Friday, April 9, 2021 – A ROUTINE RIDE BECAME AN ISLAND TRAGEDY

By admin

FRIDAY,  APRIL 9,  2021

The

333rd  Edition

From Our Archives

THE DAY THE BUS

WENT INTO THE RIVER

It was lunch hour for the staff at Goldwater Hospital.  In 1963 there was no employees cafeteria, so the staff would take a quick bus ride to he dining room in the Central Nurses Residence for their meals.  On this day, the story is that the bus driver suffered an attack and the bus went off the road down the 25 foot embankment into the the east channel of the East River.

As you study the photos, note there were no guard rails and the roadway was just feet from the embankment.

Of the 11 persons on board, 7 were killed.  The victims were said to have been employees of the physical therapy department.

APWIRE  PHOTO

RIHS Archives

Staff of Goldwater watch scene from terraces.

Mayor Robert Wagner visiting the scene.

Scuba divers on the scene

The bus lowered onto an Army Corps of Engineers tug.

FRIDAY PHOTOS OF THE DAY

SEND YOUR SUBMISSION TO:
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM

THURSDAY  PHOTO  OF THE DAY
NEW YORK AQUARIUM AT CONEY ISLAND

ALEXIS VILLEFANE, VERN HARWOOD, ARLENE BESSENOFF, GLORIA HERMAN, ARON EISENPREISS, JAY JACOBSON, NINA LUBLIN, LISA FERNANDEZ 
ALL GOT IT RIGHT

EDITORIAL

I do  not remember the bus tragedy at Goldwater. It was three years later that I set foot on the island.  There were no amenities here in the 1960’s, just Goldwater, Coler, the nurses residence and lots of abandoned buildings.

Many people came and photographed the isolated Welfare Island and its emptiness.

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

RIHS ARCHIVES
NEW YORK TIMES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD

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