The New Labor Exchange Castle Garden - 1868.
The rapidly increasing business in the Labor Exchange at Castle Garden has
induced the Commissioners of Emigration to erect a new and commodious frame
building, to be used as a labor depot.
The present office has been built only about twelve mouths ; but as in that
short period the business of the bureau has increased threefold, much additional
accommodation becomes necessary.
To meet the want, a new building has been erected, near the old office,
on the land-side of the rotunda.
It is 80 feet long, 50 feet wide, and the sides 12 feet high to
the roof, which slopes upwards.
In the middle of the roof, and running nearly its whole length,
an open skylight and ventilator rises to the height of 8 feet.
The roof is entirely covered with tin, which is painted brown—the same
color as the outside of the building.
There axe six windows and a at each end of the building.
Five oaken pillars support each side of the raised skylight and divide the
room into three nearly equal parts.
The interior is not yet fitted up, but it is intended to have seats at
the sides for the accommodation of emigrants, while the middle of the floor
will be appropriated to the officers desks, and to convenience of employers.
The apartment has a lightsome, cheerful aspect, and when finished, will
present a comfortable appearance.
Painters are now at work on the roof, pillars, windows, etc., and
the carpenters are about to put in the seats, desks, and railings.
The contractors are Messrs W H Gedney and Co., builders, 143 West 40th
street, and the painting is in the hands of Mr Hall, 8 James slip.
The building will cost about $6000, and will be ready for opening
about the first of October.
Architects, Ritch and Griffith.
The amount of good done by the Labor Exchange is incalculable,
and only those can fully appreciate it who land— strangers in a strange
land—without money and without friends.
The Exchange is constantly engaged procuring employment for those who want it.
The names, occupations, and other particulars regarding them, are taken
down as soon as they land, and according as applications for help are received,
they are sent out to supply the demand.
Those sent out remain under the ægis of the institution for five years;
and if they are wronged or ill-treated by their employers, they can obtain
redress by applying at the bureau.
Useless complaints are not listened to, and as great care is exercised
in ascertaining the character of employers seeking assistance, and as none but
proper parties need apply, complaints like angels visits are few and far between.
Emigrants going out of the city, are furnished with railroad and
steamboat tickets at the lowest rates.
Duly authorized officers protect them from sharpers and runners, not
allowing them out of sight until they leave for their destinations.
Persons requiring help of any kind, cannot better than to call at the Labor Exchange.
Applications for laborers, servants, etc., are constantly received, not
only from this city, but from all cities and States in the Union.
While we were there lately, fifty laborers were engaged at $15 a month
to go to the interior of the State ; many girls were also engaged as
domestics in respectable families.
The Commissioners expect that when the department is reorganized and
located in its new building, that it will be more efficient, and extend
more widely its sphere of usefulness.
Mr. OCallahan, an Irishman, has charge of Irish immigrants ; and Mr Kock a German,
has the charge of his own countrymen.
Bernard Casserley, Esq., is general agent and superintendent.
John W. Kennion, The New Labor Exchange, Castle Garden, in The Architects and
Builders Guide: An Elaborate Description of All the Public, Commercial, Philanthropic,
Literary, and Ecclesiastical Buildings Already Constructed, and About to be Erected
Next Spring in New York and Its Enviorns, With Their Cost Respectively, and the Names
of the Architects and Builders, New York: Fitzpatrick and Hunter, 1868, pp.55-57.