USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
During the last year a part of the children have been housed at West Farms, the house in the city serving as a place of re- ception. More than four hundred different women have been employed as nurses, and the superioress reports the expendi- tures of the Institution as exceeding $6,000 per month.
The city authorities last year leased the Asylum, for ninety- nine years, for the annual rental of one dollar, a plot of ground two hundred by four hundred feet, lying between Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth streets, and fronting on Lexing- ton avenue. The tax levy of 1870 also contained a clause granting the managers one hundred thousand dollars toward the erection of buildings as soon as a similar sum should be collected by private subscription.
A grand metropolitan fair was accordingly planned and held in the Twenty-second Regiment Armory hall during November, 1870, the proceeds of which amounted to over $71,000. Mrs. R. B. Connolly also collected $20,575, which, with some other subscriptions, brought the sum to the required figure, so that the legislative appropriation became available. . This Foundling Hospital is now rapidly rising to completion.
.
356
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
The Sisters are very enthusiastic about their enterprise. Pre- cisely what effect the establishment of this Institution will have upon the dissolute portion of society is yet to be seen ; but that the crime of infanticide has been already greatly lessened appears from the police statistics. From one hun- dred to one hundred and fifty dead infants per month were before the opening of this Institution found in barrels and vacant lots, in various parts of the city, whereas not more than one-tenth of that number are now reported. That it will greatly increase the social crime, we hardly believe. This has existed in all ages, unawed by shame, law, and other con- sequences, and will only decrease as the principles of a pure religion are more generally and more thoroughly imbibed.
THE SHEPHERD'S FOLD.
(Eighty-sixth street and Second avenue.)
HIS association, composed of members of the Protest- ant Episcopal church, was incorporated under the general act of April 12, 1848, on the ninth day of March, 1868. The object of the society, as set forth in the certificate of incorporation, is "The care of orphan, half-orphan, and otherwise friendless children." The object is similar to that of the "Sheltering Arms," to provide for a class of children who, through drunkenness, desertion, crime, or other causes, are practically parentless, yet excluded by rule from regular Orphan Asylums. The management of the Institution is committed to a board of twenty-one trustees, nearly half of whom are ministers. The internal manage- ment of the house is under the immediate supervision of an association of ladies, who report monthly to the executive committee appointed by the trustees. Children are admitted at any age between twelve months and fifteen years, but must be surrendered to the Institution at admission, unless they are temporarily admitted, to assist a poor parent, at four dollars per month.
An advisory committee, consisting of two gentlemen and three ladies, meets every Monday, at three P.M., for the ad-
357
-
WOMAN'S AID SOCIETY.
mission and indenturing of children. The operations of the society began in Twenty-eighth street, after which the Insti- tution was removed to Second avenue, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second streets. On the 29th of April, 1870, it was again removed to its present location, corner of Eighty-sixth street and Second avenue, where a three-story wood cottage, with a wing, was leased for five years. The building stands on an eminence and is surrounded by ample grounds, with a broad lawn in front overspread with the branches of noble trees. The location is both healthful and beautiful, affording abundant space for the recreation of the children. The managers hope to secure the means and purchase the prop- erty, after which they purpose to erect buildings similar to those known as the Colored Orphan Asylum. The city authorities gave them last year $5,000, which sum has been set apart as the beginning of a building fund. The Institu- tion has at present sixty-three children, all it can well accom- modate. The matron, Mrs. Russell, has great skill and kind- ness in the management of children; and the teacher, Miss Welsh, has managed to throw such a charm around the school-room that many of the children prefer their lessons to play. May the Institution prosper, gathering thousands into its elevating fold who would otherwise ramble in ignorance and infamy, proving a sorrow to themselves and a scourge to society.
WOMAN'S AID SOCIETY AND HOME FOR TRAINING YOUNG GIRLS.
(Corner Thirteenth street and Seventh avenue.)
