Last updated: July 16, 2024
Place
Isaac T. Hopper Home, East Village, New York
Photo curtesy of NYU FC 2 as part of Wikis Take Manhattan 2008
Quick Facts
Location:
East Village, New York
Significance:
Social, Architecture
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Women's Prison Association of New York
Have you ever needed help making a transition in your life?
The Isaac T. Hopper Home has served women transitioning from prison at its current location since 1874. This building is the third place out of which the Women’s Prison Association (WPA) runs their assistance programs. The Hopper Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 due to its social and architectural significance.
A large part of the Female Department of the Prison Association of New York's responsibility was to run the Hopper Home initially opened in 1845 on Fourth Street. The home was named after the founder and president of the Prison Association of New York, Quaker activist Isaac T. Hopper. His daughter, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, was also a reformer. She founded the WPA in 1853 as an offshoot of the Prison Assocation. Prior to that point, there was a separate Female Department of the Prison Association which handled issues specific to women who were recently released from prison. At the time of the WPA’s founding, the biggest issues facing women were alcoholism and homelessness. The WPA believed by providing a safe space for vulnerable women they would reduce crime in the city. Women newly released from prison could find housing, job training, and support at the Hopper Home. Each woman had a social worker who helped them through the transition from incarceration to living with the public again. This assistance included counseling on emotional and mental health issues, education, job training, and housing. Social workers would write recommendation letters to potential employers or landlords on behalf of their client. They also would provide medical support if the women suffered from health issues such as long-term infections or injuries from their time in prison.
The WPA became closely involved with the Women’s House of Detention , a prison for women located in what is now the heart of Greenwich Village. The House of Detention was a cramped facility that was chronically understaffed. Starting in the 1930s the WPA paid for the first mental health treatment to be implemented in the facility. This funding from the WPA provided the only such services at the House of Detention for over two decades. After a mass riot in 1954, New York City Commissioner of Corrections Anna Moscowitz Kross was able to permanently add two social workers to the staff at the House of Detention. A large number of the clients who lived in the Hopper Home also had spent at least some of their prison sentence at that prison. It is through the WPA and the Hopper Home’s documentation that historians know as much as they do about the lives of incarcerated women in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In December of 2020 the Hopper Home suffered minor damage from a fire that burned down the Middle Collegiate Church next door. As of 2024, WPA continues to operate the Hopper House.
This article was researched and written by Alyssa Eveland, American Conservation Experience Fellow, Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.
Sources:
Sources:Historic mission. Women’s Prison Association. (2021, February 9). https://www.wpaonline.org/historic-mission/
Rasmussen, K. (1986, May 22). National Register of Historic Places Inventory- Nomination Form Isaac T Hopper Home. New York City; US Department of the Interior. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/86001155.pdf
Weaver, S. (2020, December 8). A fire destroyed a historic east village church and women’s shelter. TimeOut.©2004 Women’s Prison Association 110 Second ave. New York NY 10003 646-336-6100 privacy policy. WPA - History. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20120415133558/http:/www.wpaonline.org:80/about/history.htm