Our Lady Queen of the Americas is an integral part of this neighborhood. The building houses the nonprofit school Language ETC, which teaches English and Spanish literacy, computer skills, and Citizenship test preparation.
The building, dating from the early 1900s, has been home to an orphanage, an infant asylum, the Cathedral Latin School, a whites only Catholic boys school, and then Mackin High School, which served primarily African American boys. Because it was built as a school initially, it does not carry the appearance of a traditional church building, although it houses a worship center. You can see an interior of the
worship sanctuary here.
We also noted several street art installations in the neighborhood, including this one dedicated to the educational institutions of the district, and which explained some of the prior uses of the Our Lady building.
There is some thing about a building, and an institution, that has remained part of the fabric of a neighborhood for so many years. Sometimes these institutions have roles in history that might give us pause, but they also help us to understand the evolving nature of our neighborhoods, and our society.
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