Millions of immigrants arrived in America in the late nineteenth century. In New York City, tenements were built to house the tens of thousands of new arrivals. Though laws would change over the years affecting the design of tenements, the overall purpose remained: to pack in and profit from the poor. Jonas Schmidt was himself an immigrant who grew up in the tenements of lower Manhattan. Like so many others, he found opportunity and success in his new country—eventually becoming a landlord. In 1881, Mr. Schmidt invested in a new property, a tenement with all the latest designs. This ornate, red-bricked edifice stood at 56 ½ Mulberry Street, on perhaps the most dangerous block in the world at the time—the infamous Mulberry Bend. For Patrick Monaghan, the Bend is the only home he has ever known. His family is beset with hardships and he spends his days with other boys his age—on the streets gathering discarded rags for his mother to sew into sellable garments. Patrick dreams of being more than a ragpicker, but the sinister forces of Mulberry Bend led by the dreaded gang leader Spots McCavish make getting out impossible. In the name of progress, authorities eventually clear the gangs out of the alleys of the Bend—leading to what is, for Patrick, the greatest crime of all. He would spend decades searching, never imagining the truth lay all along where it all started, in the tenement at 56 ½ Mulberry Street. The Tenement is the story of one building and those who lived, struggled, loved, and died there.