In 1904, when the New York House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY closed, the New York State Training School for Girls took its place to establish a separate place of confinement for “incorrigible” girls between the ages of 12 and 15 who had previously been housed with boys on Randall’s Island in New York City or at the State Industrial School in Rochester. At one point the Hudson Training School held as many as 500 girls but the population declined significantly as it neared closure in 1975.
During its 70-year existence the Training School was a site for new ideas in social work, psychological assessment, and sociological research. In the late 1930’s and 1940s, psychologists J. L. Moreno and Helen Jennings established a new school of psychological inquiry (sociometry) at Hudson. In the late 1950s, the sociologist Rose Giallambardo conducted a groundbreaking 10-month field study of social organization among girls and staff members at the school.
The Training School also came under close scrutiny for penal practices, including solitary confinement, judged to be harsh by standards of the day.
In the mid-1930’s, a 16-year-old Ella Fitzgerald, whose famous career as a jazz singer began while she was on parole, was incarcerated at Hudson, a period of her life she never spoke about in public. In the 1960s, a New York City court sentenced a young 13-year-old girl named Shirley Wilder to Hudson, and she later became the lead plaintiff in a landmark court case bearing her name.
In 1975, the New York State Training School for Girls closed despite local community and political opposition. Most of its remaining girls returned to their homes in New York City and elsewhere. A year after its closing, the buildings on the site of the Training School were converted into a minimum (later medium) security prison for young male adults.
Photo: NY State Training School For Girls in Hudson, NY postcard. Courtesy of the Museum of disABILITY History
51 comments
Marie says:
Mar 7, 2012
I’m looking for any information on a birth in 1930 of a child. I have no information if he or she died or was put up for adoption. My mother has passed away her name was Cecil L Partridge , she was 17 or 18 , I have a census that puts her there and a small booklet the girl’s were given when they were there. My mother’s stories of the school were brutal, I want to find out if I have another brother or sister. maybe someone has information to help me.
janet gamblin says:
Apr 9, 2012
i was sent too hudson in 1964. it wasnt a very nice place to be. but i made my bed so i had to lay in it. once you got use to being there it wasnt, a bad place they had trades to learn i worked in the hospital,kitchen the laundry,ilearned cosmotology ,we had a church, skating rink, movie theater,gym it made me a better person some of these young girls now should have a place like that.it taught you respect for your self and others.iam sorry they closed.they need more correctional facatilys like that.
Editor says:
Nov 25, 2012
Hello Marie and Janet,
Thank you both for sharing your information and thoughts. We’ll be in touch with you to follow up.
Beverley Emery Kimmel says:
Mar 16, 2013
My Aunt Marguerite (Margaret) Emery was here in 1930’s. It is said she may have had a child or twins while here. Is there any way to find out if this is true or could you point me in the right direction. It would be most appreciated. The family has been trying to figure this out for years. Thank You, Beverley (Emery) Kimmel
Editor says:
Apr 13, 2013
Beverly,
Thank you for visiting and sharing information about your aunt. We don’t yet have complete information on what happened to institutional records of girls at the Girls Training School. We have been advised on the one hand that under current New York State policy, all records kept by juvenile institutions except educational records are destroyed after 50 years. On the other hand, we’ve seen information that suggests that the New York State Archives (in Albany, NY) does have some records on these girls that are not educational in nature. And then of course documents have a way of turning up in unexpected ways and places as happened with the box of documents found in the Hudson garage sale by a Hudson resident:
We will be in touch with you shortly via-email to follow-up to get more information on your aunt and to suggest some steps you might take.
Evelyn Rosa says:
Jun 10, 2013
My Mom had a rough childhood, her mother passed away when my mom was 9 years old, so she was sent to live with her dad in New york in the late 50’s. Things did not go so well with mom there, she suffered sexual abuse from her father and he was sentenced life in prison, because she had no other relatives the Judge sent her to an all girl school to get an education because he had nowhere to put her so he sent her to this school. Her name is Maria A. Rosado she said the school name was called Wassade Sate School for girls in Wassade New york. I can’t find any city that is close to this name. Can you please tell me if there was such school or was this school the only school for girls in these times.
