On February 26, 1875, Mary Halpine, age two months, was buried in trench no. seven at the City Cemetery on Hart Island. According to the cemetery burial ledger, Mary was born in New York City and died from Atelectasis (collapsed lung) at Bellevue Hospital on February 25.
Hart Island Bulk Head, January 13, 1972. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The entry recording the death and burial of Mary Halpine is the first one in a ledger recently donated to the Municipal Archives collection of City Cemetery burial records.
The City of New York purchased Hart Island in 1869 and designated it for the burial of indigent and unclaimed persons. The Department of Public Charities and Corrections was given responsibility for the burials and record-keeping.
In 1988, City archivists transferred all extant burial records dated prior to 1975 that had been stored on the Island, to the Municipal Archives. The earliest ledger in the series recorded burials beginning in May 1881. There are significant gaps in the collection during the 1950s and 1960s due to water damage. In 2018, the Archives accessioned a ledger, with entries dating from May 1872 through February 1875, from the Department of Corrections Historical Society. The latest addition to the Archives collection of City Cemetery ledgers lists burials beginning in February 1875, through 1877.
Transfer of records from Hart Island to the Municipal Archives, 1988.The City Cemetery burial records provide significant data for both family history research and investigation into broader topics such as immigration, public health, and social services. The ledgers list the name of the deceased person (if known), age, birthplace, how long in the country, date, cause and place of death, and date of burial. The ledger also indicates religion, although this information appears to have been inconsistently recorded, likely due to a lack of knowledge about the decedent’s affiliation. There is also a remarks column. At the conclusion of each month the clerk maintaining the ledger carefully tallied the total number of burials, and where the deaths occurred. The greatest number of deaths are recorded as “outdoor poor” which means they occurred somewhere other than an institution—at home, on the street, aboard a ship etc. Bellevue, Almshouse, Charity Hospital, Foundling Asylum, Riverside Hospital, Small Pox Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, account for the majority who died in institutions.
Transfer of records from Hart Island to the Municipal Archives, 1988.
The City Cemetery burial records provide significant data for both family history research and investigation into broader topics such as immigration, public health, and social services. The ledgers list the name of the deceased person (if known), age, birthplace, how long in the country, date, cause and place of death, and date of burial. The ledger also indicates religion, although this information appears to have been inconsistently recorded, likely due to a lack of knowledge about the decedent’s affiliation. There is also a remarks column.
At the conclusion of each month the clerk maintaining the ledger carefully tallied the total number of burials, and where the deaths occurred. The greatest number of deaths are recorded as “outdoor poor” which means they occurred somewhere other than an institution—at home, on the street, aboard a ship etc. Bellevue, Almshouse, Charity Hospital, Foundling Asylum, Riverside Hospital, Small Pox Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, account for the majority who died in institutions.
City Cemetery Burial Ledger, February 1875 – January 1878. NYC Municipal Archives
The birthplaces of the deceased reflect early-to-mid-nineteenth century immigration patterns in New York City. Most decedents are native born, or from northern European countries. For example, between June 5 and June 9th, the decedents’ birthplaces included Germany, Ireland, France, Scotland, Austria and New York.
Cause of death information also reflects the reality of New York City life at that time. Although the clerk did not tabulate causes, reviewing the list shows a world without good health care and modern medicine. Small pox, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and diptheria are just a few of the diseases that took the life of many city residents. Which is probably why “old age” is rarely recorded as a cause of death. Some of those who died of advanced years are Alice Crosby, age 68, born in Ireland, died on July 2, 1875; Ann Kiernan passed away on July 7, 1875, age 69, and Philip Mitchell, on March 25, 1875 age 70.
Also notable is the frequency of “drowning” as a cause of death. But based on the place of death, it appears that most were probably not related to recreational activities. In July 1875 three unrelated persons drowned: an unknown man, age 40, found at Pier 9, in the East River; John Maurer, age 50, in the Harlem River, and another unknown man, no age, found at Pier 42, North River.
Most persons listed in the cemetery ledger died of “natural” causes. However, German-born Fritz Reichardt, age 54, died on July 18, 1876 of a “pistol shot wound of head” on 7th Street between 8th and 9th avenues.
City Cemetery Burial Ledger, February 1875 – January 1878. Recapitulation, May 1876. NYC Municipal Archives
The remarks column is mostly blank except for notations regarding disinterment and reburial. In one instance, in August 1876, an “unknown man” was apparently later “recognized as William Bement,” age 60. He died in the “woods on 128th Street near 10th Avenue. He was disinterred and delivered to Taylor & Co. At 16 Bowery for removal to Elmira, N.Y. Most “unknown” burials did not have such a conclusive ending.
