The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 71

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 71

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The interior arrangements of the City Hospital are as complete as scientific construction can make them. Particular attention was given in building to secure perfect warming, ventilation and drainage. The hos- pital has accommodations for 200 patients, all the beds being at one time, during the war of the rebellion, fully occupied.

The airy situation of the hospital has rendered it very healthful, and for many years the United States Marine Department made it a receptacle for sailors, giving a good support to the institution. After the Government had erected a marine hospital for the care of its sailors, the withdrawal of this support threw on its trustees the necessity of a renewal of their private contributions. The large majority of its patients are sent to it by the public authorities of Brooklyn, an an- nual payment of $4,000 being made from public funds; but, by the accounts, this payment has never amounted to more than the one-third or the one-half of the cost of maintaining these patients.

For a number of years the State appropriated several thousand dollars annually to this institution, and the amount was faithfully used by the trustees in improv- ing and enlarging the hospital accommodations.

In 1872 the trustees erected a brick three-story building on the eastern side of the hospital grounds, near the main building, for an Orthopedic Hospital, and for a Home for Trained Nurses. Means for this improve- ment was received from the county, for eleven lots sold (1877) for the enlargement of the jail. A number of private apartments, well-furnished, for pay patients, were added, which have been well patronized.

In 1874 the aid from the State was withdrawn. An appeal to the public for funds met with scanty re- sponses. There were some, however, who contributed securities in trust, retaining the income during their life, the principal sum to revert to the use of the hospi- tal after their death. About $15,000 was thus given by Mr. Thomas S. Stook, and a considerable sum by Robert Nichols, Esq., under similar conditions.

The hospital has a children's ward, where diseased, deformed and crippled children are treated. Adjoining this is the lying-in ward.

In consequence of the name of Brooklyn City Hos- pital in the charter, and because of the authorities con- tributing to its support and sending patients to it, the impression prevailed in the public mind that the hos- pital was a city pauper institution, and indebted for its maintenance to public support, instead of being a private institution, established and maintained by its charitable trustees. This belief deprived it of pecuniary aid from individuals and from bequests. An appeal was made to the Legislature and the word "City " was stricken out and Brooklyn Hospital is now its name.

Many, also, believed that an endowment would be received from the Union Ferry Company in conse- quence of a clause inserted in the By-Laws of the Ferry Company, in 1844, by the then lessees of the ferries, Messrs. LeRoy and Pierrepont, requiring that, at the winding up of the lease, and payment to the stockholders for their stock at par, that any surplus should be paid, as a free gift, to the Brooklyn Hos- pital.

When, in 1854, the ferry company was dissolved, it was found, on a valuation of its property by commis- sioners, that there was not a surplus. The lessces then transferred their lease to a corporation, formed under the general laws to constitute corporations, to estab- lish and run ferries. Connected with this charter the trustees also executed a certificate of incorporation, containing an agreement to pay ten per cent. dividends to stockholders, and the par value of their stock at the termination of the corporation, in 1890, and any sur- plus of assets that might then remain, was to be paid as a free gift to the Brooklyn Hospital. The words free gift were inserted by the counsel of the lessees to prevent the hospital having any claim on this appro- priation of the surplus.

A difference of opinion arose among the trustees of the ferry and the trustees of the hospital, as, to the legal bearing of this clause, which had been made in good faith by the ferry company. It was referred to eminent council, who generally agreed that under the Act of Incorporation, the ferry company had a right to run ferries only, and the certificate attached to the charter was not binding. Still, as a legal contest was threatened, and a claim made by the hospital for $100,- 000, a compromise was made, and $75,000 paid by the ferry company, on receiving a release from the hospital of all further claim on the ferry surplus, if any should remain on the termination of the charter.

In the classes of patients received, no distinction is made as regards color or nationality. Not only charity patients are treated, but, by a special provision inserted in the articles of incorporation, there are private wards set apart where those who wish can have special care and nursing at moderate charges.

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HOSPITALS, DISPENSARIES, ETC.

The hospital staff of physicians and surgeons has included some of the most eminent men in the medical profession, and a high standard of excellence is still maintained.

