North Brother Island is a 13-acre spit of land in the East River, between the Bronx and Riker’s Island. Unlike bigger Roosevelt Island nearby, it’s never been developed.
But it has been inhabited by people—sick people. Acquired by the city in 1885, officials built Riverside Hospital (at right) there, a place to quarantine New Yorkers who suffered from potentially deadly and easily communicable diseases such as typhus and smallpox. It also housed drug addicts until the 1960s.
North Brother’s most famous resident? Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary. The Irish immigrant cook, a carrier of typhus, was committed there in 1908 and died 30 years later.
The island has another connection to a tragic New York event: the General Slocum disaster. After this steamship caught fire near the island in 1904, hundreds of passengers—mostly German immigrant women and children enjoying an annual church boat trip—jumped into the East River to escape the flames.
The General Slocum finally beached on North Brother, and many passenger bodies washed up on its shore. All told, an estimated 1,021 people perished—the greatest loss of life in New York City until the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Today North Brother is inhabited mainly by birds; it’s a protected bird sanctuary. The latest episode of the web-only PBS show The City Concealed can take you there.
Tags: General Slocum, General Slocum disaster, Hell Gate, Mary Mallon, North Brother Island, quarantine island, Rikers Island, Riverside Hospital, Roosevelt Island, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, South Brother Island, Typhoid Mary
July 8, 2009 at 10:22 am |
I recall there was a plaque on the East River Park at about 13th Street in honor of the General Slocum overlooking the river. One day it was chipped and stolen for the metal and whatever coins could be gotten for it…There is no honor or respect among thieves.
July 8, 2009 at 2:54 pm |
That’s depressing. Well, at least the memorial fountain in Tompkins Square Park is still there:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/daily_plants/daily_plant_main.php?id=19041
July 8, 2009 at 10:20 pm |
Their demarcation port was on 13th Street…never to return.
July 9, 2009 at 5:20 am |
Also, there’s a memorial in All-Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village. See:
http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/genslocum/genslocum.html
July 9, 2009 at 7:27 pm |
it was a church day out. i live one block from the current st mark’s church which was relocated to yorkville, whither many of the german population moved after the disaster. the story has never died here.
http://www.zionstmarks.org/ourhistory.htm
August 11, 2009 at 5:03 pm |
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