Scanning the names recorded in the ledger, one is immediately struck by the number of children buried in the cemetery. Indeed, the second page of the ledger is almost entirely children: Bridget Daily, age one month, from smallpox; Thomas Dowers, twenty-days, of marasmus (mal-nourished); six still births—boy of Anne Purvis, girl of N. Sullivan, girl of Catherine Beaufort, and an unnamed male and female. Mary Ann (no last name), a two-year old founding, died of Scarlatina on 68th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Some clerks appear to have been more diligent in recording information about deceased children; or perhaps they simply had access to more specific data. Listings during the last week of July 1877, for example, include several premature and stillborn children. On this page, the clerk carefully wrote “female child of George and Carol Briner (stillborn); female child of John and Mary Ray (stillborn).”
New York City continues to bury its indigent and unclaimed deceased persons on Hart Island. Earlier this year, the City transferred jurisdiction over the Island from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Parks and Recreation. During Covid, the Department of Corrections had been overwhelmed by the quantity of burials and this function was transferred to contractors. Subsequently, the Human Resources Administration has assumed responsibility for the burials and record-keeping.
BROOKYN HEIGHTS PROMENADE, 1950 HARA REISER AND ED LITCHER GOT IT RIGHT
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
KENNETH R. COBB
NEW YORK MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES BLOG
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Today was my last day of working on Houston and Bowery. On my walk south I spotted the old restaurant supply signs in a store that is now an art gallery upstairs.
On the corner of Bowery and Prince Street is the Supreme Store specializing in stuff 18 year- olds seem to relish. The exterior is a collection of graffiti decorations.
On Broome Street is Despana, the Spanish food and kitchen supply company. Cerrado Lunes, means Closed on Monday so no shopping for a new paella pan.
Across from the old Police Headquarters is the new in place for Parisiens in New York. In the French tradition many shops and restaurants were closed on Monday,
The building, now a condo graces the neighborhood.
The cornerstone remains and whatever was adjacent is long gone.
The north corner is a delight of stonework and foliage.
The best part of the stroll was discovering Center Market Place. Tonight I read about it on Wikipedia. Enjoy the story, it is worth it!!.
Centre Market Place
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The People’s Baths at 9 Centre Market Pl circa 1890s.Centre Market Place is a one block long street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering Mulberry Street to the east, Grand Street to the south, Broome Street to the north, and Centre Street to the west. Centre Market Place was originally an extension of Orange Street (now Baxter Street, which starts at Grand Street, where Centre Market Place ends), before being formally renamed Centre Market Place in April 1837,[1][2] after Centre Market, which was west of the street. At one time, the street was at the top of a high hill.[3] Currently, local residents consider Centre Market Place to be part of the NoLIta neighborhood. At the southern end of the street, on the corner of Grand Street, is Onieal’s restaurant, which features a cavernous wine cellar that once served as a speakeasy during Prohibition. Gentlemen of means would walk through the front of the Police Building, perhaps make a contribution to the “widows and orphan fund” and then walk through the cellar corridor connecting the two buildings.[citation needed]9 Centre Market Place was once the location to “The People’s Bath House”, a privately run public bathhouse built by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.[4] The People’s Baths served as a model to which the City of New York would later build the city’s truly public bathhouses.The block also included several gun stores including the John Jovino at 5 Centre Market Place, and the older Frank Lava Gunsmith at 6 Centre Market Place. The gun stores were part of a gun district owing to its proximity to the police headquarters at 240 Centre St.[5][6] A row of townhouses at No. 1, 2, 4, and 5 were rehabilitated by two developers, a husband-and-wife team, incorporating found architectural castoffs scavenged from around the world as part of its facade.[7]The street was home to many well-known writers, poets, and artists, including the noted crime photographer Weegee, who lived in a small studio apartment at 5 Centre Market Pl.[5]
Tucked away on Elizabeth Street is the Elizabeth Street garden, a mid-block oasis.
Standing at the corner of Bowery and Houston, I spotted this enormous tree in the Liz Christy Garden across the street.A wonderful view to see before returning to work.
Second Avenue Elevated Line when it crossed the Queensboro Bridge upper level. The train has left Queens (it came from either Astoria or Flushing) and is about to enter the downtown tracks of the Second Ave. Elevated. This service ended on June 13, 1942. The track space was converted to automobile use in the mid-1950s From Andy Sparberg
Ed Litcher, Aron Eisenpreiss, Nestor Danyluk and Gloria Herman all got it right!
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
For its twelfth year running, Photoville will be making a return to Brooklyn Bridge Park. While Photoville is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, the pandemic’s effect in 2020 allowed the festival to expand to outdoor spaces in each borough, seeing as many as 1 million visitors last year. From June 3rd to June 18th Photoville will provide photography exhibitions all over New York City that embrace diverse perspectives through the lens of photography and celebrate iconic public places in New York City.
A rendering of Lee Bae’s ‘Issu du Feu”
To prepare for its Korean heritage celebration in July and to showcase modern and contemporary Korean art, Rockefeller Center is debuting three new art installations in collaboration with three influential Korean artists. Organized by Johyun Gallery from Busan, Korea, the exhibition, Origin, Emergence, Return will be located at the Rink Level Gallery and consists of over 70 works that represent three generations of Korean artwork from the 20th century to the present. Each of the three sections of the exhibit will focus on one individual’s material.
