school. It soon opened during weekdays as well, and children of all denominations were invited to attend. The first schoolhouse was located at the corner of Spring Garden Street and North Strand, on the site of the present-day 68 North Strand Road. Children were enticed to attend the school with free bread and clothing, but parents who withdrew their children from the school after the receipt of the clothing were liable to be sued. The extent of the poverty affecting the families of those attending the North Strand School is attested to in a letter to the Dublin Chronicle on 24 December 1787: In 1826, there were 173 registered and three teachers employed. In 1829, a nursery school affiliated with the school was founded on Fairview Strand. By 1833 the school was falling into disrepair, and it was decided to build a new one. A site was obtained in 1836, and the new school opened in 1842 with 150 pupils. The infant school was moved to adjoin the North Strand Church and opened in 1899. The school was reconstructed in 1943-44 and opened by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera on 9 June 1944. The school is known as St Columba's National School now. North William Street Schools The Irish Sisters of Charity opened a convent on North William Street in 1815. In 1857 another order, the Daughters of St Vincent de Paul (otherwise known as the Vincentian Sisters) took up residence in the convent and immediately set about establishing a Catholic school for the children of the area. A new orphanage was opened on North William Street in 1858 and household skills such as needlework were taught to girls there. In 1893 school for boys was established by another sister of the convent, which would later be attended by the playwright Brendan Behan and two Catholic bishops, Bishop Carroll and Bishop Kavanagh. The schools and convent on North William Street provided shelter to over 300 displaced families after the German Bombing of Dublin in 1941. O'Connell Schools Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers established a school on North Richmond Street in 1831. The foundation stone was laid in 1828 by Daniel O'Connell, whose name the school later came to bear. Edmund Rice, two assistants, a schoolmaster, and four novice Christian Brothers moved into the school in July 1831 and over 500 pupils enrolled in the first year.