BLACKWELL ISLAND

The Family History Library has the same fim that the Municipal Archives
has regarding admittance and treatment/death on Blackwell's. The person
you are looking for was probably without a home and a ward of the city.
Look at the FHL catalogue on line under New York City - Poor Laws- to
find numerous tapes covering a wide time frame. I believe it goes as far
as 1907.
(A description of Blackwells follows)
In the 1880 Census
Blackwells Island -breakdown of ED's-1880
(Tks to Marge of the Bklyn List)
Below is a listing of the Hospital's, etc. of ED's 555 and 556, Blackwells
Island, page for page.
1180 ED 555
New York City, New York County, New York State
18th Election District, 20th Assembly District, 19th Ward
sheets 1-16 - New York State Penitentiary - first few pages are employees,
then inmates listed alphabetically.
sheet 17 - Maternity Hospital
sheets 19 - 20 - Incurable Hospital
sheets 21 - 31 - Female Alms House
sheet 33 - Riverside Hospital for Contagious Diseases
sheets 35 - 50 - Charity Hospital - males then females
1880 ED 556
New York City, New York County, New York State
18th Election District, 20th Assembly District, 19th Ward
sheets 1- 18 Workhouse - alphabetical - males pages 1-9, females pages 9-18
sheets 19-29 Male Alms House
sheets 30-58 New York City Lunatic Asylum - all females
(sheet 30 - Dr.'s and employee's - sheets 31 and half of 32 employees, sheets
32 - 56 alphabetical, bottom quarter of sheet 56 through 58 starts again with
inmates, but not alphabetical.)
-----------------------------------
Before Rikers Island, for nearly two centuries, there was Blackwell's Island.
(Now known as Roosevelt Island), whose aerial tramway cable-cars gliding
over the East River can be seen from the Queensborough Bridge. The cigar-shaped
120-acre isle beneath the bridge extends 1.75 miles and is 750 feet across at
its widest point.
In 1637 Gov. Van Twiller obtained it for New Amsterdam from native tribal leaders .
In the beginning Dutch settlers put their pigs to pasture there, generating
its early Colonial name of Hog Island.
In 1652, a man named Flyn acquired the island.
In 1668 a British military captain, John Manning, bought it. Unhappily
for him, he presided over the surrender and brief return of the city to
Dutch rule in 1673. For this, his sword was later symbolically broken
in a City Hall ceremony of disgrace. Afterwards, Manning retired to his
island refuge. His stepdaughter married Robert Blackwell who took title
to it in 1717.
On July 19, 1828, New York City acquired the island , through a foreclosure
(later ruled to have been illegal).
BLACKWELL
MAP of the Island
In 1832, the main building of the Blackwell's Penitentiary was erected.
In 1848 the Bellevue complex was divided, one reason being the intent
to move all its inmates to Blackwell's. A decade later, the north wing
was added to Blackwell's Penitentiary. The complete facility housed
nearly a thousand inmates, most serving misdemeanor sentences but all
were required to perform some daily labor, the tasks varying according
to inmate skills and strengths.
The Blackwell's Workhouse was built in 1852 to replace a century-old
similar facility at Bellevue. Containing 221 cells arranged in tiers
along the three-story walls of granite, the building functioned as an
institution for punishment of petty violators, many of whom were
classified as habitual "drunks and disorderlies," including several who
virtually became permanent residents even though the usual stays were
counted in days. Most workhouse inmates were assigned work either in
the workhouse shops or at other city institutions.
The Charity Hospital, Penitentiary, Alms House, Hospital for Incurables,
Workhouse, Asylum for the Insane, among others -- were built of granite
in the fortress style from feudal times. All were erected with convict
labor as was the seawall around the island. Blackwell's housed a
population of approximately 7,000 inmates and patients. Visitors
needed agency permits to come across by the ferry that made the round
trip from East 26th St. twice daily. Department steamboats transported
inmates between the Tombs and Blackwell's Island
The Penitentiary stood 600 feet long with a projecting wing on the north
side. The main building was constructed with gray stone taken from island
quarries. It rose four stories high in a castle-like design and had 800
cells in four tiers back-to-back in the center of the structure.
Scandals in the early 1900s, involving charges of inmate overcrowding,
drug-dealing, and favoritism, prompted surface "reforms," including a
change made by Aldermen on April 12, 1921, to a more pleasant-sounding
name: Welfare Island.
Eventual removal of inmates from Blackwell's to Rikers and Hart Islands.
didn't happen until about January 1934 when a raid on the Welfare Island
penitentiary to expose conditions. This brought about the removal of all
inmates to Rikers Island, where new facilities were just being completed.
Welfare Island was turned over exclusively to the care of the aged and the ill.
