Blackwell House and Early Settler Legacy

The Blackwell House, dating from the late 18th century and restored in recent decades, is the island’s sole surviving private residential structure. It connects today’s diverse neighborhood with the island’s early farming and settlement history, revealing social continuity amid dramatic urban and institutional change.

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City Hospital (formerly Charity Hosptial)

In 1858, Charity Hospital was erected, after Island Hospital burnt down. At the time, City Hospital was the largest hospital in the country. It was 3 stories high, 354 feet long, 122 feet wide, and could treat up to 1,200 people at a time.

Despite it being beautiful, it was an ugly environment. The nurses and servants were inmates, and many times would stay past their term, since they would get a whiskey allowance, food, and housing.

Between 1856 and 1872, 10 other hospitals were opened on the island to cure the "incurables." Patients were reffered to as inmates, although many "crimes" were being sick or poor.

In 1878, the city did an investigation of over-crowding on the island. They found the city was extremely overcrowded and demanded a complete reorganization. Not much happened.

In 1887, reporter Nellie Bly exposed the abuses of the asylum. Although the city found the city orderly, but overcrowded, the asylum moved to Ward's Island in 1894 and the Metropolitan Hospital swiftly took over the building on the island.

The penitentary was moved to Rikers Island in 1892 with plans to turn the island into a full hospital. In 1921, the island was renamed to Welfare Island.

Before the prison was full moved over to Rikers, there was a raid to discover the prison's darkest secrets.

About 500 (of 1,658) prisoners lived lavished lifestyles, utilizing rackateering and corruption to get special treatment and meals. As well, it was deemed about 6 to 50 patients were not actually ill.

2 mob boss leaders and 66 cronies were arrested after this raid and put into solitary confinement on Rikers.

Warden Joseph McCann was suspended and forced to resign. The courts deemed his incompetence and negligence did not create a crime.

The penitentiary was demolished in 1936.

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Current Status and Future Prospects

Today Roosevelt Island is a vibrant, mixed-use community marked by historical sites, modern housing, parks like Four Freedoms Park, and educational institutions like Cornell Tech. Ongoing dialogue balances preservation with growth, celebrating the island’s unique history while positioning it for 21st-century urban life.

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Fort James (formerly Fort Amsterdam)

In 1673, Manning was commanding Fort James when a fleet of Dutch vessels approached. Manning only had 80 soldiers, so he surrendered.

After the England and Holland war, the English regained New York and Manning was put on trial for giving up the fort, as it was considered as cowardice and treason. He was found guilty, stripped of clothing, and hands bound ready to be executed. At the last minute, he was spared and instead suffered lifetime humiliation. They broke his sword over his head and he was banned from ever serving the crown again.

He spent the rest of his life entertaining his friends on this island and when he passed, the island to his step-daugther, Mary Manningham & her husband Jacob Blackwell. Jacob and James Blackwell tried to sell it in 1784, but no one bought it. He tried to sell it to the city in 1898, but that failed too. They eventually sold it in 1823, but the owner died 2 years later. The mortgage foreclosed, and the island was returned to the Blackwells.

Finally, the city bought the island in 1828, to build a prison.

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Goldwater Memorial Hospital

Goldwater Memorial Hospital (formerly Welfare Hospital for Chronic Diseases)

After Goldwater got control of the island, with his idea of an old hospital park, a nurse's residence was created in 1938.

Welfare Hospital for Chronic Diseases opened in 1939. WWII delayed any more construction.

In 1952, the next and final chronic-care hospital opened on the island; Bird S. Coler Hospital.

In 1996, Goldwater and Coler merged to create the Coler-Goldwater Special Hospital & Nursing Facility.

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Indigenous and Early Colonial History

Before European colonization, the island was known by Indigenous peoples as Minnahanonck or “nice island,” part of the Lenape hunting and fishing territory in the East River estuary. The island was later claimed by Dutch settlers after a 1633 purchase from the Canarsie tribe and used primarily for farming livestock, earning the English name “Hog Island.” It remained privately owned before eventual government acquisition, witnessing early colonial land claims, cultural change, and social displacement.