HIS organization was first known as the "Women's Evangelical Mission," and was formed to operate for the recovery of young women in our public institu- tions, and for other fallen women who needed assist- ance in their efforts for reformation. At a later period it was changed to a home for training young, indigent, and inexperienced girls for places of respectability and useful- ness, and the class the managers first sought to reach have ' been entirely excluded. The inmates received are between
358
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
the ages of thirteen and twenty-five, with a few exceptional cases. Many of those received during the last three years have been orphans, or friendless girls exhausted by hard service, and nearly ready to perish. In this Home their health has been recruited, their morals improved, a situation in a Christian family in city or country has been provided, where they have gone with better prospects.
All persons admitted as inmates must pledge to obey the rules of the house, to remain a month, and accept of such situations on leaving as the matron shall approve. The Society is governed by a board of female managers, members of the several Evangelical churches, nearly all of whom thus far have represented the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch. The missionary and chaplain is an Evangelical minister, whose duty it is to preach on the island, if necessary, besides conducting the services of the Home. From May, 1868, to 1870, the Home was situated at the foot of Eighty-third street, East river, in a fine old family mansion, with invit- ing groves, ample and well-arranged grounds. The location was one of the most retired, airy, and salubrious on the island. The number of inmates has varied from twenty- four to thirty-six during the past three years, 152 being the total for the year closing in 1869, and 114 for the year end- ing in 1870. During the year closing January, 1871, the managers report 188 admissions, 141 of whom were placed in families, seven returned to friends, nine sent to other institutions, eight were dismissed, six left at their own request, and fifteen remained. Some were inexperienced young girls, members of good families, but, chafing under necessary parental restraint, had sought relief in flight. The managers had picked them up just in time to save them.
The Home is now situated at No. 41 Seventh avenue, cor- ner of Thirteenth street, where a four-story brick house has been leased for three years, at an annual rental of $2,000. The building affords accommodations for about thirty in- mates. A school is conducted every afternoon.
The Society was incorporated under the general act passed April 12, 1848, on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1870.
The expenditures of the Institution during the last year amounted to $7,180.76. Rev. W. A. Masker is the chaplain and superintendent, and Mrs. Masker the matron.
ST. JOSEPH ORPHAN ASYLUM.
(Corner of Eighty-ninth street and Avenue A.
HE St. Joseph Orphan Asylum was incorporated by. special act of the Legislature in 1859. It was founded through the laudable toil and zeal of Rev. Father Joseph Helmpraecht, a Roman Catholic priest. The building was erected in 1860, and is a five-story brick, eighty by forty feet, fronting on Eighty-ninth street, at the corner of Avenue A .. The stories of the building are rather low. The object of the Institution is the support and education of or- phans, half-orphans, destitute and neglected children, con- nected with the Roman Catholic faith and of German origin. The number of inmates averages about one hundred and sixty, and the capacity of the Asylum is equal to about two hundred inmates.
The office of the Asylum and secretary is at No. 70 East Fourth street.
-
1
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL.
( West Fifty-ninth street.)
This Institution was founded and endowed by the bequest of the late James H. Roosevelt, Esq., of New York city. This gentleman inherited a fine estate from his parents, which he very materially increased during his lifetime, and finally bequeathed it to the founding of one of the most humane and excellent charities of the world. During his early years he pursued the study of law, graduating with honor after pass- ing the usual course at Columbia College. Some time after his gradnation he was admitted to practice, and expected to marry Miss Julia Maria Boardman, an estimable lady of this city. But one month had scarcely elapsed, after his admission to practise law, ere he was smitten with a stroke of paralysis so severe as to entirely frustrate his most cherished earthly plans, and render him an invalid for life. For more than thirty years he could only walk with the aid of crutches,
361
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL.
