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The Memorial Day Nursery
was founded in 1887 by a group of church women within the city. At that
time it was housed in a small building on straight street. Very
few children attended, but by 1888 there were ten children attending full
time. That was the beginning of the period when women began going to work
the silk mills of the city (for which Paterson was known).
Later on, the family of Mr.
Garret A. Hobart, the vice president of the United States became involved
with the nursery. Their daughter, Fanny, who had been in school in
Switzerland, died of Diptheria at age 16. In her memory, Mrs. Hobart gave
$25,000, and raised another $25,000 from her friends. They donated the
land at the corner of Hamilton Street and Grand Street and the Nursery
came into existence.
Up until the early 1970's
the staff slept in the building, and took care of the children from early
morning (5:30 AM) until much later in the day. However, when the state
said that we had to change our ways, the Board Of Managers made many
changes. The bedrooms where staff had slept were converted into
classrooms, and where the nursery had once been allowed to have 50
children in the building, the state ruled that we could be licensed for
130 children with the new rooms.
Thus began the changes at
the Nursery. Today, we are a part of the Paterson Public Schools providing
free education for children age 3 and 4. The Nursery prepares children so
that when they enter Kindergarten they are prepared to meet the needs of
our ever changing society. We now have graduate teachers with Bachelor
degrees, emergent literacy teachers, and a host of innovative programs.
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