This mission was established in 1887 for the purpose of reaching classes who would not be likely to attend church and give them the blessings of the gospel. The experienced services of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Gibbud of New York city were secured and under their advice mission rooms were opened on Washington street, near Mulberry, on Sunday evening, September 4, 1887. The work of the mission attracted public attention through its immediate success in drawing to its doors many who would otherwise have been wholly without religious instruction. The rooms soon proved inadequate, and when the necessity for larger quarters became very pressing, H. B. Andrews, who has been a liberal and indefatigable supporter of the work from the first, purchased the premises No. 115 Mulberry street, enlarged and fitted up the building and rented it to the mission for a merely nominal price. The new rooms were occupied first in 1890. Since that time the mission has done incalculable good, through its religious services in the rooms, in the streets and on canal boats.
Submitted 17 July 1998