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House HistoryWhen Jacob Corcoran's parents came over in Ireland in 1837, they were very poor. When he was nine years old (in 1843), Jacob went to work as a newsboy. He went on to do fairly well in life, but he never forgot the hardships of the newsie life. He and Molly often took in newsies, and other street children, for the night. When the Queens Lodging Houses opened in 1897, they were very excited that the poor street children of Queens would have somewhere to stay. They even decided to open their own lodging house, seeing as how the Queens lodging houses had limited space. Unfortunately, Jacob grew ill with pneumonia in late 1898, and their plans had to be put on hold. He regained his health in mid 1899, and they continued to convert their large house into a lodging house. But fate struck again, and Jacob again grew ill in early 1900, this time with influenza. With Jacob bedridden, Molly continued on alone. Jacob Corcoran died on July 4, 1901 of influenza, just as Molly and their children (all grown), had completed work on the lodging house. Molly was heartbroken. The Ravenswood Lodging House, in loving memory of Jacob Corcoran, opened in August of 1901. Soon after its opening, Rebel O'Muireadhaigh, who would soon become the leader of the girl's house, and Painter Daas, came to live. Others followed. On April 12, 1903, Painter Daas was found dead, his throat cut, on the steps of the house. A chrushed Rebel and Dorian Michaels married and moved to an apartment a few blocks awau, but not before Rebby chose a successor. Cats MacMillan had been at the 'wood for almost a year when Rebel approached her about taking over in her stead. Cats, who was more than slightly sarcastic and prone to getting herself in a lot of trouble for it, didn't really consider herself leadership material, but Rebel insisted and soon the young Southern transplant found herself in charge of 30-some-odd teenagers. After some mishaps, Trinity Galeran and Rhapsody Anderson stepped up as co-leaders, saving the 'wood from certain chaos, and the Triumvirate emerged. For two years they led the lodgers with the help of Hunter Farrell and Stones Walker on the boys' end of things, and generally the 'wood prospered. Lodgers came, went, cried, hoped, worked, loved, fought, and made one hell of a mess in relative tranquility until January of 1905 when Trinity was found murdered and Ravenswood lost two of its staunchest members, Hunter and Chase Callaghan, when they left to find the person who murdered their friend. In October of the previous fall Molly had suffered a stroke, from which she was still recovering, psychos were popping up all over the borough, other territories around the city were in turmoil, and Cats and Rhapsody had their hands full trying to calm things down. Fortunately for all involved, however, Alicorne Broughton and Gavin Devereaux stepped into the roles vacated by Trin and Hunter, and the 'wood began the slow but steady process of rebuilding. Today, Ravenswood is a fairly tight-knit territory. Divisions between guys and girls are simply non-existant, as far as selling goes, and generally speaking the newsies grant each other simple human decency. Far from being as powerful or as organized as other territories, the 'wood enjoys the ability to stay fairly neutral in most cross-town disputes.
Technically Cats in is charge, followed by Rhapsody, Alicorne, and Gavin in no particular order, though that usually only matters in terms of rent, new arrivals, and conflict resoluteion (Cats' favorite method involves a frying pan). Basically, the kids govern themselves, especially since Molly's stroke. It's not exactly a big happy family, but a family it is, whether they'll admit to it or not.
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