spending most of the time at his residence in New York, shut out by his infirmities from the chief circles of business and fashion. During these years he gave quiet attention to the improvement of his fortune, to books, and the cultivation of those tempers so invaluable in time and eternity. Though he never married, the most affectionate relation subsisted be- tween him and the lady of his early choice through all his years, to whom he left at death, which occurred in November, 1863, an annuity of $4,000, making her also the executrix of his estate. His estate at his death, which approximated a million, and has since been much increased, consisted in real estate situated in New York and Westchester counties, and in valuable and available stocks. A sufferer through most of his life, his mind was naturally drawn out in sympathy for those as afflicted as himself, and whose condition was even more pitiable because destitute of the means of comfort he enjoyed. Most of his personal estate he therefore left "in trust to the several and successive presidents ex officio, for the time being, of the respective managing boards of those five certain incorporations in the city of New York, known as 'The Society of the New York Hospital,' 'The College of Physicians and Surgeons,' 'The New York Eye Infirmary,' 'The Demilt Dispensary,' and 'The New York Institution for the Blind,' and to the Honorable James I. Roosevelt, Edwin Clark, Esq., John M. Knox, Esq., and Adrian H. Mul- ler, Esq., all of New York, for the establishment, in the city of New York, of a hospital for the reception and relief of sick and diseased persons, and for its permanent endowment." This board of nine trustees has sole charge of the Institution and its endowment, and has power to fill all vacancies occur- ring from death, resignation, or otherwise, of any of the four trustees not before designated by title of office, from male native-born citizens, residents of the city of New York. The use of his real estate he bequeathed to his nephew, James C. Roosevelt Brown, of Rye, N. Y., the same to be also divided equally between his heirs, but in case of his or their demise without lawful issue, then the same was to be disposed of by his executors, and the proceeds added to the Hospital endow- ment. This nephew survived him but forty days, and died without issue, leaving the property to the Institution to which his uncle had devoted it.
The act incorporating the Roosevelt Hospital was passed. by the Legislature February 2, 1864, granting the corpora-
362
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
tion power to receive the legacy, and any others that might be added, to purchase and hold property free from taxation in carrying out the directions of the founder of the Institu- tion. In 1868 a whole block of ground was purchased lying between Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth streets, Ninth and Tenth avenues, for the sum of $185,000. This ground is now valued at $400,000. The corner-stone of the Hospital was laid on the last day of October, 1869, Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D., Edward Delafield, M.D., and other distinguished gentlemen, taking part in the services. When the usual contributions of papers, etc., had been placed in the corner-stone, Dr. Delafield, president of the board, moved it to its place, saying, "I now lay the corner-stone of the Roosevelt Hospital, and may cen- turies pass before what is deposited here will again be re- vealed to mortal eye."
The Hospital fronts on Fifty-ninth street, and is to consist, if the plan is ever entirely completed, of four pavilions, each one hundred and seventy feet long by thirty wide in the cen- tral part forming the wards, and a front of fifty-six feet on Fifty-ninth street. The pavilions are to be three stories high, of brick, with rich stone trimmings, above a high stone basement, covered with Mansard roof. The wards are each thirty feet wide by ninety-three long, and fifteen feet high, arranged for twenty-eight patients each, affording 1,494 cubic feet of space to each. The base- ment of the one now erected contains an ophthalmic, a children's, and an accident ward, and some small rooms for delirious patients. The main stairways are all to be of iron and stone. Ventilating shafts are to be placed at the end of each ward, to carry off foul air and introduce fresh. The lavatories, supplied with vapor baths, shower baths, basins, etc., are situated at the southern end of the pavilions, sepa- rated from the wards by wide halls. In the center of the block fronting on Fifty-ninth street is the administration building, through which is the entrance to the Hospital. This building contains the offices and apartments for officers, the apothecary room, chemical laboratory, etc. . In the rear of this stands another separate building, containing the kitchen, laundry, the heating and ventilating apparatus. This and the pavilion before described are now completed and the other central pavilion and the administration building will soon follow. furnishing accommodations for six hundred patients, and costing about $600,000. These can be completed, leaving an
363
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL.
endowment fund of at least $600,000 for the support of the Institution. It is likely that this is as far as the building plan will be carried, unless other legacies are added to the enterprise. The site is an elevated and beautiful one over- looking the Hudson, and as most of the hospitals have been erected on the eastern side of the island, the selection appears to have been well made. The locality will soon be crowded with a dense population, that will need the liberal provisions of this generous benefactor.
.
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. (East Seventieth street.)
