USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 26
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The objects of the Institute are: 1. "The treatment of patients suffering from diseases of the eye and ear, belonging to all classes of society. 2. The advancement of medical science, in particular the branches of Ophthalmology and Otology. This is effected by the experience derived from the examination and treatment of patients, by scientific investiga- tion, and systematic medical instruction."
The Institution, working as a Hospital, was opened for out- door patients on the 18th of May, 1869, and for the reception. of in-door patients in the following June. At the issue of their last report it appeared that 5,559 had been treated in the Dispensary, and 468 in the Hospital.
Three classes of in-door patients are received. The first class pay from three to five dollars per day for board, and the usual prices for professional services. The second class pay from one to two dollars per day, with no additional charges. The third class are indigent patients, and are admitted gratu- itously. The expense of the Institution the last year amounted to $15,102.09 ; of which sum the pay patients con- tributed. $7,812.69, the State $1,288.82, the city of New York $1,000, and the remaining $5,000 were generously sup- plied by Dr. Knapp.
The society has received for the present year a grant of $2,000 from the State, and a similar sum from the city au- thorities.
The Dispensary is located in the basement of the house, which has a large hall, used as a waiting-room, and capable of seating about sixty people ; a reception-room, in which the patients are treated; two dark rooms for examinations with eye and ear mirrors, and other instruments ; and a separate waiting-room for severer cases, especially such as have to un- dergo operations. Two wash-hand stands, one in the recep- tion-room and another in the hall, with warm and cold water. offer great convenience and relief to the surgeons and pa- tients. The dispensary is a charity, open to the poor daily from one to three o'clock P.M.
The in-door department, entirely separated from the Dis- pensary, occupies the four stories of the house. The latter is twenty-five feet in front, but widens posteriorly to fifty-two feet, having in the rear a yard sixty feet broad and twenty- five feet deep. A spacious hall, with a large winding stair-
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MANHATTAN EYE AND EAR HOSPITAL.
case in the centre, forms a most excellent natural ventilator, while, in addition, a proper ventilation and light flue runs froin the kitchen hall to the roof. The in-door department resembles a private hotel more than a hospital, having a con- siderable number of smaller and larger bed-rooms, a parlor, dining-room, piazza, bath-rooms, etc., with accommodation for thirty patients. The furniture is neat but plain in the top floor, handsome and elegant in the lower stories, thus affording to the inmates all the comforts which are compatible with the objects of the Institution. The beds are of the first quality throughout. A matron has charge of the establish- ment. Experienced and trusty nurses are in constant atten- dance on the patients. The position of resident physician is tilled by a competent ophthalmic and aural surgeon.
MANHATTAN .EYE AND EAR HOSPITAL.
(No. 233 East Thirty-fourth street.)
THE Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital was chartered by the Legislature of the State of New York, May 5, 1869. The society began its work in a temporary building, No. 233 East Thirty-fourth street, on the 15th of October, 1869, by opening a daily clinic for the gra- tuitous treatment of the poor, and providing thirteen beds in suitable wards for such cases as might require surgical oper- ations or other careful in-door treatment. The society, thus far, has neither asked nor received State or municipal aid, its funds being generously provided by the benevolent men who planned the enterprise, and their friends. The board of di- rectors, its officers, and the surgical staff serve gratuitously.
The directors have purchased a plot of ground on the south-east corner of Park avenue and Forty-first street, hav- ing a frontage of one hundred feet on the avenue and eighty feet on the side street, at a cost of $50,000, and $15,000 have been paid on the same. Upon this they purpose to erect suitable hospital buildings as soon as the funds can be se- cured.
On the first day of January, 1871, the society issued its
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
first printed report, detailing the account of its proceedings. and showing that, during the fourteen and one-half months of its active existence, 1,227 patients with diseases of the eve had been treated, and 430 with diseases of the ear. The Hospital is always open for the reception of in-door patients. and on every secular day at two o'clock P.M., for such as may attend gratuitously the Dispensary for the out-door service.