Editor says:
Jun 17, 2013
Dear Evelyn,
Thanks for sharing your mother’s story. We’ll look into your question and get back to you via e-mail if we can find any information that might be helpful to you. If you or she have any more specific details that might be useful in our search, like the Judge’s name, the county and/or town in NY where your mother was living with her father, etc. please let us know.
Frances Drabick says:
Apr 16, 2014
I may be a bit late reading this but there was a Wassaic State Institution near Poughkeepsie, NY. I know of this because I worked with many clients released from there in the 1970’s and 80’s. Most were considered (at the time) mentally challenged but there were many people placed there that were simply deaf or had a handicap of some sort, or just borderline, and in need of help with daily living skills. This may be the name your mother was trying to convey. I am not sure if they exist anymore because institutions like that started to downsize. I had a sister who worked there, and unfortunately an aunt who requested her son to be sent there in the early 60’s. You had to be referred by a professional (like a doctor, psychiatrist etc.) a parent could not just send a kid there. The destruction of records is common these days. Good luck.
Fred Couse says:
Mar 25, 2016
The prior response is correct. Wassaic State facility is on the eastern border of Dutchess County, NY, between the Towns of Amenia and Dover (Rte 22). It is now long closed but mainly housed individuals with degrees of mental conditions. It, likely, was also a place to dump people on the fringe of trouble. It was not solely for girls. A drive thru the facilities ( it borders both sides of Rte 22) is eerily depressing. I sincerely doubt it was a nice place to be.
Marie C Paulino says:
Jul 22, 2013
My name is Marie C.Paulino I’m still looking if anyone has records on my Mom Cecil L Partridge who gave birth to a child in 1930. ? I thought maybe a trip to the area would help find records? Someone said Cornell houses them too? It’s important for me to find closer for my deceased Mom & her children. My mother was abused by family and knew no other way to be but sexual which got her sent to the training school for girl;s. When those girl’s were listed as inmates it makes me furious!! Look into their past and the answer will be clear why they were the way they were. Find understanding & love for all.
Editor says:
Aug 10, 2013
Dear Marie,
We have not yet come across any records pertaining to your mother, but one of our team will be doing some research at the New York State Archives in Albany, NY over the next few months and we will add her name to the list of people about which we are trying to find some information. We’ll let you know if we find anything. Also, you might find a trip to the State Archives useful. Here is a link to their website: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/index.shtml
If you do decide to make a trip, please let us know if we can be any assistance while you’re in the Albany area.
Based on our research thus far, it appears that many of the girls sent to the NYS Training School for Girls were victims of sexual abuse in their families. We agree it’s a tragedy that the response to the situations of these girls was to treat them like criminals and send them to ‘reform schools’.
Charles says:
Aug 7, 2013
I have just found out that my mother was there in 1940. How do I get is. Any suggestions?
Editor says:
Aug 10, 2013
Dear Charles,
Your message contained a typo and we don’t know what your question means: “How do I get is”. Please write again and let us know.
Charles Moore says:
Sep 10, 2013
Sorry about the mix up. My Mother was a inmate in 1940. Where can I go to get information regarding her stay in this “school”. Any help would be most welcome.
Editor says:
Sep 17, 2013
Dear Charles, Thank you for the clarification. Beyond the NY State Archives we are still researching ways for people to find more information about their relatives. We are hoping to have a law school intern work with us this fall to expedite the process and will be sharing the information gleaned on this site.
