St. Paul's Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum of Pittsburgh

Dates:

Established - 1838

Closed - 1965

Locations:

1st site - Second Avenue (girls)

2nd site - Coal Lane/Webster Avenue (girls) and Pius Street (boys)

3rd site - Tannehill Street (Hill District) (1866)

4th site - Noblestown Road (Crafton/Idlewood)

Also Known As:

St. Paul's Female Orphan Asylum (Webster Avenue and Chatham Street) (1843)

St. Paul's Male Orphan Asylum (Pius Street - Birmingham) (1851)

St. Paul's Orphan Society

Holy Family Institute

Founder:

Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph (Emmitsburg, Frederick County, MD)

Sponsoring Agency:

Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh

Sisters of Charity (1843)

Sisters of Mercy (1845)

Notes:

Some larger boys were temporarily housed at a farm in Lawrence County cared for by Franciscan Brothers in 1849.

The large boys were sent to a farm in Cameron Bottom with the Franciscans in 1861.

Accepted soldiers' orphans.

In 1904, Catholic children were removed from non-Catholic institutions and placed either in St. Joseph's Protectory or St. Paul's Orphan Asylum.

Merged with Holy Family Institute in 1965.

Location of Records:

Archives and Records Center, Diocese of Pittsburgh, 125 North Craig Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 ; 412-621-6217

Sources:

PA Department Vertical Files (Orphanages)

Pittsburgh Photographic Library (Social Services - 1)

1839 Pittsburgh and Allegheny City Directory

1844 Pittsburgh and Allegheny City Directory

1895 Greater Pittsburg Handbook

1933 Directory of Social Agencies

1943 Directory of Social Resources

1965 Directory of Health and Welfare Services

Pennsylvania's Soldiers' Orphan Schools...With Names of Pupils Subjoined (1876), pp. 339-340

Catholic Pittsburgh's One Hundred Years, pp. 33, 45, 55, 63, 112-113, 129, 171, 183, 185, 191

The Little Orphan (Dec. 23, 1869 - Jan. 29, 1870)

1870 Census - Pittsburgh - Ward 8 - pp. 137-142 - for list of orphans

1880 Census - Allegheny County - ED-115, Sheet 12, Line 13 - for list of orphans