USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 34
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
forbids disorderly persons carrying loaded fire-arms; I fine them ten dollars each." Two colored men next respond to the call. The one upon the stand is about forty-five, and deposes that he lost a watch worth twenty-five dollars, and that the prisoner leaning on the rail took it. The prisoner is a plump, well-formed youth of twenty-two, who meanwhile rolls up his eyes and sweeps the entire audience of the court-room. "Did you cause his immediate arrest ?" inquires the Judge. " Yes, sir." "Did you find the watch ?" " I did." "Who arrested him ?" "Officer Cone." The officer is called, and details in few words the arrest, search and the recovery of the lost property. The Judge turns to the prisoner and inquires, " Have you counsel ?" " Yes, sir." " Who is he ?" A name is given. "He is not here," says the Judge; " I sentence you to the Penitentiary for six months." In this way the business goes on for hours. With all this dispatch the truth is generally reached, and the principal errors are on the side of mercy, dismissing far too many to satisfy justice or answer the ends of good government.
Religious services of some kind are held in the Tombs on every day of the week except Saturday.
Sunday morning and Tuesday forenoon are set apart for the Catholics, while Sunday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon are devoted to the Episcopalians. Monday is reserved for the Methodists if they choose to employ it, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday being devoted to various Protestant Societies who send male and female representatives to read the Scriptures, exhort and pray with the prisoners. We have been explicit in this statement because it has been asserted that only Catholics had free access and full conveniences for conducting worship in this prison. A vast amount of mission- ary labor is expended here annually by members of all denominations. These pious endeavors are often crowned with excellent results, and though the seed often falls upon a barren soil. the faithful sower shall not lose his reward.
N WESTERN DISPENSARY
N WESTERN DISPENSARY
NORTH-WESTERN DISPENSARY.
(Ninth avenue corner West Thirty-sixth street.)
THE NEW YORK MEDICAL DISPENSARIES.
Perhaps no enterprise for the amelioration of the condition of the suffering poor of the city of New York has been more widely patronized, or accomplished more for the physical re- lief of the last three generations, than the dispensary system.
On the fourteenth day of October. 1790, at a meeting of the "Medical Society of the city of New York," it was re- solved, "That a Committee be appointed to digest and publish a plan of a Dispensary for the medical relief of the sick poor of this city, and to make an offer of the professional services of the members of this society to carry it into effect." Ur- gent and eloquent appeals were soon made to the public through the several daily papers, and on the 4th of January. 1791, a meeting of benevolent citizens convened in the City Hall in Wall street, where a constitution and the necessary by-laws were adopted. Hon. Isaac Roosevelt was chosen President, and Drs. Bayley and Bard senior physicians. The New York Dispensary was first established in Tryon street, now Tryon row, where it continued in a single room thirty-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
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eight years. The first annual report declared that 310 patients had been treated during the year, contrasting strangely with the report of 1871, which announces that 38,770 had received treatment during the last year, and about 79,000 prescriptions made. It is also worthy of note that the first was made when but one dispensary existed on the island, the last when over twenty of various kinds are engaged in a similar work. The act incorporating the New York Dispensary passed the Legis- lature April 8th, 1795, and in 1805 a union was effected be- tween the Dispensary and the Kine-pock Institution, which had been established three years previously in the rear of the brick church opposite. the Park. The number of patients an- nually increased, amounting in 1828 to 10,000. Efforts were then made to secure better accommodations, the authorities contributed a lot of land on the corner of Centre and White streets, a three-story brick edifice was erected and made ready for. occupation on the 28th of December, 1829. The building and furniture cost a trifle more than eight thousand dollars. During the last four years the old edifice has been removed and a new and beautiful building erected in its place, cover- ing the entire site and costing $72,488. The lower floor is divided into stores and rented; the second is the Dispensary, with very commodious apartments; the two upper floors are also rented for business uses. This large outlay has been partially met with generous donations from the trustees and friends of the enterprise; a mortgage of $20,000, however, still remains on the property. The last Legislature granted the Institution $10,000. This Dispensary grants medicine and the attention of its physicians to the suffering poor of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Wards without charge. It occupies that section of the city where the most of its busi- ness is transacted, where large fortunes are made, but where few besides the poor tarry over night. These, however, are herded together in vast numbers, affording an abundant harvest for cholera, small-pox, ship-fever, yellow-fever, etc. Without the New York Dispensary this crowded section would often be turned into a carnival of suffering, endangering the lives of the whole population. Since its organization in 1790 it has treated 1,463,747 patients.