OFFICERS : P. C. Cornell, President and Treasurer; Elias Lewis, Jr., Vice-President ; Henry P. Morgan, Secretary ; C. V. Dudley, Superintendent ; Drs. J. C. Hutchison, D. E. Kissam, S. Fleet Speir, J. D. Rush- more, Staff of Surgeons; Drs. Robert Ormiston, Alex. Hutchins, Arthur R. Paine, Samuel Sherwell, Staff of Physicians; James Crane, M. D., Consulting Physi- cian.

ROBERT NICHOLS, born in 1790, in New York city ; edu- cated in Connecticut; at the age of 15 became a mercantile clerk; and at 18 was apprenticed to the bakers' trade, and, for a short time, carried it on in Brooklyn, but was burned out in 1811 and never resumed the business. In December, 1812, he became captain's clerk in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1813, hy authority of Commodore Lewis, he opened a recruiting rendezvous for seamen, for the gunboat flotilla, in New York harhor, and was made purser of the flotilla. In April, 1814, his connection with the flotilla ceased, and, hearing of a Col. De La Croix, who had opened a military school in New York city, Mr. Nichols, together with Chas. I. Doughty, Joseph Dean, and other young men, inspired by martial ardor, formed a military association, waited upon the colonel and arranged with him to have a drill master sent to Brooklyn, to exercise them in the manual of arms. Such was their assiduity and attention to the instructions of their drill mas- ter, that when, five months later, the militia was ordered into service at Fort Greene, the companies commanded by these young men were more thoroughly disciplined than others upon the ground. The year 1814 was passed by Mr. Nichols in the discharge of onerous public duties ; was Secretary to Commodore Lewis; kept open his rendezvous, where he re- cruited over a thousand seamen; and, a portion of the time, commanded a company in camp, on Fort Greene, from which he was not absent for a single night, for nearly three months. His company (the 5th, of 64th regiment, 22d brig- ade, N. Y. S. Infantry), was esteemed the best drilled in this division of the army. In August, 1815, he was ap- pointed Adjutant of the 3d Regiment of detailed infantry, destined for service on the Canadian frontier, but the force was finally not called upon ; Brigade Quartermaster of 22d Brigade, April 12, 1816 ; Lieutenant Colonel, March 4, 1817 ; Colonel, with rank, from July 19th (in place of Col. Joseph Dean, resigned), August 23, 1823 ; Brigadier General, 44th Brigade, March 27, 1827.

In 1821, Mr. Nichols, with Andrew Mercein, Augustus Graham, Joseph Moser, George Hall, and other good men, became a pioneer in the Sunday-school movement in the vil- lage. With them, also, as well as Thomas Kirk, F. C. Tucker and George S. Wise, he was, in 1823, active in the founding of the Apprentices' Library, of which he was the first secretary. In 1824, he and other directors of the library, made the first radical movement, in this village, in the temperance cause, hy agreeing, among themselves, to refrain from offering liquors to visitors, when visiting each others houses.

The interest which he ever felt in the proper education of youth, led him to co-operate in every effort for the estab- lishment of public schools. In 1826, he was a school com- missioner, and took an active part in the organization of the public school system. He also was active in the establishment of the Brooklyn Savings Bank, of which he was first account-

ant, keeping its books gratuitously for one year. The Apprentices' Library building having been sold, and the books for some time packed away out of sight, the society was re- organized by Mr. Nichols' untiring efforts in its behalf, and he was made Vice-President. It was shortly after placed on a permanent basis, by the liberality of Mr. Augustus Graham, upon whose demise, in 1852, Mr. Nichols was elected President, and his name was always to be found on its working committees. In 1842, also, he was Treasurer of the City Library Association ; and, in 1844, was concerned in the organization of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, out of which subsequently grew the Brooklyn City Dispensary. Of the former society, he was Chairman of the Executive Committee, and of the Dis- pensary, Vice-President in 1847, and, during the following year, President. Of the Brooklyn City Hospital, he was offered the presidency, but declined in favor of others. He accepted, however, the office of Vice-President, which he held until 1849; was Treasurer from 1849 to 1852, and Vice- President from 1852 until the time of his decease. He ever considered his share in the establishment of this great charity, as the proudest honor of his life, and neither age or ill-health had power to abate his interest, or his efforts in its behalf. To within a short time of his death, his visits there were regularly paid ; and, in his will, he devised the sum of $9,000 to the institution. The Brooklyn Gas Light Company, chartered as early as 1824, had been dormant. In 1848, on the death of its former President, Colonel Alden Spooner, Mr. Nichols was elected to that office. From that time for- ward, it enjoyed an unusual degree of success. At the close of 1861, when his health failed, he attempted to resign his office. His wish being overruled by the directors, he relue- tantly consented to retain his position, but refused to receive the salary for the last half year.

