The Healy Asylum is an historic building in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous ci ...

. It was built in 1893 as an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

for boys, a role it served until about 1970. It is now known as Healy Terrace, and is used for affordable senior housing. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979, where it is listed as Healy Asylum. It was named for Msgr.

James Augustine Healy James Augustine Healy (April 6, 1830 – August 5, 1900) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first African American to serve as a Catholic priest or bishop. With his predominantly European ancestry, Healy passed for a ...

, the bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland The Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine. It is led by a bishop, and its cathedral, or mother church, is the Cat ...

at the time of its construction.

Description and history

The former Healy Asylum building is located facing Ash Street and occupying about of a city block bounded by Ash, Bates, Blake, and Pine Streets, a short way east of Lewiston's downtown business district. It is a -story building, built out of brick with granite trim, and set on a high brick foundation. It is topped by a mansard roof pierced by gabled dormers, with chimneys topped by decorative brick corbelling. The building is H-shaped, with a central section and two flanking wings that project to the front and back. The entrance is in the center section, sheltered by a wooden portico with bracketed cornice and fully pedimented gable. The origins of the asylum begin with the arrival in 1878 of Grey Nuns from

Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec Saint-Hyacinthe (; French: ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montér� ...

to teach in Lewiston's parochial school, which was filled with the children of French Canadian mill workers. In 1892 the Grey Nuns decided to give up teaching, but were persuaded to take on instead an orphanage for boys, to match services they were providing for orphaned girls at their hospital. This building was built in 1893 with the approval and support of Msgr.

, the bishop of the

, for whom it was named. The building was designed by Jefferson L. Coburn & Sons, local architects. In addition to providing services to orphaned boys, the nuns also took on troubled youth. Funding was a regular source of friction between the nuns and the diocese, which places boys from Portland and elsewhere in the orphanage. The facility operated until 1973, and has since been converted into senior housing.

References

External links

Healy Asylum Nuns
{{National Register of Historic Places Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Buildings and structures in Lewiston, Maine Orphanages in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Lewiston, Maine

Description and history

See also

References

External links