A few years ago I was List Admin for NY-Orphanages. I've been interested in children, orphanages and NY institutions.It's a topic near and dear to me. Lillian DESMOND> [email protected] has written to me about Villa Loretto in Peekskill. Some people called it Mount St. Florence. Unsure why both names. I remember my mother driving past it, when I was a girl. I distinctly remember the sign outside on Rt 202 read, '"Villa Loretto, Home for Wayward Girls." Since I was an early reader, I asked Mom what wayward meant. I was kind of a precocious kid who asked too many questions [still do]. My whole life my mother hated it. Years later, a friend told me that her Staten Island, single mother send her sister there as the sister was out of control. I've since learned that my mother-in-law was also sent there from her Brooklyn, single, alcoholic mother's home; MIL born 1930. l) Who would have sent, or had power to send, NYC girls to Peekskill? Courts? 2) Weren't there other places for "wayward' girls in NYC? Living around Peekskill, I've heard that pregnant girls were sent there. Is this true? If a pregnant girl at Villa Loretto gave birth, where did she give birth? What surname would an unmarried girl use when she delivered a baby? Thanks for your responses. Barb