In private life, he was the light of the household ; his very presence there was an atmosphere of cheerfulness. Much of his time was devoted to the instruction and rational amuse- ment of his children, to whom his clear good sense and amiable temper eminently fitted him as a counsellor and friend. Even-tempered, calm in his utterances, averse to personal gossip, never speaking ill of any one, he always bore misapprehension on the part of others with patience and courtesy.

On the 10th of February, 1862, Mr. Nichols died, leaving to the city a rich heritage of good works, and to the young, for whom he labored, an example worthy of imitation.

St. Peter's Hospital, occupying a large portion of the block bounded by Henry, Warren, Hicks and Congress streets, was projected by Rev. J. Fransioli, of St. Peter's church. In the execution of his design, he enlisted the services of a number of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, who devote themselves ex- clusively to the gratuitous care of the poor and sick .* In 1864, they opened the hospital in the double dwell-

* The order of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis was founded and organized by the late Rev. Mother Francisca Schervier, at Aix- ia-Chapelle, in Rhine, Prussia, about the year 1845, and as the title in- dicates, for the sole object of caring for and relieving the poor, either at their homes or when sick in hospitals; according to the rule of the ancient order of St. Francis, the great lover of voluntary poverty, and faithful Imitator of the Saviour who, when on earth, chose to be poor for our sakes.

They were first called to the United States in 1858, by the Most Rev. John Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, from which place they spread; having now eleven hospitals under their charge in different States east and west-one of these, St. Peter's Hospital, Brooklyn.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

ing-house at the corner of Hicks and Congress streets, and in the first year, besides receiving a number of patients they gave a temporary home to more than two hundred children of soldiers who were away in the war.

In 1865, the building was entirely devoted to hos- pital purposes, and 91 patients received; in 1866, the hospital was incorporated; in 1869 and 1870, the ad- joining houses in Congress street were purchased and opened for the admission of patients, but the accom- modations are not sufficient for the demand. The Sisters visit the homes of the sick poor, and, to the extent of the capacity of the hospital, receive the sick, or those suffering from injuries and accidents, regard- less of creed or color; the only conditions of admis- sion being sickness, poverty, and a vacant bed in the wards.

The recent purchase of property in Henry street accommodates thirty beds for the reception of chronic cases. The hospital now contains 150 beds, and has treated 15,000 charity patients up to July, 1883. The field of this hospital is the whole city and surrounding country, and it is mainly dependent upon charitable contributions for support, which the Sisters solicit from door to door.

St. Catharine's Hospital .- This institution was originally intended only for the members of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity on Montrose avenue. Lots were bought in 1867 on Bushwick avenue and Johnson street plank road, adjoining the present depot of L. I. R. R. This location proving unfit for the purpose, twenty-three city lots on the old "Thursby estate " on Bushwick avenue were secured, and the hospital organized June 17, 1870.

The old Thursby homestead was arranged to receive patients, and thirty beds at first used, in charge of the Sisters of St. Dominic. The need of larger accom- modations was soon felt, and a new building com- menced in 1874; finished in 1876. It is of brick, with stone trimming, is 172 feet long, and about 40 feet wide. It contains all the modern improvements, with accommodation for 130 charity patients and eight private wards. A further enlargement is contemplated. Twelve hundred patients have been treated since the opening of the hospital. Its originators were the Very Rev. M. May, V. G., and the Ven. Superior Sister Saraphina Stainer, O. S. D. The institution is mainly supported by voluntary contribution.

Consulting Physicians : Heinrich Lowenstein, M. D .; Heinrich Riedel, M. D. Directing Physicians : Jakob Fuhs, M. D .; Karl Zellhoffer, M. D .; William Moitrier, M. D .; J. G. Winklemann, M. D. Directing Surgeons: Samuel J. Brady, M. D .; Heinrich J. Hesse, M. D .; Jas. Feeley, M. D .; Jno. F. Valentine, M. D. Dentist: Dr. August Grosch. Physicians : G. Schmeker, M. D .; Chas. G. Köhler, M. D .; Hein- rich J. Hesse, M. D .; Jas. L. Kortright, M. D .; Aug.