On the second day of January, 1868, Mr. James Lenox, a distinguished member of the Presbyterian Church of New York, addressed a circular letter to a number of gentlemen of his own denomination, setting forth the fact that while the Jews, the Germans, the Roman Catholics, and the Epis- copalians had each established a hospital for themselves, the large and influential body of Presbyterians had undertaken nothing of the kind. The envelope contained the draft of an act of incorporation, and of a constitution. The circular further declared that a large and eligible plot of ground, and funds to the amount of $100,000, would be made over to the managers if the enterprise were undertaken. The gen- tlemen addressed were severally invited to act as managers, and informed that a public meeting would be called to fully inaugurate the movement as soon as their concurrence was secured. The letter, with its munificent proposals, received prompt and encouraging replies, and on the 13th of January, 1868, a meeting of these gentlemen was held in the lecture room of the First Presbyterian church, when a temporary organization was effected. On the 28th of February, 1868, the Legislature passed the act of incorporation, authorizing the Institution to hold real estate and personal property to
365
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL.
any amount, free from taxation. On the 26th day of March. the board of managers maturely considered and accepted the charter, elected their officers, Mr. Lenox being chosen Presi- dent, and the Presbyterian Hospital became a corporate In- . stitution. On the 17th of June, Mr. Lenox conveyed in due form to the board of managers, for Hospital uses, the block of ground lying between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets, Fourth and Madison avenues, valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to which he added the princely sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money, paying the exorbitant governmental succession tax on the transfer of the property of twelve thousand dollars. The site so generously contributed is ample in extent, in the vicinity of Central Park, and is considered one of the most salubrious and eli- gible on the island. The recent developments in medical science and hospital hygiene have so greatly modified former theories that, by protracted consideration of the sub- ject, the managers hope to avoid the mistakes into which others have fallen. The sum of $1,300 was expended in ob- taining designs from several distinguished architects, and the one adopted it is believed will secure all known advantages. The Hospital, which is nearly completed, consists of three pavilions, an administration building, and a boiler-house, all connected in the basement, first and second stories, by corri- dors of light construction. All the buildings (except the boiler-house) are three stories high, and attic in Mansard roof, with accommodations for three hundred patients. .
The first story and attic will be twelve feet high, respect- ively ; the height of the second and third stories will be four- teen feet and six inches in the clear. The basement story of pavilions will be devoted to the accommodation of hot-air chambers, engine-rooms, fan-rooms, etc. The first floors of pavilions will be occupied by private wards, with all their necessary accessories, while the three upper stories will con- tain the public wards.
A spacious and well-lighted amphitheater (for surgical op- erations) will occupy the third and fourth stories of the mid- dle portion of the north pavilion in the rear. The dead-rooms will be located in vaulted chambers, just outside, and in the rear of this pavilion. . The administration building, one of the three central buildings, fifty feet by ninety-two feet, has the middle portion projecting, in order to gain a carriage- porch to main entrance, above which is located the chapel
366
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
with its spire. Side-entrance porches are also provided. The basement of this building contain the kitchen (which extends through to the second floor), the bakery, scullery, larder, ice, bread, and store rooms.
Special care has been given to the subjects of heating and ventilation. The wards are heated by indirect radiation ; the remainder by direct radiation. The outer walls of pavilions are double, with an air-space between them. The ventilating and heating flues of glazed earthen-pipe are built in the inner wall, having openings provided with controlling registers at the top, bottom, and midway between the floor and the ceil- ing of the rooms. The fresh air is conducted through shafts from the top of the buildings to the fan-room in the base- ment, whence it is driven to the coil-chambers, which supply the air to rooms above. Other flues conduct the foul air to the lofts above attic stories, where they all unite in spacious ventilating lanterns, heated by steam-coils. The windows, extending from three feet above the floor to the ceiling, are provided with double sashes, for direct ventilation, without exposing the patients to currents of air.
As regards the exterior elevations, the architectural effect is the result obtained by accentuating certain prominent feat- ures existing in the plan, in a quiet manner, and in using the materials, Philadelphia brick and Lockport limestone, accord- ing to sound rules of construction.
To the princely liberality of Mr. Lenox many large and small subscriptions have been added by the friends of the enterprise in New York, Messrs. Robert L. & A. Stewart con- tributing fully $50,000. The Hospital will probably be ded- icated free from debt, but with inadequate endowment, leav- ing ample scope for the further exercise of large liberality.