Jackson McGarry says:
Sep 15, 2013
My mother and my aunt were sent here. They came from an extremely religious Irish Catholic/Protestant family in Mamaroneck. They were repeated runaways-my grandmother had them sent there. Both of them ran away from there. They were caught, and were sent to a mental hospital-and hosed down. Both of the girls, as you can imagine, suffered severely from such abuse. I don’t know what happened to my aunt. I think she may have become a sales girl in New Jersey. My mother, however, was the youngest of the two, and the most vulnerable. She became an alcoholic, and had a hard life and a hard death. They treated these woman horribly.
Jackson McGarry says:
Sep 15, 2013
My aunts name was Dorothy Mary Rose. My mothers name was Margaret Angelus Rose
Editor says:
Sep 17, 2013
Dear Jackson,
Do you happen to know when your mother and aunt were at the Training School? We are beginning to find research about how many girls who were there ran away. It seems that for the most part they were returned back to the institution. Did your mother ever share stories with you about her time there?
Thank you for taking the time to write to us about your mother’s experiences.
Autumn Brown, Lynn Gilbert says:
Oct 8, 2013
Our grandmother was there in March 1919. My twin and I went to the State archives in Albany in 2004 and seen the actual book that has listings of the girls and a penal code ,where they were sent from and their disposition at the time of entry . Our Grandmother never spoke of the time she was there, we found it by accident when we were searching for census to find out where she was during those missing years ,then went to the town offices in her county and found a record or her transfer and the local paper also at that time. These girls were also sent to residences in different cities to preform work ,such as a housekeeper .Those addresses are listed too!!! What a find! We had been under the assumption that it was the House of Refuge and had a very hard time trying to find info on these places. Good Luck in your searches. Our Grandmother was Hilda Marie Cornell.
Editor says:
Oct 8, 2013
Thank you so much Autumn and Lynn for sharing this information about your grandmother. And congratulations on such fine history detective work!
We will follow up with you via e-mail to continue the conversation.
Linda Newkirk says:
Nov 25, 2013
The U.S. Census for 1940 revealed my mother’s name on the list and I would like to obtain some information of her past. Growing up my mother never spoke about her past and neither did my grandmother. There are things I would like to know.
Editor says:
Nov 25, 2013
Thank you, Linda, for writing to us about your mother. We have a team member who is currently doing research on the Hudson Girls Training School on Mondays and Wednesdays at the New York State Archives in Albany, NY. If you would like to share with us the name your mother went by when she was at the Training School, and any other identifying information (the name of the county from which she was committed, birthdate, photograph of her around the age she was committed or shortly after getting out, race/ethnicity, etc.), we can add your her name to the list of people about which we are doing research. Or, you could plan a trip to the Archives to do some research yourself. Here is the link to their website. http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/index.shtml
If you do decide to go to the Archives yourself, let us know when you will be coming as we would be glad to be of any assistance we can while you’re there.
Cathy Davis says:
Jan 10, 2014
I have a document that states that my Mother was at the “school” when she was 14 years old. She never told us kids anything about this and I would like to get more information. Her name at the time was Catherine Misleany, she was 14 years old. The paper was enumerated on April 19, 1940. The name signed looks like Alice Mc****** (can’t read the rest of it).
Editor says:
Jan 13, 2014
Hi Cathy, Thank you for writing to us about your mother. Could you scan and send us the document you are referring to? We will put your mother’s name on the list of people we are researching and get back back to you if we find anything. All the best.
Cathy Davis says:
Mar 24, 2014
I would be happy to scan and send the document but where do I send it?