Many consider Park Seo-Bo’s work to be the origin of post-war Korean art in the seventies. Bo’s Origin will contain over 40 of the artist’s works from the last fifty years, illuminating the ways in which his style and development helped shape both the modernization and westernization of Korean art in the late 20th century. Park Seo-Bo’s Origin utilizes Korean hanji paper as his focal point through traditional Korean calligraphy.
Image Courtesy of Port Authority of NY & NJ
Three large-scale bronze sculptures featuring various endangered animals will be on display at the World Trade Center campus within the South Oculus Plaza, where more than 180,000 international tourists, workers, and residents will view them each day. As a collaboration between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Australian artists Gillie and Marc Schattner, these three sculptures, collectively titled A Wild Life for Wildlife in New York, will be on display for twelve months in an effort to raise awareness of the issue of species endangerment.
The first of the three art installations will depict endangered species from around the world on a large tandem bike, which will include an extra empty seat for visitors to hop on and help them pedal. The second sculpture will portray a chess match between a rhinoceros and a dog-man hybrid, aiming to touch on staying one step ahead in the fight for animal survival. The third and final sculpture is of an African elephant with a rabbit-woman hybrid, inviting others to sit and have a conversation discussing the topic. Each sculpture will have a QR code that links visitors to its story along with key information regarding the threats to the animals portrayed.
Phyllida Barlow. In process image of antic, 2023 at 4th State Metals, NY Corten steel, fiberglass, lacquer Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Asya Gorovits, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY Artwork a part of Phyllida Barlow: PRANK, presented by Public Art Fund in City Hall Park, New York City, June 6, 2023 November 26, 2023
A sculpture that dares to defy gravity and artistic form will come to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan on June 6. Created by the late British artist Phyllida Barlow, PRANK is a collection of seven free-standing steel and fiberglass structures that serve as the artist’s first and only series of outdoor sculptures made from durable long-lasting materials. PRANk makes use of what has come to be known as Barlow’s well-known “rabbit ear” forms (originally created in Barlow’s Objects For series in the 1990s). In this series, Barlow stacks these forms precariously on top of mundane household objects such as workbenches, cabinets, and chairs. All of these objects are stacked and balanced at unusual angles, posing the question of art’s expectations of structural precarity and form.
While the title of the exhibition and complete series is written in all uppercase letters, the individual sculptures are all titled using only lowercase ones: antic, hoax, jape, jinx, mimic, stunt, and truant. Barlow plays around with word and letter choice in order to highlight the exhibition’s theme of disruptive behavior and defying expectations.
Rendering of Reclining Liberty by Zaq Landsberg, Morningside Park. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The Statue of Liberty is moving to Red Hook, well, a version of the Statue of Liberty. In 2021, artist Zaq Landsberg debuted his Reclining Libertysculpture in Morningside Park. After spending nearly a year in Harlem, it was moved over to Liberty State Park in New Jersey, where it rested until April of 2023.This June, the lazing Lady Liberty will lounge at the Andrew Logan Projects in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The sculpture will be on display from June 8th through June 24th. Visitors can see the installation Wednesday through Friday from 2:00 pm to 8 pm and Saturday through Sunday from 12pm to 8 pm or by appointment. Read the story of another Liberty replica that recently traveled from Brooklyn to Illinois here!
Glittering vultures, boldly textured fabric sculptures, and exotic plants are all part of the new Summer exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, …things come to thrive… in the shedding… in the molting. The site-specific installation was created by multi-disciplinary artist Ebony G. Patterson. Spread throughout the interior and surrounding gardens of the Haupt Conservatory as well as the indoor galleries of the Mertz Library, Patteron’s installation contemplates the entanglements of race, gender, and colonialism, looking at the ideas of molting, shedding, and decay and their potential to give way to healing, regeneration, and beauty.
Patterson’s paintings and sculptures intermingle with the living specimen in the gardens. The exhibit will be on view through Sunday, September 17, 2023. You can purchase tickets here.
Looks to me like a photo of a summer celebration in the late 1930s of an event at the Goldwater Hospital. Nurses appear in starched uniforms that haven’t been seen on RI for many years. Jay Jacobson
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
IT SEEMS THAT OUR GREAT NEW 7 PERSON RIOC CONSTITUENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT DOES NOT THINK THAT ADVISING RESIDENTS OF SUBWAY SCHEDULE CHANGES ARE IMPORTANT.
THERE SEEMS TO BE NO EXPRESS BUSES SCHEDULED TO AND FROM THE ISLAND THIS WEEKEND.
GET OUR YOUR METROCARD AND BE PREPARED FOR LINES AT THE MANHATTAN TRAM STATION!!!