Excerpts from the book :Lights and Shadows of New York Life published in 1872.
The three islands lying in the East River are among the most noticeable
features of New York, and offer many attractions to the visitor to the
city. They are Blackwell's, Ward's, and Randall's islands. Of these,
Blackwell's Island is the most southern. It is almost a mile and
three-quarters in length, extending from Fifty-first to Eighty-eighth street,
and comprises an area of about 120 acres. It takes its name from the
Blackwell family, who once owned it, and whose ancestral residence,
a tasteful wooden cottage, over a hundred years old, stands near the
centre of the island, and is occupied by the Keeper of the Almshouse.
The island was purchased by the city in 1828, for the sum of $30,000.
A further outlay of $20,000 was made in 1843 to perfect the title.
The land alone is now worth over $600,000. The island is surrounded by a
granite sea-wall, and has been made to slope gradually towards the water of
each side by a thorough system of grading. This labor was performed by the
convicts of the Penitentiary, and the inmates of the Workhouse.
There is an excellent dock near the Penitentiary for boats, but no vessels
were allowed to land here but the boats of the Department of Charities and
Corrections. Visitors must obtain a permit from this department or they
will not be allowed to set foot upon the island. The institutions on this
and the other islands are supplied with Croton water, a large main being
carried across under the river.
SMALL-POX HOSPITAL
On the extreme southern end of the island is a stone building of moderate
size and handsome design . . . the Small-pox Hospital. It was erected in
1854, at a cost of $38,000, and will accommodate one hundred patients. It
is the only hospital in New York devoted to small-pox cases . . .
Those who are able to pay are required to do so. At the water's edge, on
the eastern side of this hospital, are several wooden buildings designed
for the treatment of patients suffering from typhus and ship fever. These
will accommodate one hundred patients, though the number is often greater.
CHARITY HOSPITAL
Immediately in the rear of the Small-pox Hospital, though far enough from
it to be removed from danger, is the Charity Hospital, a magnificent
structure of gray granite, said to be the largest hospital in America.
It consists of a central building with two wings, each three and a half
stories in height, with a Mansard roof. The entire building is 35 feet
long, and 122 feet wide. The eastern wing is occupied by males, and the
western by females. The hospital is divided into 29 wards, the smallest
of which contains 13 beds, and the largest 39. Twelve hundred patients
can be accommodated with comfort. . . . About seven thousand patients
are annually treated here, the majority being charity patients. The
average number of deaths is about four hundred and fifty.
NEW YORK PENITENTIARY

Back of the Charity Hospital, and extending north and south, or parallel
with the course of the island and river, is the New York Penitentiary,
the first public institution erected on the island. It is a gloomy and
massive edifice, constructed of hewn stone and rubble masonry. It is
four stories in height, and consists of a central building and wings.
The central building is 65 by 74 feet, and the wings each 200 by 50
feet in size. The entire building is exceedingly strong. The floors
are of stone, and the stairway and doors of iron. It contains
500 cells for men, and 250 for women, but the number of convicts is
generally in excess of the number of cells, and still greater
accommodations are needed. It is probable that a new and larger
Penitentiary will be erected on Hart's Island, in Long Island Sound,
about twelve miles from Blackwell's Island.
The prisoners at this institution are sent here by the city courts,
for terms of from one to six months. Some, however, are sentenced to
imprisonment for several years. The convicts are all required to labor.
Formerly the men were required to engage in excavating stone from the rich
quarries with which the island abounded, but which have now been exhausted.
The erection of the new buildings in Randall's, Ward's, and Hart Islands,
furnishes constant employment to the convicts, who are daily conveyed
between the prison and these institutions. Those who are able to work at
the ordinary trades are allowed to do so in the workshops of the Penitentiary.
The women are required to do sewing, housework, and the like.
GUARD-BOATS
No visitors are allowed on the Penitentiary grounds without a permit from
the Commissioners. Sentinels are stationed along the water fronts, and the
guard-boats patrol the river to prevent the escape of convicts. In spite of
these precautions, however, men have succeeded in making their escape to
the opposite shore.
The convicts are clothed in a uniform of striped woolen garments, and are
supplied with a sufficient amount of bedding and with an abundance of
excellent but plain food. The allowance is about one pound of beef, and
a quart of vegetable soup at dinner, ten ounces of bread at each meal,
and one quart of coffee at breakfast and supper, to each man. In 1869,
the total number of prisoners confined here during the year was 2005.
A very large number of those sentenced to the Penitentiary are under the
age of twenty-five. The proportion of females is about one-fifth. The
foreigners are a little more than one-half of the whole number. A system
of evening schools, at which the attendance is voluntary, has been initiated.