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Island Hospital (formerly Penitentiary Hospital)

The prison was original built at the center of the island for 500 male and 256 female prisoners. The first cornerstone was laid on September 10, 1828. The "city lunatic asylum" opened. In 1847 the almshouse opened. In 1849 the island's first hospital opened.

In 1857, the name of the hospital was changed to "Island Hospital" to take down the degrading name. Although, the treatment was absurd, Charles Dickens visited and had to leave early after seeing its horrors.

The hospital burnt down in 1858.

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New York Smallpox Hospital

At the island’s southern tip stands the ruin of the Smallpox Hospital, designed by noted architect James Renwick Jr. and opened in 1856. This gothic revival structure treated patients during several smallpox epidemics and underscored the island’s critical role in disease containment. Despite architectural grandeur, conditions reflected the harsh realities of stigmatized infectious disease care. The hospital’s ruin today is both a heritage landmark and a haunting reminder of past public health crises.

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Reconstruction and Resconstruction

In the 1960s, the city wanted to reconstruct Welfare Island, and numerous proposals came flying in. The MTA promised to connect the island via subway within 10 years.

Mayor John Lindsay introduced Northtown and Southtown; a plan that would create mixed-incomoe, mixed-raced, and handicap accessible neighborhoods on the island. Cars would be banned and would run on pedistrians and cyclists.

In 1969, New York State and Governor Nelson Rockefeller leased the island from New York State (a contract for 99 years), which allowed the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).It was now called "the New Town in Town" and mainly had the same plan as before, but has fewer and taller buildings than the original plan.

In 1973, the island was renamed honoring President Franklin Roosevelt. Due to communication issues, the subway plan halted, but a passenger tram was built to Manhattan in 1976. UDC was loosing money and unable to repay loans, so they left the island, with the state in charge to clean up their mess.

In 1975, Roosevelt Island welcomed its first residents but was only 40% done. The island was quiet and isolated from its opening to when the tram opened. But once the tram was up and running, the island booms and grew in diversity. By 1980, the island has 7,000 residents.

In 1984, the first independent agency in charge of developing the island (Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC)). In 1989 development stalled, HOWEVER, the MTA finally fulfilled its promise and the subway connected to Roosevelt Island.

In 1997, Governor George Pataki cut all funding to Roosevelt Island, making it reliant on its own development. By 2007, the island reached a population of 12,000, and soon after 16,000.

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Social and Cultural History

Roosevelt Island has been central to movements addressing mental health, disability, and social welfare. Institutions like the Women's Lunatic Asylum housed diverse populations, intersecting with movements for improved care and civil rights. The island's residents and historians continue to reflect on its layered stories, from institutionalization to community resilience and urban renewal.

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Uncover the unique character and hidden corners of the harbor.

Community Organizations

Roosevelt Island Community Coalition (RICC)

Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC)

Articles and Books

Roosevelt Island History Documentary - Youtube

Roosevelt Island - Urbanism and Redevelopment — Baruch College Blogs

History of Roosevelt Island in Pictures — History101.nyc

The Incredible Restoration of Roosevelt Island's Blackwell House — Roosevelt Island Historical Society, 2024

Roosevelt Island Historical Walk — New York Correction History Society

Goldwater Memorial Hospital — New York Correction History Society

Remembering Goldwater Hospital in NYC — New York Almanack, 2020

The Smallpox Hospital – History of Health in New York

City Hospital (Roosevelt Island) — Wikipedia

Lighthouse — Roosevelt Island Historical Society

Roosevelt Island History: From Penitentiary to Asylum — Roosevelt Island Daily, 2024

Redevelopment — Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation

Autopsy of a Hospital: A Photographic Record of Coler-Goldwater on Roosevelt Island — Urban Omnibus, 2017

Records of City Hospital (Welfare Island, N.Y.), 1877-1961 — New York Academy of Medicine

Goldwater Hospital: The Forgotten Medical Legacy of Roosevelt Island — Roosevelt Island Daily, 2025

Islands of The Undesirables: Roosevelt Island — Atlas Obscura, 2015

The Beginning — Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, 1999

Roosevelt Island - Manhattan — The Neighborhoods, 2024

Blackwell House Landmark Designation Report — NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Roosevelt Island Historial Society

NYS Roosevelt Island History

The Other Island of New York City; Chapter 11

Blackwell House — Roosevelt Island Historical Society