Queens-bound F trains are running on theF line from W 4 St-Wash Sq to Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday because of track maintenance.
For service to/from 14 St, 23 St, 34 St-Herald Sq, 42 St-Bryant Park, 47-50 St, 57 St, and Lexington Av/63 St use nearby E stations, or take a downtown train and transfer.
For service to/from Roosevelt Island and 21 St-Queensbridge, take the Q66, Q69, Q100, or Q102 buses to Queens Plaza.
Note: Uptown trains are running on the line from W 4 St-Wash Sq to 59 St-Columbus Circle.
F trains are running between Jamaica-179 St and Church Av.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
WEEKEND, JUNE 3-4, 2023
ISSUE# 100
THE MAN WHO
GOT THE WINDOW GLASS
RIGHT
JUDITH BERDY
Good News! The scaffolding came off the subway station exterior today. The construction foreman told me the escalator replacement was nearly finished when I saw the stairs going up this afternoon. ****************** Just in time: This story arrived this week about our station’s construction.
Let’s hope the windows will soon show the wonderful mosaic artwork by Diana Cooper soon.
Yes I worked on the Roosevelt Island subway station. My involvement was in the construction phase, not the design phase, and it may be a bit more esoteric than you are expecting. Here’s my story:
In 1982-3 I was an Assistant Architect with the New York City Transit Authority. I was tasked with the review of the drawings for construction and installation of the glass wall on the west side of the building, facing Manhattan. The problem that I had with the drawings was this:
A slab of glass as large as you have there expands and shrinks a significant amount when it heats up and cools down.
The way that slab of glass is supported is by sliding it into a stainless steel channel frame. The Frame has to be big enough to accommodate the glass when expanded, due to heating, as far as it can possibly be predicted to go.
In addition, the channel had to be deep enough so that when it got cold and the glass shrank there was no gap where the cold air and rain could get in.
My problem was that neither the outside architect who designed it, nor the contractor who would fabricate it, had any idea how much the glass would expand and shrink. What I had to do was find an in-house engineer to tell me how much the glass would expand and shrink. With that information I was able to design the support system so the wall could be built. Hopefully I got it right and it didn’t leak.
As I noted earlier, this is pretty esoteric stuff. I hope that my description made sense. I
Keep Safe and Healthy, Alan Tepper
The mosaic is installed under the plywood and waiting for a gate installation. This project started over a decade ago.
PATIENCE PAYS OFF AND WE KNOW THAT WELL AROUND HERE.
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY CONSTRUCTION FENCE POSTER AND RESULTS FOR FENCE ON NORTH LOOP ROAD
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY 100 Centre Street, Manhattan Once was NYC Police headquarters – from Andy Sparberg. Also Ed Litcher got it
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
PHOTOS AND MEMORIES OF OUR LIVES DURING THIS TIME AND HOW WE GOT THRU IT AND HOW MANY WONDERFUL THINGS TOOK PLACE ON THE ISLAND EVEN THROUGH RESTRICTIONS. IT SHOWS OUR RESILIANT COMMUNITY AND HOW PROUD WE ARE TO LIVE AND WORK HERE.
TODAY IS THE PART FROM APRIL, 2020 UNTIL DECEMBER, 2021.
APRIL, 2020
MOMO OUR HEALING HOUND ARRIVES AT COLER TO SPEND MANY DAYS AT THE FACILITY IN QUARANTINE
WE DISCOVER THE WONDERFUL ART OF RON CRAWFORD TO FILL OUR FIRST ISSUES
OUR FIRST ISSUES TELL OF THE LONG GONE FDNY TRAINING CENTER ON THE ISLAND
ONE OF HUNDREDS OF MASKED STROLLS WITH BOBBIE, FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS
ONE ISSUE FEATURED THE TRAGEDY OF THE GENERAL SLOCUM SINKING IN THE EAST RIVER
MAY 2020
MOMO HELPED DELIVER COFFEE MAKERS TO UNITS WERE COLER RESIDENTS WERE QUARANTINED
COLER ADDED 300 BEDS FOR POST-COVID ACUTE CARE RESIDENTS AND HUNDRES OF STAFF FOR 4 MONTHS AND WERE CELEBRATED BY A PARADE OF EMS AND FDNY VEHICLES.
CLOSED FROM APRIL TO JUNE, THOUGH VERY FEW VISITORS FOR THE YEAR 2020
JULY, 2020
WE DISCOVERED THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF ART ON THE SMITHSONIAN WEBSITE AND HAVE FEATURED DOZENS OF ARTISTS
SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING AT THE CHAPEL BY THE OCTAGON, NOW THE SANCTUARY, A SPEAKEASY?
