Across the street from the North End branch of the Boston Public Library is the former location of the North End Union founded in 1892 to meet the needs of Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrant families. Boston’s first public playground, a sand garden, was started by a committee of philanthropic women in the yard of the Chapel that occupied the site in 1886. “Playing in the dirt is the royalty of childhood,” said committee member Kate Gannett Wells (1838-1911). Mothers supervised children at first; later, employed kindergarten teachers read to the children and taught them crafts and led them in marching and singing. The public library branch is built on the former site of the Charlotte Cushman School, named for the renowned nineteenth century actress who was born in a house on this site in 1816. Inside is a diorama of the Ducal Palace in Venice made by artist Louise Stimson (1890-1981).