The commutation system is also practiced, by which the prisoner by good conduct
may receive a proportionate abridgment of his term of confinement. Such
conduct is reported every month by the Warden to the Commissioners. who
report it to the Governor of the State, who alone has the power to shorten
the terms in the manner mentioned. Religious services are conducted every
Sabbath by Protestants and Roman Catholic clergymen.
ALMSHOUSE
To the north of the Penitentiary are two handsome and similar structures
of stone, separated by a distance of 650 feet. These are the Almshouses.
Each consists of a central story, fifty feet square and fifty-seven feet
high, with a cupola thirty feet in height, and two wings, each ninety feet
long, sixty feet wide, and forth feet high. Each is three stories in height.
Each floor is provided with an outside iron verandah, with stairways of iron,
and each building will furnish comfortable quarters for 600 people, adults
only admitted. One of these buildings is devoted exclusively to men, the
other to women. . . . None but the aged and infirm, who are destitute,
are admitted. Each new-comer is bathed immediately upon his or her arrival,
and clad in the plain but comfortable garments provided by the establishment.
He is then taken to the Warden's office, where his name, age, and bodily
condition are registered. . . .
In the female house, the infirm are more numerous than among the males.
Those able to work are employed in sewing and knitting, in keeping the
wards in order, and in nursing the feeble and cripples. In 1870, there
were 1114 persons in the Almshouses, from fifteen years of age upwards,
a special provision is made in each house for blind inmates.
Attached to the Almshouse are the Hospitals for Incurables, which consists
of two one-story buildings, 175 feet long, and 25 feet wide. One is devoted
to men and the other to women. In these buildings are quartered those who
are afflicted with incurable diseases, but who require no medical attention.
RESIDENCE OF THE KEEPER OF THE ALMSHOUSE.
The Bureau for the Relief of the Outdoor Poor is connected with the Almshouse,
though it conducts its operations in the city. The city is divided into
eleven districts, each of which is in charge of a visitor, subject to
the orders of the Superintendent of the Bureau. It is the duty of these
visitors to examine into the causes of sickness, crime, and pauperism
in their respective districts, and to report their observations to the
Superintendent, who communicates them to the Department of Charities
and Corrections. Temporary shelters given to needy persons in the winter,
and money, fuel, food, clothing, etc., distributed to deserving persons.
In 1869, 5275 families were given money, and 7555 fuel by this Bureau;
$128,000 being expended for these charities.
THE WORKHOUSE
In the rear of the Almshouse is the Workhouse, one of the handsomest
buildings on the island. It is constructed of hewn stone, and consists
of a central building four stories in height, with a northern and a
southern wing, with a traverse section across the extreme end of each
wing. In these traverse sections are located the workshops. The entire
length of the building is 680 feet. Not counting the convict labor,
the cost of its construction was over $100,000. The stone of which
it was built was obtained on the island.
In the central building are located the kitchens and store-rooms, the
private quarters of the Superintendent and the other officials, and a
large and handsome chapel. The wings contain each a broad hall, on each
side of which are three tiers of cells, one above the other. Iron
galleries, with stairways, extend along the fronts of these cells,
and afford access to them. There are 150 cells in each wing. Each
cell is provided with an iron grated door, and contains four single berths.
The cells are separated from each other by brick walls.
In the workshops, the carpenter's, blacksmith's, wheelwright's,
tinner's, tailor's, and other trades are carried on. The men are also
kept at work grading the island, building the seawall, and cultivating
the gardens. Gangs of laborers are sent daily to engage in the works
on Ward's and Randall's islands. The women are made to do the
housework and cleaning of the various institutions on the island,
and are employed in washing, mending, sewing, knitting, etc. All
the inmates are obliged to labor.
The number of persons annually sent to the Workhouse is from
15,000 to 20,000. The vagrant, dissipated, and disorderly classes are
sent here by the city police courts, ten days being the average term
of commitment. Drunkenness is the principal cause of their detention here.
Very few are Americans. Of the foreigners, the Irish are the most numerous,
the Germans are next.
THE LUNATIC ASYLUM
Back of the Workhouse, and occupying the extreme upper portion of the island, is the New York Lunatic
Asylum. It is a large and commodious building, with several out-buildings, with accommodations
for 576 patients. A new Lunatic Asylum is now in course of erection on Ward's Island. It is to
accommodate 500 patients. It is one of the most complete establishments in the country, and is built
of brick and Ohio freestone. It is a very handsome building, with an imposing front of 175 feet.
The two asylums will accommodate 1076 patients, but they are not adequate to the accommodation of all
the afflicted for whom the city is required is to provide. Still further accommodations are needed.
In 1870, the number of patients committed to the care of the Commissioners were over 1300.
End
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