Many cases have occurred in the experience of the year to illustrate the beneficent character of the work done by the Hospital. We append a few :
" An old man, who was once in affluent circumstances, but had lost his property, so that he was an object of charity, was brought to the Hospital blind. One eye was found to be hopelessly disorganized by disease, and the other fast becom- ing so. An operation was at once performed on the eye least diseased, and in which he could just distinguish light from darkness ; it did not avail much, however, and then, on con- sultation, it was decided to remove the most diseased eye, trusting that this radical procedure might be of benefit to the eye which was rapidly becoming as hopelessly affected. This was done; in a few days the sight of the remaining eye be- gan slowly to improve, and continued to do so until in about three months he was again able to read and write, and he is now earning his bread. This poor man was so destitute of means that he was not able to pay his board for one day of the three months he was in the Hospital, and but for its cha- rity his eyes would have very soon been beyond all hope.
" A day laborer, with a family dependent upon him, had been blind for a year. He was led to the Hospital by a friend ; he was found to have a cataract, which was removed by an operation, and in six weeks he was able to leave the Hospital with sight enough for all ordinary purposes, and has now been at work for a year. He was also unable to pay his board.
"A poor man, a widower, and his four small children, came into the Hospital with Ophthalmia, contracted in their over- crowded tenement from a child that had returned diseased from the Westchester Reformatory. They formed a piteous group, and were in immediate danger of blindness. They were ragged and unclean ; special arrangements were made to cleanse, clothe, and treat them, and after prolonged and painstaking care they were all saved from blindness.
" An old lady, in reduced circumstances, was brought in
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ASSOCIATION FOR RELIEF OF AGED INDIGENT FEMALES. 423
blind with cataract; she was operated upon, and her sight re- stored, so that. she could read and write the finest print or writing.
" A man who had for many years occupied a fiduciary posi- tion became blind and was brought to the Hospital, where he was operated upon for cataract, and his vision restored.
" A poor seamstress, blind with cataract, was operated upon and her sight restored.
" A poor old man, who had for some years been shut up at his house by his relations as hopelessly blind, was brought to the Hospital, operated upon for cataract, and useful vision re- stored. So we might go on to narrate several scores of cases in which blindness was either cured or prevented.
" What is said of the cases of disease of the eye holds true also with regard to cases of diseases of the ear."
ASSOCIATION FOR THE RELIEF OF RESPECTABLE AGED INDI- GENT FEMALES.
(East Twentieth street.)
HE society which still perpetuates this noble charity began its career during the last war with England, and has now issued its fifty-eighth annual report. In other lands, where institutions have attained the hoary growth of centuries, this statement would occasion no remark; but here, amid the rush of new events, and the ceaseless change in nearly every locality, we can but feel that this de- serves the appellation of time-honored. The wants of human nature are identical in all ages, hence an institution to provide for aged females, whose declining years were saddened by poverty, was needed in this city sixty years ago. The com- mon almshouse, filled as it usually is with the dregs of soci- ety, is not a place of comfort to persons of refined sensibili- ties. For the relief of this class, a few benevolent ladies were moved with compassion. Meetings for the discussion of their plans were held, and in the autumn of 1813 an associa- tion was formed, which was the nucleus of this society. The organization of the society occurred on the 7th of February,
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
1814, in the session room of the Brick Presbyterian Church, when a constitution was adopted, and a board of sixteen man- agers elected. The managers held their regular meetings for three years in the same church, after which they were held in private houses, until the completion of the Asylum in 1838. During the first twenty-four years, the society simply gave pensions to its needy beneficiaries in money and clothing, and thought of nothing beyond. But in 1833 the plan of erecting a suitable Asylum was proposed. In the winter of 1834, after a sermon preached by Dr. Schroeder, in the Church of the Ascension (then in Canal street), setting forth the wants of the society, a collection of $310.20 was taken for the enter- prise. But the impression made on the audience was better than the collection. Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Stuyvesant, who were listeners, soon presented the society with a deed of three lots of ground, the site of the present building. John Jacob Astor nobly headed a subscription with $5,000, on condition that $20,000 should be raised in a year. The ball being now fully in motion, many merchants and persons of wealth were successfully appealed to, and the amount realized. The Asy- lum was commenced in 1837, and the following year com- pleted and thrown open for the reception of inmates. The edifice is a four-story brick, with a fine basement and sub- cellar, with accommodations for about one hundred persons, including resident officers and employés.