Presidential Memorial to Stoutenburghs — 1935 | Stoutenburgh-Teller says:
Feb 3, 2014
[…] The President, who is senior warden of the church, will unveil the tablet when he enters for the 11 o’clock service. The Rev. Frank Wilson, rector of the parish, will offer the prayers of dedication, and Henry T. Hackett will read a paper on the significance of early members of the Stoutenburghs in village history. There will be special music by the choir of the New York Training School for Girls at Hudson. […]
from The Sunday Courier, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 15, 1935 in article re: “First settlers of Hyde Park”
Sylvia Honig says:
Feb 19, 2014
I worked at the NYS Training School for Girls at Hudson from July 1965 until it closed in 1975, a few months after I testified before the NYS legislature on February 13, 1975. The New York Times wrote up the impact of my testimony on February 14, in an article written by Linda Greenhouse. You should look it up. The training school was a den of neglect and abuse. Most of the staffers were local housewives with no background or education in child care or education. The campus school was chaotic and worthless; no one ever got a diploma or even a GED during the years I was there. Tom Tunney instituted group meetings as the major treatment, and it was nothing but a farce. Most of the girls were involved in what they called “the racket”…the homosexual subculture of butches and femmes…or “Hard Daddies” and Stone Butches as they called themselves. The staffers humiliated the girls most of the time. There was no particular racial discimination…the white girls from rural and farm towns were mostly quiet and passive…so the staffers left them alone; the black girls from the mean streets of the big cities ruled and the staffers usually gave them privileges because it kept order. Several staffers,including administrative staff were carrying on sexual affairs with different housemothers or other workers, and it was common knowledge. The girls were given cigarettes every day and witheld them as punishment…even 13 year old girls were given cigarettes…and a 5 cents a day allowance, which they saved for more cigarettes. Staff cut cigarettes in half to make them go around and girls smoked these lethal halfs. Gale Smith left his wife and young daughter and was having an open affair with a black house mother who had seven children. The girls knew all about it and so did the staff. Eventually Gale left her, divorced his wife and married a nun who left the church. She soon was pregnant, but the baby died in her womb, and she was killed shortly after in a plane crash.
A priest named Father Hubbard was hired by Tunney ..but no one ever went to church, and he eventually lost his salary, but hung around every day laughing and hanging out with a young male staff. He was still around doing nothing when the school was shut down. I would be pleased to send you a copy of the speech I made that Linda Greenhouse wrote up for the NYTIMES…if you ask me.
By the time I went to the Legislature, girls were running away in big numbers every day. Some of them went to a local pimp who drove a big red cadillaci pimpmobile…Papa Joe, he was called. A few girls jumped out of the second floor windows of the BMU…behavior modificaton unit one wintry night and hitchhiked to New York City.
They were immediately put into prostitution by a friendly pimp. When we got them back months later, they told us what they got paid for their services.
Tom Tunny put up a huge bulletin board in the main building so the girls could write graffitti on it..and it was soon covered with trash and comments about their racket love affairs. Tunney thought this was good. I reported it to the ombudsman, and he went to Central Office and complained. I think they then took it down.
The girls rarely had dances with boys from male training schools.
A year or two before it closed, Tunney decided to bring in boys.
I was the only staff who protested that there was no incest taboo and there would be trouble, but everyone else agreed with Tunney, and they brought in boys, some from Harlem and NYC street gangs. Soon chaos reigned and after a year, there was a huge riot…the boys all rioted; about a hundred men from all over came to fight them, and they were all removed and taken to Tryon, screaming and cursing all the way up to Tryon. So that ended the boys at Brookwood.
On my website, I describe a meeting at Hudson one day. It will curdle your blood. Don’t let anyone tell you that the Hudson School was good or helpful. It was a place where staffers just picked their paychecks, and the girls knew it. Girls were constantly breaking out windows and cutting themselves up with glass shards to protest their rage and sorrow at being stuck at Hudson
If you want to hear what really happened at Hudson, ask me or Betty Modleski or Lisbeth Calandrino…they worked there when I was there.
Sylvia Honig
Nitza Garza says:
Feb 20, 2014
Please add me to the list of people looking for information. I am interested in anything related to Helen Farnsworth born 1913 and Clara Belle Farnsworth born 1916. Both were born in Vermont to Herbert Farnsworth and Isabelle Haskins.