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The Northern Dispensary was the second on the island, organized in 1827. It is situated on the corner of Chris- topher street and Waverley place.
In 1834 the Eastern Dispensary was organized. This fur-
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THE NEW YORK MEDICAL DISPENSARIES.
nishes medicine, medical and surgical services gratuitously to the sick poor of that section of the city bounded by Pike street and Allen, First avenue, and Fourteenth street, to the East river. This Dispensary during the first thirty-five and one-half years of its existence has administered to 768,828 patients, an annual average of over twenty-one thousand. Of this number 352,267 were native Americans, the remain- ing 416,561 were born in foreign lands. The average cost of each patient to the society has been 142 cents. The Dis- pensary is situated over the Essex Market. The trustees own no building, but now contemplate the erection of one.
The Demilt Dispensary was organized in 1851. In 1852-53 the trustees erected a fine three-story building on the corner of Second avenue and Twenty-third street, at a cost of $30,000 including the site. This property has with the growth of the city doubled in value, and is free from debt. The territory assigned to this Dispensary is comprised in the Eighteenth and Twenty-first Wards, or that portion lying east of Sixth avenue between Fourteenth and Fortieth streets. The population of this district in 1850 was 31,557, in 1860 it amounted to 106,489, and in 1870 to 111,63S. During these twenty years it has treated 464,596 patients, over eighty-five thousand of whom have been treated by the physicians at their homes, and 899,075 prescriptions have been dispensed, an average of 125 per day.
The North-eastern Dispensary was incorporated in 1862. It ministers to the sick poor residing between Fortieth and Sixtieth streets, and between Sixth avenue and the East river. During 1870, 13,309 persons received gratuitous treatment at the Dispensary, and 3,101 patients were treated at their dwell- ings. Eighteen physicians constitute the medical staff.
The North-eastern Homoeopathic Dispensary was founded in 1868. It is situated at 307 East Fifty-fifth street, in hired buildings, and has treated since its opening over forty thou- sand patients, and made over eighty-five thousand prescrip- tions, and two thousand visits.
The North-western was incorporated in 1852, and began . in hired rooms at No. 511 Eighth avenue. It is designed. to bless the sick and suffering poor in that large district , lying west of Fifth avenue, between Twenty-third and Eighty-sixth streets. No funds for the permanent estab- lishment of the Institution were raised until 1866, when a subscription was started which secured during the next
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
two years about nineteen thousand dollars, to which the Corporation added the sum of $15,000. A piece of land purchased on Broadway was again sold at a profit of $10,000. The trustees have now completed one of the finest Dispensary buildings on the island, at a cost of $83,000, an indebtedness of over thirty thousand dollars still remaining on the prop- erty. Besides affording very ample and commodious apart- ments for the use of the Institution itself, it contains a large store, and a beautiful hall rented for divine service. When this indebtedness is removed it is believed the income from the building will render the Dispensary nearly self-sustaining. The number of patients treated varies from 10,000 to 15,000 per annum.
Besides these there are also various other Dispensaries es- tablished for the treatment of special diseases, as the Now York Dispensary for the Treatment of Cancer, the New York Dispensary for Diseases of Throat and Chest, the New York Dispensary for Diseases of Skin, and others.
Most of these Institutions receive $1,000 per annum from the Corporation, to which the State sometimes adds an addi- tional thousand or more as they may need. Aside from this. they are supported by private donations. The amount of good resulting to the city and country from the kindly treat- ment administered to these 200,000 patients, who annually apply to these well-arranged Institutions of mercy, is incalcu- lable. The results from the system of free vaccination alone, are ample for all the expenses of the entire undertaking. This charity of all others is least liable to abuse, and is annu- ally attended with great and manifest advantages to our whole population.
