: Jacob Moreno's Research

In 1932, many girls tried to run away from the school. In just two weeks, 14 girls ran away, which was much more than usual. At this time, the school had 16 cottages.

The head of the school, Fannie French Morse, heard about Jacob Moreno. He had new ideas about studying how people connect in groups. She also knew he had success with his ideas at the Sing Sing prison. After meeting him, she hired Moreno to lead research at the school.

Moreno and his helper, Helen H. Jennings, studied 500 girls. They looked at how smart the girls were, what social activities they did, and most importantly, how they felt about each other. Moreno used a method called sociometry. This helped him draw pictures, called sociograms, that showed the connections between the girls.

Moreno wrote about his findings in his famous book, Who Shall Survive?. He concluded that how people are connected in a group can make them act in certain ways. This was true for the girls at Hudson. He believed that the runaways were not always planned. Instead, the girls acted how their place in the group made them act.

Famous People Connected to the School

• Ella Fitzgerald: A world-famous jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald spent almost a year at the school. Records show she arrived in April 1933 and left around late 1933 or early 1934.
• Marion Palfi: A photographer, Marion Palfi visited the school in 1946. She took pictures of some of the girls for her book, Suffer Little Children.
• Jacob Moreno: A psychologist who did important research on how people connect in groups at the school.