AUGUST, 2020
THE ISLAND TOOK TO THE STREETS TO SAVE OUR POST OFFICE, WHICH HAS BEEN PRESERVED
SEPTEMBER, 2020
WE LOVE THE WPA ERA WITH ITS GREAT ART AND WONDERFUL RECORDS OF THE WORKS DONE DURING THAT TIME INCLUDING MURAL AT THE WNYC RADIO STATION
COLOR COORDINATE GLASSES, MASK AND SCARF
OUR BEST EFFORT TO BE BACK IN THE COMMUNITY
ROSH HASHANAH IN OUR NEW REALITY
OCTOBER, 2020
WORK CONTINUES THROUGH ALL THE QUARANTINE. FLYBOY IS GUARDING THE EMPTY HOTEL SITE
NOVEMBER 2020 ELECTION DAY PROCEEDS WITH RECORD BREAKING TURNOUT AND GREAT SPIRIT EVEN AFTER AT 16 HOUR DAY
BLACKWELL HOUSE REOPENS THE MAIN FLOOR FOR VISITORS AND TOURS
A FEATHERED FRIEND APPEARS ON A NEIGHBOR’S TERRACE, SCOUTING LUNCH
DECEMBER, 2020 GIFT BAGS OF NECESSITIES FOR COLER RESIDENTS READY FOR DISTRIBUTON
WE SCOUTED THE BRAND NEW MOYNIHAN STATION AND ITS ARTWORKS
JANUARY 2021 TIME FOR CELEBRATION, MY FIRST COVID VACCINATION
MARCH 2021 RIVAA CELEBRATED BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH A QUILT EXHIBIT
WE LOVE REPORTING ON NEW PUBLIC ART, ESPECIALLY A CUDDLY CREATURE AT HUDSON YARDS
EASTER WAS CELEBRATED IN THE LOBBY SHOWCASES AT COLER
APRIL 2021 SPRING BLOOMED ON-TIME THOUGH THE CORNELL TECH CAMPUS WAS EMPTY OF STUDENTS
A CHERRY BLOSSOM TOUR RESUMED AT THE KIOSK
MAY 2021 SOUTHPOINT PARK IS PREPARED FOR A TOO CLOSE TO WATER WALKWAY
JUNE 2021 THE GRADUATE HOTEL OPENS, BUT NOT THE PANORAMA ROOM QUITE YET
JULY 2021 THE FIREWORKS RETURNED TO THE EAST RIVER
FDR HOPE MEMORIAL IS ALMOST READY TO BE REVEALED WITH RESIDENTS ATTENDING AFTER A RIOC BLUNDER
THE STONEWALL AND VESTIGES OF THE 1970’S PLAYGROUND ARE DEMOLISHED OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY
AUGUST 2021 MANHATTAN SIDEWALK BLOOM WITH DINING SPOTS, SOME GREAT, SOME INTRUSIVE
SEPTEMBER, 2021 THE LONG DELAYED ELEVATORS ARE REVEALED AT THE MANHATTAN TRAM STATION
THE COYOTE WAS PATROLLING THE FDR FOUR FREEDOMS PARK LAWN AGAINST CANADA GEESE…GUESS WHO WON?
SUNDAY MUSIC AT RIVAA RETURNS
OCTOBER, 2021 WE AMTRAKED IT TO ALBUQUERQUE FOR MELANIE AND JOSE’S NUPTIALS
THE GIRLS OF THE GIRL PUZZLE TAKE SHAPE AT LIGHTHOUSE PARK
ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SOURCES OF PHOTOS IS “SHIRPY.” WPA PHOTOS AND FROM WWII
DECEMBER, 2021 OUR REINDEER HAVE RETURNED TO THE CHAPEL PLAZA
FINISHED!!!!
A WONDERFUL SITE FOR WEDDING PHOTOS
THE WINDOWS ARE GREAT BUT THE REAL THING IS EVEN BETTER
COLER RESIDENTS GOT GOODIE BAGS AFTER THIS LONG YEAR OF ISOLATION
ENDING THE YEAR WITH THE TRADITIONAL KING CRAB FEAST
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY THE BLUMENTHAL PATIO AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM
Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco is a 1510s marble patio; an example of Spanish Renaissance architecture. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was originally part of the Castillo de Vélez-Blanco in Vélez-
Congratulations, RIHS, for creating the very best result of the CoVid pandemic. Never realized how interested I could be in the snippets of art, and obscure history that you have published 999 times! Even when I missed them for a few days, on returning, they have almost always shown me places or taught me something that I wish I had known earlier.
Thank you, and please keep up your publication!! Jay Jacobson
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a legal text or a set of rules that people identify and use to avoid adhering to it. Exploiting loopholes in tax legislation by big corporations or wealthy individuals is a preoccupation of our time. The authorities fight a losing battle trying to plug them as lawyers specialize in finding new and profitable flaws.
The word itself has an intriguing history. Originally it referred to a vertical slit-opening in the walls of a castle from which archers fired arrows at an enemy without fear of being hit themselves. Its etymology was most likely derived from the Middle Dutch word lupen, “to watch or peer.”