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ROBERTS. NY.
CHAPTER VI.
INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.
THE ISLANDS AND THE AUTHORITIES.
(Office of Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, corner Eleventh street and Third avenue. - See cut above.)
Before entering into a detailed account of the institutions located in the East river, let us pause and consider briefly the history of the Islands themselves and the policy of those who control them. Orie cannot contemplate without feelings of high satisfaction the extensive municipal charities of the city of New York. In their origin they were few and meager, dating far back when the city was small, and the public mind but
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
poorly enlightened on questions of this kind. The little hovels and shanties of the past have all been superseded by colossal brick and stone structures, containing all the modern improve- ments of the age, with every known convenience for the relief of the indigent of all ages, the blind, the afflicted, the insane, the inebriate, and for the correction of the criminal. Our public charities, which once consisted of a little Alms- house, have now multiplied until more than thirty buildings, many of them the largest of their kind in the country, have been brought into requisition. The penal and correctional in- stitutions, though they have not kept pace with the charitable, have also been greatly enlarged, and are now valued at nearly $3,000,000. The charitable institutions, with their grounds and furniture are valued at $5,500,000, and the annual expenditures in the maintenance of these buildings, with an annual register of 92,000, and an average population of eight thousand, and the necessary expenditures in new buildings and grounds, amounts to $2,000,000.
The great increase of our population, and the consequent enlargement of our municipal institutions have necessitated the outlay of large sums in securing real estate, and the selections for the most part have been very judiciously made. Those beautiful islands of the East river, in particular, sepa- rated on either side from the great world by a deep crystal current, appear to have been divinely arranged as a home for the unfortunate and the suffering, and a place of quiet re- formatory meditation for the vicious. A. brief sketch of these islands will not be out of place in this volume.
BLACKWELL'S ISLAND is a narrow strip of land in the East river, extending from Fifty-first to Eighty-eighth streets, about a mile and a half in length, and contains one hundred and twenty acres. It was early patented to Governor Van Twiller, and was subsequently owned by the Blackwell family, from whom it derives its name, for more than a hundred years. The ancestral residence, a cozy wood cot- tage over a hundred years old, situated near the centre of the island, is still in fine repair, and likely to long survive the present generation. This island was purchased by the city July 19, 1828, for the sum of $30,000, but the authorities were compelled in 1843 to expend $20,000 more to perfect the title. The little steamers owned by the Commissioners, making several trips per day in the interest of mercy and justice, are the only vessels allowed to land at her piers with-
A
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INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.
out special permit. The labor of docking, building sea wall, and the admirable grading by which the island is made to slope gradually on either side to the water brink, has all been performed by inmates of the Penitentiary and Workhouse. The island is now valued at $600,000 exclusive of buildings.
WARD'S ISLAND, situated immediately above the preced- ing, takes its name from Jasper and Bartholomew Ward, its former proprietors, and extends from One Hundred and First to One Hundred and Fifteenth streets, containing about two hundred acres. It was formerly known as "Great Barcut," or "Great Barn" Island, and was termed by the Indian "Ten-ken-as." It was purchased by Van Twiller in 1637, confiscated in 1664, and granted to Thomas Delavel. The Wards obtained it in 1806, and in December, 1847, a part of it was leased (afterwards purchased) by the Commissioners of Emigration for the establishment of the Emigrant Refuge and Hospital. Over half of the island is now owned by these Commissioners. The Commissioners of Charities and Corrections purchased a portion of it June 18, 1852, and have since made several additional purchases. The Potter's Field, the place of interment for paupers and strangers, was for some years located here, but has recently been removed to Hart Island. Ward's Island is wider than Blackwell's, and the soil more arable. The portion of this island owned by the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections is valued at $360,000.