Editor says:
Feb 20, 2014
Hello Nitza,
We will add Helen and Clara Belle Farnsworth to our research list. Do you have an exact or approximate year they might have been at the Training School? Were they there at the same time? Do you know what county in NY they were committed from, anything about the circumstances that led to their being sent to the Training School? How they came to be in NY from Vermont? Thank you for whatever additional information you could provide that would assist us in our search.
Shelley Gay says:
Feb 27, 2014
I am impressed with your information on the Hudson School. My mother’s aunt was Flossie Breese, whom I believe taught music at the school circa 1917 (per some info I found online). I would be thrilled to have any information you might have about her, as I am now working on family genealogy and my mother (now, 88) was an admiring niece. I would also like any info on how music was taught there…as I was music teacher, myself, and now, have musical granddaughters who might enjoy the history. Hopefully, music at Hudson was one of the good memories. Thank you!
Editor says:
Mar 15, 2014
Dear Shelley,
We have no information to offer yet on Flossie Breese, but we’ll add her to the list of people associated with the Training School about which we are trying to find information. Based on information available in various documents at the NYS Archives in Albany, NY, we do know that the Training School had a girls choir that would perform on- and off-campus, that singing ‘classes’ were offered to the residents, and that there was a piano at the Training School that was regularly serviced. Thanks very much for your thoughts.
Richard Rashke says:
Mar 4, 2014
Dear Editor,
I am writing a book called CHICK AND ELLA AT THE SAVOY. Chick is Drummer Chick Webb and Ella is Ella Fitzgerald. Prison Public Memory has been very helpful with the Ella part of my book. I wonder whether you can answer three factual questions: (1) When did Ella escape from the NYSTSFG? (2) When and where was Ella paroled to Mr. Webb? (3) Who paroled her to him? (4) How did Ella escape? You will do her memory a great serice if you can help with the answers to those questions. I am an established writer.
Editor says:
Mar 5, 2014
Dear Richard,
As you might have ascertained from the Ella articles on our blog, we have no information to offer on these questions.
Steve Jopson says:
Apr 27, 2014
Hi, I’ve recently become aware that my Mum “Josephine Gralton” was sent to this school at the age of 14 in May 1934. This was after admitting burglaries in Cortland and Brooklyn. This is something she had never told the family about during her lifetime. I thought had left the US in late 1934 and settled in Liverpool, England where she met and married my Dad in 1937. Any information about her length of stay in Hudson would be useful. Many thanks, Steve
Editor says:
Apr 28, 2014
Hello Steve,
Thank you for writing to us about your Mum. We will put her name on a list of people we’re researching and get back to you if/when we find something. If you don’t mind our asking, how did you become aware of her status as a resident of the Training School? Thanks.
Steve Jopson says:
Apr 29, 2014
Google provided the clue. About a year ago on the anniversary of Mum’s death, i happen to Google her birth name and the search came back with some cuttings from the brilliant Deruyter NY Gleaner newspaper. This carried the basic story and further searches have added a lot of detail. No one in the family admits to knowing about these events but they certainly happened to Mum, her Ithica address is correctly quoted as is her Dad’s name. The final cuttings report that she was taken to the State Training School for Girls in Hudson NY by Miss Grace Church, Children’s Agent on Friday May 4 1934.
Editor says:
Apr 29, 2014
Thank you so much, Steve, for this extra information. It will be very helpful to finding out more about your Mum’s stay at the Training School. Stay tuned…
Kathy Clune says:
May 16, 2014
According to the 1905 NY State Census, my grandmother, Loretta Barrett, was at the NY State Training School for Girls. I would welcome any information available. Thank you.
Editor says:
May 16, 2014
Thank you for your inquiry, Kathy. We will include your grandmother’s name on our list of people we’re researching at the New York State Archives. It could take awhile (this work is labor intensive) so please be patient.
