n6 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
others were sent to New York State normal schools. The establishment 
of training schools for nurses has opened to the young women of the island 
opportunities of self-support before absolutely denied them. 
The University of Havana was opened by the Dominicans in the year 
1728 in their Convent of Santo Domingo, which extends from O’Reilly to 
Obispo street in the rear of the Palace. The building, which is more than 
300 years old, is a good specimen of Spanish monastic architecture. The 
walls are 6 feet thick and the court is surrounded with arcades and 
galleries. The exterior walls, from which the stucco has long since fallen 
away, are darkened by the centuries, and the monastery is one of the most 
venerable buildings in the city. The University has been removed to the 
Pirotecnia Militar. It possesses interesting collections of ethnology, 
zoology, geology and botany. The students have in some years numbered 
two thousand. 
Clubs. —The Centro Asturiano was founded in 1886 by fifty members 
of the Asturian colony, who established the society for (1) medical assist¬ 
ance; (2) instruction; (3) recreation and sport. It has a membership 
exceeding 10,000, and the value of its property in 1890 was reported as 
$300,000 Spanish gold. The club house on Zulueta street, opposite Central 
Park, is noteworthy for the richness of the interior decoration. The 
magnificent ball room, fitted up at an expense of $35,000, is lighted by 
chandeliers which were imported at a cost of $11,500. The club has a 
library containing 5,000 volumes, and provides night schools. At Cerro 
it maintains the Covadonga Sanitarium, an admirably conducted institu¬ 
tion, for the benefit of the members. The Centro Dependfentes, or Asso¬ 
ciation of Havana Business Clerks, was founded in 1880 by a number of 
clerks, with the object of caring for the sick and providing instruction and 
recreation. The membership is in excess of 27,000. The new white marble 
club house is on the Prado north of Central Park. The club maintains 
the Sanatarium of La Purisima Concepcion for its members. Other clubs 
are the Spanish Casino, on the Prado north of Central Park; Union Club, 
on Zulueta street, and German Club and American Club, Prado 83. The 
Centro Gallego, a society formed by Galicians, with a membership of 
over 25,000, has erected its new home on the Prado opposite Central Park. 