By the mid-seventeenth century the term had acquired its figurative sense as a “means of escape.” It then became applied to legal issues, allowing practitioners to identify ambiguities in the law that could be applied to court matters. Over time, the word came to signify the legal “holes” that were there to be exploited and taken advantage of.
A New York liquor tax law was framed by Senator John Raines and adopted in the State Legislature in March 1896. Better known as Raines Law, it was a precursor to Prohibition and took effect in April that year. The law provided one of the more spectacular loopholes in New York’s legislative history.
Blue Laws
America has a long-standing problem with and an ambivalent attitude towards alcohol. When Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Netherland to take on the role of Director-General on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, he was instructed to impose order in the remote and unruly colony. He immediately issued an edict limiting the sale of alcohol and enforcing strict penalties for violent and/or drunken conduct.
George Washington on the other hand established in 1797 the nation’s largest whiskey distillery in Mount Vernon (producing 11,000 gallons by 1799); Thomas Jefferson brewed his own beer; and in 1833, preceding his career as a legislator, Abraham Lincoln held a liquor license and operated a tavern in New Salem, Illinois.
With the advance of urbanization and industrialization, drinking was increasingly seen as a social problem that needed ‘solving.’ In the first half of the nineteenth century, temperance societies were founded in a number of European countries: Sweden (1819); Germany (1830); England (1831); and the Netherlands (1842). Referring to pathological changes in the body due to sustained intoxication, Swedish physician Magnus Huss coined the term “alcoholism” in 1849.
America’s temperance movement began in the mid-1820s as part of a fervent Protestant revival referred to as the Second Great Awakening (the first Evangelical Revival had swept the colonies in 1730/40s). It gave rise to the nation’s oldest political third-party in existence, the Prohibition Party.
Founded in 1869, members campaigned for legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. Rural and small-town voters affiliated with Evangelical churches provided most of the party’s support. Enormous energy was dedicated to eliminating perceived sin from society (gambling, drinking, prostitution or sloth) through the introduction and enforcement of “blue laws.”
After the American Civil War and following the massive increase of immigration from Europe, beer replaced whiskey as the working men’s preferred beverage. It was the favored drink of the German and Irish newcomers; in temperance circles the craving for beer signified disorderly taverns and dissipation (there was a “hidden” xenophobic element in the push for Prohibition). The moral mission of prohibitionists was the abolition of the saloon.
By the mid-1890s New York City counted some 8,000 saloons. Crime and prostitution were rampant in many of these establishments. Saloons were prohibited from opening on the Sabbath, but the police turned a blind eye. As laborers worked six days a week, this single day was their only boozing time. Saloons were financially depended on Sunday clients.
In the meantime, the temperance movement was bearing down hard on New York City’s drinking habits. Moral crusaders and groups like the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) led by the forceful attorney Wayne Wheeler lobbied city leaders to curb the manufacture and sale of liquor. Advocates of an official ban argued that alcohol posed a threat to public decency and moral safety. They successfully campaigned for legal intervention by the authorities.
Raines Law
In 1896 a new law, authored by the Republican Senator John Raines, was passed by the New York State legislature. Nominally a liquor tax, its real purpose was to tackle the “scandal” of intoxication and public drunkenness.
The “Raines Law” put strict limits on the opening of new saloons and made the issue of licenses to sell liquor prohibitively expensive. A renewed crack down on Sunday drinking was the most contested aspect of the regulations. The law exempted establishments that offered the hospitality of ten or more bedrooms, allowing wealthy clients to dine on the Sabbath in hotel-restaurants and order drinks at an open bar with little risk of prosecution.
In 1895, young Theodore Roosevelt had been appointed New York City’s Police Commissioner with the specific task of removing corruption and bribery from the force. Ambitious to clean up the city as a whole, he championed the Raines Law and predicted that the measure would solve “whatever remained of the problem of Sunday closing.”
It was huge miscalculation. Saloon owners quickly started to exploit a loophole in the law. They partitioned back rooms and turned upper floors of their bars into “bedrooms” which were rented out to prostitutes or unmarried couples to meet the high cost of licensing fees. By the early 1900s, more than 1,000 Raines Law hotels were established. Sunday drinking continued unabated.
As concerns grew that these “hotels” were operated for sexual encounters and commercial prostitution, the city’s authorities decided on a “men only” policy by forbidding women to enter the premises. One consequence of this rule was that a number of Raines Law hotels developed into relatively “safe” spots for gay men.
Raines Sandwich
Eugene O’Neill, the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, completed his play The Iceman Cometh in 1939 (although he delayed its production until after the war). The play covers two days in the life of a group of “lost souls” who, hiding behind alcoholic pipe dreams, shield themselves from the harsh realities of modern-day urban life.
The action takes place in a Raines Law hotel owned by Harry Hope which is located on the ground floor of a tenement building in downtown Manhattan. In the saloon cheap whiskey is served accompanied by a “property” sandwich described as an old “desiccated ruin of dust-laden bread and mummified ham or cheese.” The reference to a property sandwich, once clear to members of the audience, now needs clarification.
