Ruins, Collingwood Manor, North Brother Island,
North Brother Island[edit]
The northern of the islands was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from Blackwell's Island (now known as Roosevelt Island). Riverside Hospital was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease. Its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinablediseases, with the most recent being the Tuberculosis Pavilion, which was opened in 1943 and was almost immediately obsolete.[6]
The island was the site of the wreck of the General Slocum, a steamship that burned on June 15, 1904. Over 1,000 people died either from the fire on board the ship, or from drowning before the ship beached on the island's shores.[7]
According to Joseph Mitchell – a newspaper reporter and a short-story writer for The New Yorker – the island was the site of many outings of "The Honorable John McSorley Pickle, Beefsteak, Baseball Nine, and Chowder Club" organized by John McSorley of McSorley's Old Ale House; photos of the outings are featured on the walls of the bar.[8]
Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938.[9][5] The hospital closed shortly thereafter.
Following World War II, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges and their families. After the nationwide housing shortage abated, the island was again abandoned until the 1950s, when a center opened to treat adolescent drug addicts. The facility claimed it was the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders. Heroin addicts were confined to this island and locked in a room until they were clean. Many of them believed they were being held against their will. By the early 1960s widespread staff corruption and patient recidivism forced the facility to close.[citation needed]The facility is said to have been the inspiration for the Broadway play Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, which helped to launch the career of Al Pacino.[6]
Over the years, various New York City mayors have explored what to do with the island. John Lindsay, for instance, proposed to sell it, and Ed Koch thought it could be converted into housing for the homeless. The city also considered using it as an extension of the jail at Rikers Island.[6]
Now a bird sanctuary for herons and other wading shorebirds,[6] the island is currently abandoned and off-limits to the public. Most of the original hospitals' buildings still stand, but are heavily deteriorated and in danger of collapse, and a dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings. In October 2014, New York City Council member Mark Levine, Chair of the City Council's Parks Committee, led a delegation to visit the island,[10] and declared his desire afterwards to open the island for limited "light-touch, environmentally sensitive" public access.[11] In October 2016, New York magazine reported that the Council had commissioned a study from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design, followed by a public hearing, on how the island could be converted into a park with controlled access by the public.[6]
Ruins, Collingwood Manor, North Brother Island,
North Brother Island[edit]
The northern of the islands was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from Blackwell's Island (now known as Roosevelt Island). Riverside Hospital was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease. Its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinablediseases, with the most recent being the Tuberculosis Pavilion, which was opened in 1943 and was almost immediately obsolete.[6]
The island was the site of the wreck of the General Slocum, a steamship that burned on June 15, 1904. Over 1,000 people died either from the fire on board the ship, or from drowning before the ship beached on the island's shores.[7]
According to Joseph Mitchell – a newspaper reporter and a short-story writer for The New Yorker – the island was the site of many outings of "The Honorable John McSorley Pickle, Beefsteak, Baseball Nine, and Chowder Club" organized by John McSorley of McSorley's Old Ale House; photos of the outings are featured on the walls of the bar.[8]
Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938.[9][5] The hospital closed shortly thereafter.
Following World War II, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges and their families. After the nationwide housing shortage abated, the island was again abandoned until the 1950s, when a center opened to treat adolescent drug addicts. The facility claimed it was the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders. Heroin addicts were confined to this island and locked in a room until they were clean. Many of them believed they were being held against their will. By the early 1960s widespread staff corruption and patient recidivism forced the facility to close.[citation needed]The facility is said to have been the inspiration for the Broadway play Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, which helped to launch the career of Al Pacino.[6]
Over the years, various New York City mayors have explored what to do with the island. John Lindsay, for instance, proposed to sell it, and Ed Koch thought it could be converted into housing for the homeless. The city also considered using it as an extension of the jail at Rikers Island.[6]
Now a bird sanctuary for herons and other wading shorebirds,[6] the island is currently abandoned and off-limits to the public. Most of the original hospitals' buildings still stand, but are heavily deteriorated and in danger of collapse, and a dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings. In October 2014, New York City Council member Mark Levine, Chair of the City Council's Parks Committee, led a delegation to visit the island,[10] and declared his desire afterwards to open the island for limited "light-touch, environmentally sensitive" public access.[11] In October 2016, New York magazine reported that the Council had commissioned a study from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design, followed by a public hearing, on how the island could be converted into a park with controlled access by the public.[6]