The want of an infirmary was soon apparent, and Mr. Astor again pledged $3,000, which, with numerous smaller sums, en- abled the managers in 1845 to purchase the adjoining lot and complete the desired building. In 1816 the society received from the Common Council $300, and the year following, $250, which, with a recent State donation of $6,000, comprise all sums ever drawn from the public authorities-a fine record, indeed, in this age of public plunder.
This society, being the pioneer of its kind, has exerted a most healthful influence in the city and country, and its man- agers, being selected from the several denominations, have in- fused its spirit into all the churches. Persons are not admit- ted under sixty years of age, and are required to furnish their own rooms, pay an entrance fee of fifty dollars, and leave what other property they may inherit to the Institution. No denominational tests are urged in the admission of candi- dates, though the greater number are from the Reformed Dutch and the Presbyterian churches. It may be interest-
ASSOCIATION FOR RELIEF OF AGED INDIGENT FEMALES. 425
ing to state that the Asylum at one time sheltered a near rela- tive of President Washington, and has at this writing, within its walls, a cousin of General Lamb. The Asylum is conve- niently arranged, the rooms are large and cheerful, and per- fect order and tidiness reign in every department. The same cook has had charge of the kitchen twenty-seven years. The inmates have nearly all lived to a remarkable age. The obit- nary record shows that some died at 84, some at 85, others at 86, 89, 93, and 97. In 1851 the vestry of Trinity church granted the association a burial plot in their cemetery, and the same year similar donations were received from the trustees of Cypress Hill and of Greenwood. As the Asylum is likely to continue for generations to come, and constantly enlarge its operations, all these plots and many more will probably be needed.
In the winter of 1822-23 an auxiliary society was formed under the direction of Mrs. E. Mowatt and Miss Ann Dom- inick (now Mrs. Gillett, the First Directress), the object of which was to provide suitable clothing for the pensioners. This arrangement has been continued through all these years, accomplishing an incalculable amount of good. The plan of providing for out-door pensioners did not cease with the opening of the Asylum, but still continues. In 1851 their printed report showed that no less than eighty-seven had been regularly assisted during the year, and that one of these had died at the ripe age of 100 years, who had annually received aid since the formation of the society.
The inmates of the Asylum have numbered from seventy to one hundred for many years past, and the expense of the Institution has ranged from ten to twenty thousand dollars per annum. Plans for the erection of a new edifice on Fourth avenue and Seventy-eighth street have been adopted. The new Asylum will be of stone, five stories high, surmounted by a Mansard roof, and is estimated to cost $175,000. : When this is completed the old Asylum in Twentieth street will be disposed of. Notwithstanding the great multiplication of benevolent societies during the last quarter of a century, hundreds are still knocking at these doors who cannot be admitted until death shall remove the present inmates, or enlarged accommodations are provided. Services are held regularly by the pastors of the neighborhood, and skilled physicians have always freely rendered their services.
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LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
(Forty-second street, near Eighth avenue.)
O the ladies of the Methodist Episcopal church must be accorded the honor of founding the first denomin- ational Institution for the support of the aged and infirm members of their persuasion, whose circum- stances especially require it. The Home in East Twentieth street had preceded it twelve years, and proved the necessity and feasibility of such enterprises ; but this was not denomin- ational, and, great as had been its usefulness, there still re- mained a wide field in every religious organization for the largest endeavors of the self-sacrificing, and the charities of the benevolent. Under the profound conviction that a home should be provided for the aged and indigent of their own communion, a meeting was convened on the 4th of March, 1850, at 459 Broadway, and was presided over by the vener- able Nathan Bangs. A committee of inquiry was appointed and several subsequent meetings held, which resulted finally in the adoption of a constitution, and the organization of a society, which consists of a board of seventy, or more, female managers, elected annually from the various Methodist churches in New York, and an advisory committee of gen- tlemen.