In April 1896, The New York Times published an analysis of the Raines Law in which the author pointed out that any hotel guest could buy a Sunday drink as long as a meal was ordered first. The procuring of drinks was made subordinate to a formal request for food. Another loophole was found. The Raines legislation focused on ordering food, but did not require its consumption.
As a consequence of the necessity to supply a meal before serving drinks, Raines Laws hotels designed a system of preparing fake food to comply with the letter of the law. Saloons produced the cheapest possible sandwiches. The so-called Raines sandwiches were not meant for consumption at all; they were used and re-used. The same disgusting plate could be served multiple times. Some barkeepers decided to present a sandwich made of rubber instead.
Journalist and photographer Jacob Riis fought out his “battle with the slums” in the pages of The Atlantic. In the issue of August 1899 he focused on families that lived in overcrowded tenements. In an article on “The Tenant,” the author describes the life of a laborer who drinks his beer in a Raines Law hotel, “where brick sandwiches, consisting of two pieces of bread with a brick between, are set out on the counter.”
When a saloon keeper from Stanton Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side was taken to court over serving this particular “meal” in his establishment, he was acquitted by a jury.
Committee of Fourteen
Determined to clean up New York City’s image, a citizens’ group that lobbied for the elimination of prostitution and gambling founded the Committee of Fifteen in 1900. Members of the group visited and inspected various locations of concern (saloons, dance and pool halls) and filed detailed records on each site.
In 1902 the evidence was collated in a comprehensive account, The Social Evil with Special Reference to Conditions Existing in the City of New York, and presented to the city’s 34th Governor, the Republican Benjamin Barker Odell, after which the Committee disbanded. The report’s final conclusion was that the Raines Law hotels were responsible for the curse of uncontrolled prostitution. The group’s work was continued by the Committee of Fourteen. Founded in 1905, the association’s explicit priority was the abolition of these hotels.
At the time, New York was known as a “wide-open” city in which public order was difficult to impose and maintain. The Tenderloin, the Lower East Side and Little Coney Island (around Third Avenue & 110th Street), were areas with a high concentration of saloons, brothels and “disorderly” dance halls. Sunday drinking was rife and many establishments had prostitutes soliciting openly in their back rooms. Corrupt officials and police officers were bribed to look the other way.
Having declared war on the Raines Law hotels, members of the Committee set out to have the legal provisions amended by making on-site investigations of “suspicious” establishments. They presented evidence of violations to the police, the State Department of Excise and the City Tenement House Department, to the brewers who supplied the saloons, and to real estate companies who owned the properties.
By 1911 most of the Raines Law hotels had closed up (although the law itself was not repealed until 1923), but the Committee remained active in the battle against alcohol, vice and “immorality.” Its members worked closely with the police and the courts to push for law enforcement in a political environment where the temperance movement gradually gained prominence and influence.
Campaigning alongside groups such as the Anti-Saloon League, they claimed that the prohibition of alcohol would eliminate poverty and eradicate vice and violence. It paved the way for the Eighteenth Amendment which was ratified in January 1919 and banned the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks throughout the United States.
Prohibition
While the Raines Act was signed as a measure to curb drinking and deviancy, it created a massive loophole that gave countless businesses more freedom to serve liquor. Given that the law demanded the availability of bedrooms on the premises, the legislation inadvertently encouraged prostitution.
The Committee of Fourteen ensured the closure of the Raines Law hotels and promoted the argument for Prohibition. When the temperance movement finally won its battle to ban alcohol, opposition to and the dodging of the Eighteenth Amendment was set in motion. Loopholes were sought and found to acquire whatever alcohol that remained available. Drinkers posed as priests to obtain sacramental wine; they pestered their doctors to prescribe “medical” beer from the pharmacy to them.
Lawmakers had not learned the lesson from the Raines debacle that moral indignation alone does not produce effective legislation. Prohibition did not stop drinking, but it pushed the consumption of booze underground.
By 1925, there were thousands of speakeasy clubs located in New York City and profitable bootlegging operations sprang up around the nation. Prohibition boosted a booming industry of organized mobster crime which continued until Congress ratified the Twenty-First Amendment in December 1933, allowing Americans to raise a (legal) glass again.
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
BUDDHIST MONKS VISITING THE ISLAND IN THEIR WONDERFUL SAFRON ROBES ALEXIS VILLAFANE AND GLORIA HERMAN GOT IT RIGHT
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
NEW YORK ALMANACK
Illustrations, from above: Pro-Temperance cartoon from the 1900s (Getty Images); the original “loop hole”; Free lunch, 1911 by Charles Dana Gibson (Library of Congress); Barney Flynn’s Saloon on the corner of Pell Street and the Bowery, 1899; Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt in support of the Raines Law (Getty Images); and Satan’s Sieve anti-Saloon League Poster, 1919.
