Saint Vincent's Infant Asylum was built as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

institution for unwanted infants in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. The first section of the building was constructed in 1878 in High Victorian

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

, with similar additions following. Ever since, the building has housed various social service programs. with In 1987 it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

The

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (; abbreviated DC), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, is a society of apostolic life for women within the Catholic Church. ...

order came to Milwaukee in 1846, aiming to care for needy infants and unwed mothers, and to provide health care for the destitute. They established St. John's Infirmary (the predecessor of St. Mary's Hospital) and St. Rose's Orphanage for Girls, both on the east side. In 1877 the Sisters opened the initial St. Vincent's Asylum, with three nuns caring for nine infants in a rented house on the corner of South Fifth and West Virginia Streets. That winter the land on Greenfield Avenue where the asylum now stands was bought, and Charles Gombert began to design the first section of the building. The cornerstone was laid in the summer of 1878, with speeches in both English and German. Gombert's initial section is the current east half. It is 3.5 stories, with brick walls sitting on a rusticated limestone foundation, with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

interrupted by gables and dormers. Above the main entrance, "St. Vincent's Infant Asylum" is carved into a block of limestone. Projecting from one corner is an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

with a cross in the brickwork and small windows. This corresponds to where the chapel is inside. In this first stage, the building housed about 35 infants each year. In 1890 the building was expanded, doubling its capacity. Gombert's original design included plans for an addition to the west, but instead the Sisters hired E. Townsend Mix to redesign the addition. Mix followed Gombert's lead and designed a similar, compatible addition with limestone foundation and similar brick, but he added deeper

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

with

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed corners, brick

corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

to support the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, and a more prominent chimney and dormers. Mix's design shows the flashier Gothic that was in style in 1890, as compared to Gombert's more austere Gothic section from 1878, and it may reflect the wealth of donors. In 1900 another wing was added behind Mix's, again increasing the capacity of the asylum. It was designed by Charles Crane in a simpler style. St. Vincent's was operated by the

and the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in southeast Wisconsin in the United States. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of ...

. Initially the Asylum cared primarily for children up to age six; these included orphans as well as children of unmarried or widowed mothers. With Milwaukee's large immigrant population, many unfortunate children had little or no family nearby to care for them. Some children were left on the asylum's doorstep. Others were left there temporarily by parents hoping to have the means to take them back some day. The asylum also cared for some unwed mothers. If the parents were gone, St. Vincent's would try to place children with adoptive families or in boarding places. If they were still at St. Vincent's at age six, girls would be transferred to St. Rose's Orphanage and boys to St. Emilian's. Starting in 1932, the Catholic Social Welfare Bureau controlled admission to St. Vincent's, as well as placement of older children leaving the asylum. By 1945 St. Vincent's had admitted 7,315 children and 2,782 mothers, and had a staff of nine sisters. St. Vincent's was closed in 1958, a result of changes at the State Welfare Department. The St. Vincent DePaul Society treated alcoholic men in the building from 1959 to 1968. After that it was used by United Migrant Opportunity Services. More recently, the building has been used as a daycare and early education center.

References

{{reflist Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee Residential buildings in Milwaukee Schools in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Gothic Revival architecture in Wisconsin Brick buildings and structures in Wisconsin Religious buildings and structures completed in 1878 Residential buildings completed in 1878 1878 establishments in Wisconsin