On the 1st day of November, 1850, the building No. 16 Horatio street was leased at an annual rent of $480, and soon after its doors were thrown open for the reception of inmates. Much of its furniture was contributed by the friends of the enterprise. The act of incorporation passed the Legislature June 19, 1851, seven months after the open- ing of the Institution. During the first year twenty-three in- mates were admitted, two of whom died, and the second year ten more were received, and one died, leaving an average family of thirty for the second year. This not only com- pletely filled the building, but forced upon the minds of the managers the necessity of providing more enlarged accommo- dations. About this time, a fine plot of ground on Sixty-first street and Broadway was purchased, and a plan of a build- ing prepared. A little consideration led to the conclusion
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THE OLD LADIES' HOME OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
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LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY OF THE M. E. CHURCH.
that these lots, situated in so eligible a part of the city, might be advantageously disposed of, and a much larger plot ob- tained thereby, farther out of town. In 1853 twelve lots were selected and purchased on the Kingsbridge road, at One Hundred and Forty-second and One Hundred and Forty-third streets. The increase of the price of building materials, and the want of available funds, delayed for two years longer the commencement of the much-desired edifice. But God, in Ilis inscrutable providence, was preparing them a site for their Bethesda in one of the loveliest portions of the city, where the aged inmates might remain in convenient communication with their churches and friends. In 1855, Mr. William S. Seaman, an aged member of the Allen Street M. E. church, donated to the society two choice lots on Forty-second street, near Eighth avenue, on condition that the annual interest of the estimated value of the property should be paid to him during his life- time. The society promptly accepted this generous gift, soon purchased the lot adjoining, and the following summer began the erection of the Home. Mr. Seaman died nine months after the conveyance of the property, but his last days were cheered with the assurance that the cherished Institution would be immediately erected, on the site he had so benevo- lently contributed. The corner-stone of the new building was laid with appropriate services, September 16th, 1856, and the Institution dedicated by Bishops Morris and Janes, assisted by other clergymen, April 27th, 1857. The family, after resid- ing six and a half years in Horatio street, was removed to these more eligible quarters on May 1st of the same year.
The edifice is a substantial brick, sixty-two feet front and eighty-two deep, four stories high, with a brown-stone front, and is constructed in the Gothic order. The main entrance, over which is the chapel and infirmary, projects several feet from the body of the building, and is reached by a broad flight of stone steps. The basement, which is entirely above ground, contains the kitchen, dining-room, laundry, store- rooms, and pantry, besides a broad entrance hall, all conven- iently arranged. On the right of the vestibule, on the first floor, is a commodious parlor for visitors, and on the left, one for committees. A large and airy rotunda adjoins, entered through sliding doors, lighted by a dome of sixteen large win- dows, which may be raised by cords for ventilation. This is surrounded by convenient rooms for inmates, the superin- tendent's being among them, and so arranged as to make com-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. .
munication easy with any or all of the family. The second and third stories have circular corridors, which are sur- rounded by pleasant apartments, each having one or more windows, and a ventilator. On either side of the front en- trance is a flight of stairs leading to the second story, where over the vestibule and the parlors is the tasty chapel, with seating for one hundred persons, and immediately above this is the infirmary, a large airy room, commanding an extended view of the city and adjacent country. When erected it was said to contain space for the accommodation of one hundred persons, but that number has never been received. It is heated by furnaces throughout, each room having its register. It is well provided with bath-rooms and Croton, has an ample cellar, and at its erection was one of the best ventilated and finest arranged buildings in the city.