Elizabeth (Splain) Stenson says:
May 31, 2014
I was sent to HSTSFG in 1971-72. We were housed 30 girls to a building. We had dances with the Boys institution where I met Herbert Fitzgerald. After I was sent to Brookwood (for the runners. That was me)Mr Fitz as he was called took me to His home where I went to school in Afton NY. Then the sexual abuse started,I became a prostitute & a drunk. I am glad this place is closed down because there were awful things going on with the male & female staff
Geanne Best says:
Mar 23, 2016
Elizabeth – Can you contact me regarding Mr. Fitz?? geanne.best@gmail.com
Mat Rapacz says:
Aug 7, 2014
Here is another name for your list. Melocena Rockefeller, born 1899 or 1900, was sent to the training school in May, 1915 from St. Johnsville, N.Y. Her father Charles (who was cited by a court for failure to pay child support) turned her into the police for “keeping a disorderly house.” Two young men were also arrested along with her. Before this arrest, she had worked in a nearby textile mill. St. Johnsville is in Montgomery County, so she was likely sent to Fonda before being sent to Hudson. Thanks for a great website.
Editor says:
Aug 8, 2014
Thank you Mat! Please let us know if you unearth any other information and we’ll see what we can find. It’s a slow process. Could we ask how you came upon the information you’ve shared about Melocena?
Mat Rapacz says:
Aug 12, 2014
While doing research on another topic in an old St. Johnsville newspaper, I came across Melocena’s arrest under “Police Court News”. She lived in the neighborhood where I live and on the same street where my grandfather began a grocery store in 1913. Her family probably shopped in my grandfather ‘s store. I found out Melocena was a worker (at age 14 no less) in a local textile mill, from her listing in a 1914 village directory.
Sharon Anderson says:
Aug 8, 2014
I was at that school in the mid 70’s for less than18 months and I also did time at Highland School for Girls…. I was sent to both schools from Rochester NY Monroe County because I kept shop lifting and running away…. That was so long ago… I remember one of those schools the cottages were named after animals such as Antelope, Bob Cat etc…
Editor says:
Aug 8, 2014
Thank you for writing Sharon and for sharing a part of your story. We’d love to learn more and will look into the naming of the cottages…
Mat Rapacz says:
Aug 14, 2014
I have an update on my previous post. The correct spelling is Melosina Rockefeller. She married a Ralph Metzger and lived in Herkimer, New York for many years. She was born on Feb. 25, 1899 and died a widow in Herkimer in April of 1978. A George Metzger survived her, but I am not sure if he was a son or a stepson.
Editor says:
Aug 14, 2014
Thanks again Mat for your sleuthing and for sharing. This is great. Let us know if you find anything else and if you care to share what is leading you to all these findings!
Mat Rapacz says:
Aug 14, 2014
For census and similar records, I used the Latter Day Saints website https://family search.org
IT has a lot of the same records as ancestry.com but is free.
For newspaper articles, I used fultonhistory .com
This site has millions of pages from New York State newspapers. As clues presented themselves, I went back and forth between the two sites to get my information.
If you type Hudson Training School into the Fultonhistory search engine and use the “exact match” option, you will get 693 hits. The Troy Daily Times article of March 12, 1915 was of particular interest to me as it tells of some of the terrible conditions (including water torture) these girls had to endure. Just glancing at a few of the other articles, some tell of various escapes from the school. But, in 1927, there was one girl who killed herself when her aunt refused to let her return to Hudson. Hope this has helped.
Editor says:
Aug 15, 2014
Thank you Mat. That is helpful to us – and I’m sure others who are exploring the site with similar interests!
susan spiegel says:
Aug 2, 2017
my aunt Margaret Spiegel was a resident she died 04/01/1955 in amenia duchess county ny.
we have some information she was at letchworth village and transferred to wassaic. the time frame unknown.
United States Census, 1940
Name Margaret Speigel Event Type Census Event Date 1940 Event Place Amenia Town, Dutchess, New York, United States Sex Female Age 33 Marital Status Single Race (Original) White Race White Birth Year (Estimated) 1907 Last Place of Residence Same House