F.F.ROBERTS.CC.N.Y.

ST. CATHARINE'S HOSPITAL.

L. Hardrich, M. D .; C. Fulda, M. D .; R. C. Baker, M. D .; Geo. R. Cutter, M. D. E. H. Wilson, House Surgeon.

The Long Island College Hospital occupies the block bounded by Pacific, Henry and Amity streets, in the southern part of the city, with its main front on Henry street. It combines a Hospital, a Dis- pensary, a Medical School, and a Training School for Nurses.

The absence of an institution devoted to the treat- ment of diseases in a part of the city which was making rapid strides of progress, induced, in the fall of 1857, a number of public-spirited citizens to meet, in order to discuss the proper steps to overcome the want of such an institution, which was felt every day more and more. An organization, under the name of the "St. John's Hospital," was decided on, and at once called into existence. On the 5th of November, 1857, this new organization took charge of what had been the German Dispensary, which then occupied rooms in No. 147 Court street, in this city. On the 23d December, 1857, a Hospital was opened, the name of which was changed shortly afterwards to that of the Long Island College Hospital. Under this name, a charter was ob- tained from the Legislature of 1858. As the rooms formerly occupied by the Dispensary were entirely in- adequate to the purposes of the new organization, steps were soon taken to obtain more suitable quarters, and negotiations entered into for the purchase of the " Perry Mansion," a handsome private residence, occu- pying the above block, and consisting, in addition to large grounds, of a brick building, two stories and basement high, with two wooden wings, used as con-

HOSPITALS, DISPENSARIES, ETC.

929

servatories, and a number of minor out-buildings. The negotiations led to a successful issue, and to the pur- chase of the property, in February, 1858. As soon as the necessary changes to adapt the buildings to their new purposes were made, the Long Island College Hos- pital moved into its new quarters, where it has continued its work ever since. The Medical College, however, was not fully organized until 1860, when the first full course of lectures was given, at the close of which 21 students graduated.

The Long Island College Hospital occupies to-day a very prominent position among similar institutions of this country; it rests on a firm and substantial basis; and, so far as human foresight goes, there is every prospect of success for long years to come. The institution, how- ever, has not reached its present prominent position without great struggles; and its doors would be closed

The Long Island College Hospital conld, therefore scarcely fail to attract public attention, and to receive from its friends the necessary assistance to carry on the good work. But when the war had been brought to a happy close, when public and private hospitals overflowed no longer with wounded soldiers, and when the great number of surgeons discharged from the army had to find their practice in civil life, and the prospects of young men devoting themselves to the medical profession became, in consequence, less bril- liant, the Long Island, with other institutions, felt sorely the great reaction through which the country passed. Its managers were soon involved in a severe struggle to obtain the necessary means for its support. It was then, when the crisis of its existence arrived, and the lay managers were ready to give up the fight as hopeless, that a few members of the Council, equally

LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL.

to-day, if it had not been for a few courageons, self- sacrificing men, who, when everybody else was ready to withdraw from the field, took up the struggle almost single-handed, and showed what faith in a good work can do, when assisted by great intelligence and a thor. ough knowledge of the aims to be attained. During the years of the Civil War, the great demand for surgeons and nurses on the part of the government increased enormously the call on all medical schools. The Lon gIsland College Hospital profited, with others, by this condition of affairs; it was also one of the first private hospitals on which the government called for assistance when its own hospitals were overflowing with sick and wounded soldiers. It commenced to receive them immediately after the seven days' fight, on the Peninsula, before Richmond; and, from that time till the close of the war, there was always a considerable number of government beneficiaries within its walls.

impelled by enthusiasm for their profession, and by love for their suffering fellow-beings, stepped forward and offered to continue the work at their own individual expense and risk. These men were Drs. THEODORE L. MASON, WM. H. DUDLEY, and CHAUNCEY L. MITCHELL. Dr. Mason's connection with the insti- tution was terminated only by his death, a few years ago, while Drs. Dudley and Mitchell are still members of the Council. Their offer was accepted ; they took charge of the entire management of both hospital and school; and, by the successful manner in which they carried through the task, proved themselves the bene- factors of the human race. By inspiring others with at least a part of that enthusiasm by which they were animated, they succeeded in raising among themselves and their friends a sufficient amount of capital to pay off the entire debt ; they obtained from the city of Brooklyn assistance in the shape of an annual appro-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

priation for the Hospital and Dispensary, and matters began soon to mend.