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Michael Ancher – A stroll on the beach – Google Art Project
Capri, Marina Grande (1880), by Rubens Santoro
Toile du peintre Charles Hoffbauer, présentant, à la Belle époque, une partie de plage en Normandie. 1907. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Roubaix (Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de Roubaix, La Piscine)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida – Strolling along the Seashore – Google Art Project
PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF OHER RED BUS PASSENGERS DOGS DO NOT BELONG ON THE BUS SEATS SOME PEOPLE ARE HIGHLY ALLERGIC TO DOG FUR AND THIS COULD CAUSE A TERRIBLE MEDICAL EPISODE
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
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How to Turn a Church Full of Cats and Raccoons Into a Coveted Wedding Venue
By Clio Chang, a Curbed writer who covers everything New York City Photo: The Sanctuary
The new “destination wedding” is on Roosevelt Island, per the New York Times “Style” section. The Sanctuary, a former church on the island’s north end that dates back to the 1920s, is now a go-to venue for New Yorkers looking for something a little more creative than the Prospect Park boathouse. But before any of that, it was overrun by cats and raccoons.
The cats were part of an existing sanctuary run by the Wildlife Freedom Foundation on the lot, while the raccoons were interlopers nesting in the attic. It took a full year of cajoling the property’s 15 cats to move them to a new spot nearby. (“They come to sleep at our sanctuary, but they still go visit the church every single day,” says Rossana Ceruzzi, the founder of WFF.) Left unaddressed by the Times: How one goes about relocating a cat sanctuary, ushering out said raccoons, and getting rid of the smell. I called up co-owner Frank Raffaele, who oversaw the renovation, to talk about how he turned the space into one where only humans are allowed inside.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell me about the renovation and relocation. There was the church portion and a large house that’s still there, and the cats were living in what is now the backyard, with full access to the inside of the sanctuary. They were inside and outside, pretty much all around the place. The cats and raccoons were living in harmony from what I can tell. They were in some sort of symbiotic relationship. When we took it over, we needed to have a cat free environment — and I say that as someone who loves cats. We worked closely with the Wildlife Freedom Foundation and found a location for the new cat sanctuary super close to us, probably 50 yards away. The WFF dealt with the lion’s share of it. Cats are super-smart, they go where the food is, so it wasn’t hard for them to realize when they had a new place to camp out in.
Now raccoons are a different thing. I really had no experience with raccoons beforehand;
I was a little bit jarred
.
Photo: Frank Raffaele
Oh no. It was a hard effort. The main thing we had to do was close off all spots of entry. They would go into the steeple, the attic, the rafters of church, they were living in the bedrooms — they pretty much had free rein around the entire facility. I’m from Queens, so I knew nothing about raccoons before this. But every day around dusk, when the sun went down, the raccoons woke up and left the house — you would see a procession of raccoons walking on the roof of the church, leaving the steeple.
Okay, this sounds like a fairy tale. It was incredible! We had to wait for them to leave every day to close the holes. We did it piecemeal. Every night they’d be gone for hours so we had plenty of time. They’re still on the island doing well — we see them around.
Was the raccoon smell hard to get rid of? Yes, we had to completely mitigate it. They can climb anywhere and get in anywhere. You can’t clean it. The only way you can do it is to replace the walls and floors.
What did it smell like? Very wildlife-y. I’m a vegan, I love all animals, but people often refer to meat as gamey, I think it was a sort of very non–New York City wildlife smell. Here you’re in a different world with different wildlife. I didn’t know this going into it, but Roosevelt Island is known for its wildlife.
Cats and raccoons seem like a nice change for your clientele, who I assume are more used to rats and pigeons. This is incredible, but I’ve never once seen any sort of rodent. I don’t know if it’s because of the cats, but it could be. The new cat sanctuary that’s just a stone’s throw away from the human Sanctuary. Photo: Rossana Ceruzzi
Do the cats still visit? The new home is a stone’s throw away. They come around the outdoor areas, but not indoors anymore. I’ve seen brides take pictures at the new cat sanctuary in their wedding dresses. But the indoors is closed off for all wildlife except for human beings — that’s the only species allowed in currently.
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
FORMER HOSPITAL STEAM PLANT ARON EISENPREISS GOT IT RIGHT
WEDNESDAY PHOTOS OF THE DAY
PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF OHER RED BUS PASSENGERS DOGS DO NOT BELONG ON THE BUS SEATS SOME PEOPLE ARE HIGHLY ALLERGIC TO DOG FUR AND THIS COULD CAUSE A TERRIBLE MEDICAL EPISODE
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
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
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WE LOVE REPORTING ON NEW PUBLIC ART, ESPECIALLY A CUDDLY CREATURE AT HUDSON YARDS
EASTER WAS CELEBRATED IN THE LOBBY SHOWCASES AT COLER
APRIL 2021
A CHERRY BLOSSOM TOUR RESUMED AT THE KIOSK
MAY 2021