The Presbyterian Hospital is one of the grandest benevo- lent enterprises of our times, and eminently worthy of the enlightened and generous denomination that has established it. The annual reports of the Institution, replete with his- toric learning, are model publications of their kind, and wor- thy of permanent preservation.
ST. LUKES' HOSPITAL. (5th Ave. cor. 54th Street.)
I
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL.
(Fifth avenue and Fifty-fourth street.)
N the year 1846 the Rev. W. A. Mulenberg, D.D., pas- tor of the Church of the Holy Communion, deeply im- pressed with the neglect of the church generally in making no adequate provision for her sick poor, and believing that a hospital, conducted on more strictly religious principles than any in the city at the time, was greatly needed, presented the subject to his congregation at the festival of St. Luke, and informed them that with their consent he would set apart a portion of their collection that day toward the begin- ning of a Church Hospital. Thirty dollars were accordingly laid aside, and on the return of the festival the next year an- other collection was taken. A parochial institution only was contemplated for several years, but as the enterprise came to be known it met with such unexpected favor, that its friends re- solved to lay the matter before the Episcopalians of the city at large. In the winter of 1850 the two lectures previously delivered by Dr. Mulenberg in the Church of the Holy Communion were repeated in St. Paul's Chapel, and after- wards printed and widely circulated. On the first day of May, 1850, the St. Luke's Hospital was incorporated under the general act of Legislature passed April 12, 1848, committing the control of the Institution to thirteen managers. In March, 1851, the Legislature amended the charter, increasing the num- ber of managers to thirty-one ; and in February, 1854, it was again amended, granting the corporation permission to hold personal estate to the amount of $250,000, and real estate not exceeding $100,000, over and above the value of buildings and improvements erected thereon for the purposes of the corporation. About the time of its incorporation the man- agers, proposing to carry out their undertaking on a liberal scale, appealed to the public for $100,000. This amount was soon subscribed, and was mostly given in large sums. An eligible site of twenty-four city lots, situated on Fifth avenue and Fifty-fourth street, had been previously, for certain con- siderations on the part of Trinity Church, granted by the city corporation to the Church of St. George the Martyr, on con-
1
368
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS ..
dition that there should be erected thereon, within three years from the date of the grant, a hospital and free chapel for British emigrants. As the buildings had not been erected, and the land was soon to revert to the city, the managers of St. Luke's applied to the authorities for an extension of the time, which was finally granted, and after considerable negoti- ation the transfer of the title from the Church of St. George the Martyr was effected, on condition that the corporation of St. George should always be entitled to a certain number of free beds in the contemplated Hospital. Eight additional lots were also purchased at an average expense of $1,500 each ; a plan for the building prepared by Mr. John W. Ritch was adopted ; and in May, 1854, the corner-stone of the Hos- pital was laid, with appropriate services conducted by Bishop Wainwright. When the building was begun the managers only contemplated the erection of the central edifice and one wing, but they soon resolved to erect both wings, and accord- ingly appealed to the public for an additional hundred thou- sand dollars. On Ascension Day, 1857, the chapel, having been completed, was opened for divine service; and on May 13, 1858, the Hospital proper was opened for the reception of patients.
The buildings, which form a narrow parallelogram with a wing at each end, and a central editice with towers, front on Fifty-fourth street, facing the south, extending longitudinally from east to west two hundred and eighty feet. The eleva- tions of the several fronts are of square red brick. The cen- tral building contains on the first floor the office, the examin- ation room, and appropriate apartments for the physician and the superintendent. On the second floor is the chapel, the distinctive feature of the Hospital. This is rectangular in form, eighty-four by thirty-four feet, with a ceiling forty feet high. The roof is elliptical, with bold traverse ribs resting on corbels. A narrow gallery extends around three sides on a level with the floor of the third story, and so supplements the audience room that several hundred persons are comfort- ably seated at the Sabbath afternoon service. The wards ex- tend from the central building in either direction, the western wing being devoted to the male, and the eastern to the female patients, respectively. One ward is also appropriated to chil- dren, and is a very interesting department. The Hospital has spacious and airy corridors for the exercise of convalescent patients, bath-rooms, closets, and separate apartments for
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.