In 1868, it was found necessary to increase the means which the institution possessed to do its work. In that year, a new three-story wing, 32x65 feet, was erected on the grounds fronting on Pacific street, in- tended principally for female patients. The faith shown by its erection did not prove a false one ; pros- perity followed the hard struggles of previous years. In 1870, the wooden buildings fronting on Amity street were supplanted by the erection, in their place, of a three-story building, 128 feet long, by 32 feet wide. The western part of this building contains three large, splendidly lighted and ventilated wards for the hos- pital, each 30x50 feet, with the necessary bath-rooms attached ; in the eastern part, there is an amphitheatre for the use of the school, with a seating capacity of 300; a dissecting room, a number of professors' rooms, etc. The demand which the ever-increasing popularity of the hospital, and the daily wider-spreading reputa- tion of the college created, obliged the addition, in 1874, of another story to the greater part of the Amity street wing, in order to make room for a new dissect- ing hall.

In 1875, the frame gate-building on Pacific street was replaced by a brick building, 32x40 feet, contain- ing a janitor's residence, a smoking room for the pa- tients, and a number of isolating wards. But the greatest improvement was reserved for the summer of 1881, when the two one-story wooden wings, which formed the connecting link between the centre build- ing and the brick buildings, on Pacific and Amity streets, were removed; and, in their place, were erected two three-story brick buildings, with an additional story on the centre building, and two four-story towers on the Henry street front. These towers contribute, in a large degree, to the convenience of the interior arrangements, and perhaps, to a still greater extent, to the appearance and the beauty of the whole line of buildings.

These different improvements cost more than $100,- 000; and the Long Island College Hospital is to-day, in proportion to its size, one of the best arranged hos- pitals and colleges in the land. The improvements supply an additional lecture-room, well lighted and ventilated, seating 300 students ; a chemical labora- tory, fitted up with the latest improvements, and another devoted to histological researches ; a number of recitation and operating rooms, and a suite of chambers intended for the private use of the mem- bers of the faculty. In the Hospital proper we find a new surgical ward, 42x30 feet, to be used principally for the treatment of the large number of accident cases brought daily to the hospital from the neighboring docks and factories ; a medical ward, 40x40 feet, accessible on all four sides to the direct action of the air; also a number of small private rooms for the use

of patients who desire greater isolation and privacy than the general wards afford. The Long Island Hospital has thus supplied a place where a stranger, falling sick in this city, need have no fear that he will be on that account deprived of all the comforts which he would enjoy at home. We also find in the hospital new offices and reception rooms for the use of the Regent and the Warden; a reception room for patients, who apply merely to have wounds dressed, but are not so much injured as to make their stay in the hospital a necessity; a laundry and kitchen, with ample store-rooms and dining-rooms. On the ground floor of the wing north of the center building, on Pacific street, is the Dispensary, containing two large waiting rooms for patients; separate toilet rooms for men and women; a room for the dispensing of drugs, and twelve private consulting rooms, each one fronting on the outside of the building and enjoying a most ample supply of light and air. Gentlemen of promi- nence in their profession attend daily in these rooms, and treat not only the ordinary medical and surgical complaints, but also all the special branches of medical science.

The Hospital proper now contains 175 beds; diseases of all kinds are received, with the only exception of those of a contagious or infectious character, and of diseases of the mind, when the same are not the direct result of a diseased condition of the body. If the Hospital excels on account of any one branch, it is for the great number of surgical cases, especially cases of a capital character, which it treats. That portion of Brooklyn in which it is situated contains, perhaps, a greater number of warehouses, factories and docks, than any other part of Brooklyn or New York; the factories are filled with the most complicated machinery; at the docks vessels are always discharging or loading; and, as a necessary consequence of these industries, numerous and serious accidents to life and limb happen daily; it can not, therefore, excite wonder that the surgeons of the institution find in its immediate neighborhood an enormous field for their activity and skill. The number of cases treated in the hospital in 1883 was 2,557.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 71

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345