RANDALL'S ISLAND takes its name from Jonathan Randall, who purchased it in 1784, and resided upon it nearly fifty years. It lies north of Ward's Island, and extends nearly to Westchester county. It was formerly known as "Little Barn" Island. This island was also patented under the Dutch Government, and, like Ward's, was confiscated in 1664, and also granted to Thomas Delavel. It was subsequently at different periods denominated " Bell Isle," "Talbot's Island," and " Montressor's Island." It was purchased by the city in 1835 for $50,000. Thirty acres of the southern portion have since been sold to the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents. Besides furnishing ample grounds for the numerous Nursery buildings it contains a large and pro- ductive farm, cultivated by the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, furnishing large amounts of vegetables for the institutions. Their portion of the island is valued at $520,000.
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
HART ISLAND is situated in the town of Pelham, Westches- ter county, in Long Island Sound, about fourteen miles from Bellevue. This island became the property of Oliver Delan- cey in 1775, who sold it to Samuel Rodman for £550. In 1819, it was deeded to John Hunter, who died September 12, 1852. After his decease his heirs deeded it to John Hunter jr., grandson of the preceding, July 10, 1866. The United States Government leased it for army uses December 5, 1863, for one year, for the sum of $500, with privilege of retaining it five or less years longer at an increased rent, the buildings erected by government to remain the property of the lessor. A village of one-story wood buildings, for the accommodation of troops, was soon erected, spreading over the principal parts of the island. Under authority of an act of Legislature passed April 11, 1868, authorizing " additional facilities for the in- terment of the pauper dead in the city of New York," the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections on May 16, 1868, purchased all except three acres of the southern point (which the owner hopes to sell to the United States for the erection of a light-house), for the sum of $75,000. The island is esti- mated to contain about one hundred acres, but is suffering constant loss from the action of the tides. It is probable that the Penitentiary will be removed to this island in a few years at most.
The management of the municipal charities and correc- tions of Manhattan was for years committed to five Commis- sioners appointed by the Common Council. In 1845, the whole was placed under the charge of one Commissioner; in 1849 the number was increased to ten; and in 1859 the number was again changed to four, to be half Democrats and half Republicans, appointed for the term of six years by the city Controller. The new charter of 1870 increases the number to five, to be appointed by the Mayor for the term of five years, abolishing the equal political representation.
The present board is composed of intellectual, high-minded gentlemen, representing both political parties, as well as the Protestant and the Roman Catholic faith. Their annual re- port now amounts to an octavo volume of five hundred or six hundred pages, and one cannot examine one of these without perceiving that our municipal institutions are managed with great discretion and skill .. Those great problems which have puzzled the humane and thoughtful in all ages such as the best moral treatment for the insane, the relief and elevation of
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INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.
the indigent, the reformatory discipline of criminals, the re- covery of vagrant and truant youth, the measures for secur- ing the lowest bill of mortality among foundlings, the refor- mation of the inebriate, and the best hygienic and economic conduct of public institutions, are made matters of constant study, resulting in frequent and manifest improvements. As might be expected, visitors in large numbers throng the insti- tutions, but all are treated with decided urbanity. Many of the Superintendents, Wardens, and Chiefs of Departments, have retained their positions many years, a few more than a quarter of a century, and to whose intelligence and kindness we cheerfully acknowledge our indebtedness for many facts presented in this volume.
A Protestant and a Roman Catholic chaplain give daily attention to the spiritual wants of the inmates of these build- ings, holding brief and earnest services in each every Sabbath. Missionaries from any and all of the denominations are granted every reasonable opportunity to carry the messages of the gospel to those receiving either corrections or charities. In conclusion, we can but feel that our municipal institutions, are a credit and an ornament to the great city which fills and supports them.
THE HOSPITALS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.
ELLEVUE was for some years the only hospital under the management of the public authorities of New York City. After the erection of the Penitentiary. one of its rooms was set apart for a hospital. In 1848, during the administration of Moses G. Leonard, Commissioner of the Almshouse, at that time acting under the Common Council of the City, the first hospital building was erected on the Island called the " Penitentiary Hospital." . The build- ing was of brick, and was completed in 1849, the same year that the "Ten Governor" system came into existence. The name was changed to the "Island Hospital " by resolution of the Governors December 15th, 1857. The Governors ap- pointed a committee to examine the building soon after its
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
completion, who reported that they found it " constructed in a most reckless and careless manner, and was as a public building a reproach to any city." It was pronounced inse- cure, and the Governors were about to pull it down, when it was accidentally destroyed by fire on the morning of February 13, 1858. At the time of the disaster, it contained 530 in- mates, who were all removed without loss of life. It is believed that it would soon have fallen down if it had not been thus destroyed.