The lot purchased cost $6,400, the edifice $30,000, and in 1867 the building adjoining was added at the cost of an additional $20,000. The property is now valued at $125,000. The purchase of the last building made space for the recep- tion of several aged men. Down to the time of entering the new building the family averaged twenty-five, since which it has been at least trebled, and now averages over eighty. Since its opening, in 1850, 194 beneficiaries have shared its. generous hospitality, of whom 90 have died, and 21 have been otherwise provided for.
At the opening of the new building a debt of $23,000 remained against the property. The number of inmates soon greatly increased, prices advanced, the war and other provi- dences swept away many of their generous friends, and dur- ing these trying periods the managers were often, like Pro- fessor Francke at Halle, driven in deep anxiety to the Lord with the pressing wants of the Institution. With much exer- tion the current expenses were, however, met, and the debt gradually reduced. In June, 1864, a strawberry festival, as is their annual custom, was held, and on the first of July at the meeting of the managers the proceeds were announced to · have amounted to $588. The treasurer inquired, "Shall the money be used in paying the interest due on the debt at the Greenwich Savings Bank ?" At this point Mr. Samuel Hal- sted, a member of the advisory committee, stepped forward and presented a receipt in full from the president of the bank. He and his excellent brother Schureman had silently by subscription, raised the amount necessary to cancel all in-
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LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY OF THE M. E. CHURCH. 429
debtedness and to thoroughly repair and repaint the building. A thrill of joy at this delightful surprise ran through every heart, and found expression in the long-meter doxology, which was sung with great zest, all the members rising to their feet.
Several grants have been received from the Common Coun- cil and the Legislature, though the sentiment now very gener- ally prevails in the denomination that such donations should neither be solicited nor received. The society has held several moderately successful fairs, realized something every year from donations, festivals, and lectures. It has also been remembered with several small legacies, among which we may mention that of Mrs. Bishop Hedding, of $2,300.
The New York Preachers' meeting annually arranges to supply the Home with preaching, once on each Sabbath, by the pastors stationed in the city. Prayer-meetings, class-meet- ings, and love-feasts are held statedly, and are often seasons of great interest. Many of the innates are infirm, some have been entirely helpless for years, and most of them live to very advanced age. In 1854 Mrs. Sarah W. Kairns died, at the advanced age of 117 years, and the same year Mrs. Elizabeth Cairns, aged 100 years. "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation." The New York Conferences, during their sessions in the city, have, at the invitation of the managers, enjoyed some interesting tea-meetings at the Institution, and the old ladies have several times been agree- ably surprised by the members of the different churches, who have spread their tables with delicacies, and left other sub- stantial tokens of their regard. The managers now contem- plate the removal of the Institution farther up town, to secure more enlarged accommodations. The resident manager and recording secretary, Mrs. Matilda M. Adams, has held some important position in the board since the organization of the society. She is a lady of solid culture, of genial piety, and possesses in an eminent degree those varied administrative faculties befitting her position, and so rarely blended in the same person. May she and all who have toiled with her in this blessed work, and those whose sorrows they have as- suaged, meet in that Home where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."
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HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS, EAST TWENTY-NINTH STREET.
THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY AND HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS.
(No. 29 East Twenty-ninth and No. 32 East Thirtieth streets.)
Thirty-seven years ago a number of Christian ladies in New York were moved to begin a work in behalf of the helpless, the exposed, and the forsaken. An organization known as the " American Female Guardian Society " was formed, and its executive committee for some time held their weekly meetings in a small rear basement under the old Tract House. These devoted women visited the city prisons, and the manufactories where hundreds of young girls were employed, distributing religious tracts, papers, Bibles, Testaments, giv. ing counsel to the inexperienced, and providing situations for many out of employment. They also scanned the poorest districts, employed pious female missionaries to visit from house to house, to instruct and encourage the ignorant and desponding. Poor forsaken children, destined for the alms- house, were taken to their own houses and provided for until suitable homes could be obtained for them. At that time there were no "Girls' Lodging Houses," "Working Women's Unions," or "Homes," where innocent, penniless young females could apply for a night's lodging and the necessary helps to
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THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY.
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