This Institution was the first established in the city for the relief of the colored people, who had been for ages crushed under the tyranny of caste, and excluded from nearly every public and private charity. But the period arrived for a change in public sentiment. The emancipation of the colored population in the West Indies was followed by marked results in this country. About 1833 Miss Anna H. Shotwell and Miss Mary Murray boldly took in hand the matter of establishing a Home for colored children. Their earnest and continued appeals to the public secured in small sums at length about two thousand dollars, and in 1836 a board of twenty-two lady managers were elected, with an advisory committee of five gentlemen. A constitution was adopted, and the enterprise fully launched, under the title of the "Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans." But so violent was the prejudice against the colored race, that three long months were spent in a fruitless search for a suitable building. Property-owners could be induced, on no conditions, to lease an empty dwelling for such uses. A small frame cottage was at length purchased on Twelfth street for $9,000, which the friends of the enterprise furnished with their half-worn furniture, a mortgage of $6,000 remaining for some years on the property. In 1838 the society was duly incorporated by act of Legislature. The building purchased soon proved too small, and after repeated applications to the Common Council, a grant of sixteen city lots on Fifth avenue, between Forty-third and Forty-fourth streets, was made, to which several were subsequently added by purchase, and a suitable edifice erected at an expense of $7,000. Here the operations of the society were successfully conducted for sixteen years, amid the waning prejudices of the people. But one last great storm gathered and finally broke upon this excellent Institution. The frenzied rioters of July, 1863, burst open its doors, heaped together its light furniture, which was saturated with highly inflammable material, and despite the efforts of a few brave friends to save it, was set on fire, and in twenty minutes the edifice was a smoking ruin. Thirty minutes previous to their entrance the matron had no apprehensions of danger. The Asylum at that time contained 233 children, who under the prudent management of the officers of the Institution, and covered by a special providence, nearly as striking as when the Hebrews were in the furnace, were marched through the midst of this screeching mob to the station-house in Thirty-fifth street, without receiving the slightest harm. Here they remained three days, crowded together to make place for the bleeding, groaning ruffians arrested by the policemen. When order was again restored, the children, under a strong guard, were removed to the almshouse on Blackwell's Island. When the children were marched out of their loved Asylum, so soon to be destroyed, a little girl picked up the large family Bible in the dining-room, from which she had been accustomed to hear read twice each day those lessons of Heavenly wisdom, and putting it under her arm she carried it to the station-house, and thence to Blackwell's Island. The apparel of the children, the clothing and private effects of the officers and teachers, and the records of the society, kept by the same secretary for twenty-seven years, were nearly all destroyed.

The managers now wisely resolved to remove the institution to a more retired locality. Their grounds, with the rapid growth of the city, had now greatly increased in value, which they were enabled to sell for $175,000; and a beautiful plot of ground, at One Hundred and Forty-third street and Tenth avenue, was purchased for $45,000. The children remained in the almshouse, attended by their officers and teachers, receiving such instruction as the circumstances would admit, from July 16, to October 19, 1863, when they were removed to the Fields mansion, now the Home and School for Soldiers' Children, at Washington Heights. A large bowling-alley was converted into a school-room, and the main edifice extensively repaired. The corner-stone of their new Asylum was laid in August, 1867, and the buildings completed in September, 1868. They are constructed of brick, in the Rhenish order, three stories with basement, with a frontage of two hundred and thirty-four feet, and a depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet, surmounted with three unique, octagonal towers, and have accommodations for over three hundred children. The first floor contains reception-room, parlor, private apartments for officers, infant class-room, and chapel, which is very large and beautiful, used during the week for the general school-room for the larger scholars. Adjoining is a spacious veranda, the favorite resort of the children during brief intermissions. Immediately over the chapel, on the west side of the building, is the principal dormitory for the girls, containing eighty-six tidy single beds. Two other apartments are set apart for the same use for the girls, and two, for the boys. The buildings are for the most part fireproof, the stairs being constructed with stone steps, and part of the windows furnished with sheet-iron blinds. The washing, drying, cooking, and pumping are performed with steam, and the edifice heated with the same element. The parlor very appropriately contains the picture of Miss Shotwell, its principal foundress.

The fiends who meanly sought the destruction of the Institution had no conceptions of the splendid future certain to dawn upon the enterprise. Driven from an edifice of $7,000, they soon entered one worth $130,000. "The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot." The cosey wood cottage formerly occupied by the owner of the premises still stands, and is occupied as an infirmary. The ample lawns, yet unadorned by art, are exquisitely beautiful, the architecture faultless in style and proportions, the view from the observatory so rich and extensive that one cannot visit this peerless place, and contemplate its saintly charities, without feeling himself improved and drawn perceptibly nearer to Heaven.

The Asylum contains at this writing 282 children, about 1,650 having been received since its opening, June 9, 1837. Children are received between the ages of two and ten years, and are retained until they complete their twelfth year, when they are apprenticed, generally to farmers. Much of the lighter work of the establishment is performed by the older girls, and a number are employed permanently in the sewing-room, and in special service in different parts of the house. The board of children received and again withdrawn by their parents is placed at the moderate rate of seventy-five cents per week. The schools are well conducted, and the usual per capita appropriation from the State educational fund is received. An appropriation of $25,000 was received from the Legislature in 1869, and the sum of $6,570 from the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections. The annual expenses of the Institution exceed $30,000. Service is conducted every Sabbath, generally by a city missionary. The matron, Miss Jane McClellan, has had charge of the Asylum many years, and merits special credit for the tidy and systematic arrangement of all its departments.