The Hebrew Home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx is known these days for programs and facilities for seniors, but the home has a rich history as a place of shelter for poor black children. NY1's Erin Clarke filed the following report.

The Hebrew Home at Riverdale is a long-term care facility for seniors and also a museum of sorts. It has exhibits and art work on display and open to the public.

The building is also historic. It was one called the Colored Orphan Asylum, caring for hundreds of black children whose parents died or couldn't raise them.

"Unfortunately, black children were not adopted as frequently, anywhere near as frequently as white children, so they lived here for a longer amount of time," said Daniel Reingold, president and CEO at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale.

The orphanage dates to 1836, when it opened on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It was destroyed nearly three decades later in the Draft Riots of 1863.

"The Colored Orphan Asylum continued to exist, and in the late 19th century and 20th century, it moved to the Bronx," said Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan.

In 1903, the Quaker-run orphanage moved into a new home in what was then rural Riverdale. There was a public school on site. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited.

"The children who were orphans on this campus were the lucky ones," Reingold said.

Some famous Americans were raised there.

"There was a teenage girl who was in the Colored Orphan Asylum, and everybody liked her, and she liked to sing," Ultan said. "Many people know her just by her first name. Ella."

"During one of the reunions we sponsored, one of the women reminisced about being in the glee club with Ella Fitzgerald," Reingold said. "Could you imagine singing in a glee club with Ella Fitzgerald?"

The orphanage later became Harlem Dowling Family and Children's Services, and in 1951, the Hebrew Home of Riverdale took over the property.

While the inside of the building has been changed, of course, to fit the needs of the Hebrew Home, the outside of the building looks pretty much the same as did decades ago.

The building is now living quarters called the Stolz Pavilion, continuing its history of providing a home for New Yorkers.