The corner-stone of the Charity Hospital, erected on the site of the one so happily destroyed, was laid with appropri- ate services July 22, 1858. An address was delivered on the occasion by Washington Smith, Esq., President of the board of Governors. -
This magnificent structure is of stone quarried from the island by the convicts, and is the largest hospital about New York, and probably the largest on the continent. It is a three and a half story, 354 feet long, and 122 wide. The two wings are each 122 by 50 feet, and the central building 90 by 52, and 60 feet high. The entire hospital is divided into twenty-nine wards, most of which are 474 feet in length, and ranging from 23 to 44 feet in width. The smallest ward contains 13 beds, and the largest 39. The Hospital contains 832 beds, but has capacity for 1,200, and each bed has 813 cubic feet of space, affording an abundance of pure air in all its parts. In 1864 no less than 1,400, most of them sick and wounded soldiers, were domiciled here. The eastern wing of the building is occupied by the males, and the western by the females, and the whole so classified as to accommodate to the best advantage the large number of patients always under treatment. Wards are set apart for consumptives, for vene- real, uterine, dropsical, ophthalmic, obstetrical, and syphil- itic disorders. Also for broken bones, and the other classes of casualty patients. Two wards are set apart for the treat- ment of diseases of the eye and the ear, and are in charge of distinguished physicians, who have made the diseases of those organs their special study. The stairways are of iron, the floors of white Southern pine, which, with their frequent ablutions and scourings, and the snow-white counterpane spread over each bed, gives such unmistakable evidence of neatness, as to quite surprise many not familiar with the con- duct of public institutions. From six thousand to eight thou- sand patients are annually treated in this Hospital, most of
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THE HOSPITALS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.
whom are charity patients, four hundred or five hundred of whom die, and most of the remainder are discharged, cured or relieved.
SMALL-POX HOSPITAL.
A short distance below this main Hospital, situated on the extreme southern point of the island, stands the Small-Pox Hospital, erected in 1854. It is a three-story stone edi- fice, 104 by 44 feet, in the English Gothic order, with accom- modations for one hundred patients, and cost $38,000. This is the only hospital in New York devoted to this class of patients, and hence receives them from all the public and private hospitals, from the Commissioners of Emigration, and from private families. It is a fine building, well arranged and admirably conducted, designed not only for paupers, but for pay patients, where, secluded from friends to whom they might impart their disease, they receive every attention that science and the most skillful nursing can bestow. This Hos- pital is rarely empty, and receives from two hundred to one thousand patients annually. For want of suitable buildings persons afflicted with other contagious eruptive diseases have been from necessity placed in the Small-Pox Hospital, some- times to their detriment. This difficulty is being obviated by the erection of separate pavilions for such cases.
The Fever Hospitals, devoted principally to the treatment of typhus and ship fever, consist of two wooden pavilions,
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.each 100 feet in length, one of which is assigned to either sex. These structures are capable of accommodating about one hundred patients, though a larger number is of necessity at times admitted. They are situated on the eastern side of the Island, between the Charity and Small-Pox Hospitals. A warden has the general supervision of these several hospitals. The medical direction of them was, until March, 1866, un- der the supervision of the Medical Board of Bellevue, but at that time the Commissioners appointed a separate board, consisting of two consulting and twenty-two visiting physi- cians and surgeons. Two valuable members of this board lost their lives in 1868, from pestilential disease contracted while in the discharge of their hospital duties. This board is industriously collecting a museum in the Charity Hos- pital, which is annually receiving many valuable additions. The grounds around these institutions are very inviting, the view rich and diversified, and everything, save the countenance of the suffering patients, wears an air of cheerfulness.
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