After being under the ownership of various men, the landmass now called Roosevelt Island came under the ownership of Robert Blackwell in 1688. Then, it became his namesake—
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Blackwell Island. In 1828, the City of New York bought this two-mile-long-island for $32,000. Initially, it served as a center for castaways and necessitated a formal penitentiary, which was established in 1832.
The most influential architect of the time was Alexander Jackson Davis. He designed the Blackwell Island penitentiary, which was constructed of gray granite reflecting feudal-style architecture with its fortress or castle-like appearance. It stood six hundred feet long and four stories high at the north end of the island providing 800 cells for inmates. Just seven years after its grand opening though, the New York City Lunatic Asylum, as it was named, housed 1,700 patients. The 800 cells of the penitentiary were subsequently filled to the brim. Finally in the early 1900s, journalist Nelly Bly exposed the unacceptable conditions of the asylum—inmate
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overcrowding, favoritism, and drug dealing—which prompted much needed social reforms.
The plans to clean up the penitentiary and update and revive the island’s castaway-characteristic resulted in its name change from Blackwell’s Island to Welfare Island in 1921. The first step to reform was the transfer of inmates from Blackwell’s to Rikers Island, which, in reality, did not happen until further outrages in the 1930s absolutely necessitated it. The man who administered reform was Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Since the age of 17, LaGuardia had an accomplished career in public service beginning with his membership to the US Consulate Service in Europe. Among other achievements, the New York University Law School graduate was elected as mayor in 1933 on a “fusion ticket” against Tammany Hall—a bipartisan electoral agreement to temporarily set aside differences in order to achieve a common goal. To aid in the distribution and transfer of inmates, LaGuardia’s Reform Correction Commission, headed by Austin H. MacCormick, led a raid
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on the penitentiary in January 1934 to expose and eradicate those conditions Bly discussed. The result, in fact, was the movement of all inmates to new facilities on Rikers Island, which had just completed construction. The only surviving portion of the former New York City Lunatic Asylum was the hospital wing, which was both influential and progressive at the time—the Metropolitan Hospital.
Throughout the years, various charity and public health institutions had been established on the land as well, which were useful and efficient. Though, toward the end of the 19th century, the island’s institutions became abandoned and the population of the island decreased. After the island became unimaginably desolate, Major John Lindsay in 1968 “appointed a committee for redevelopment of Welfare Island.” The plan was incorporated into Governor Rockefeller’s General Development Plan of the New York State Urban Development Corporation the following year. John Burgee and Philip Johnson completed the new development design. In 1973, a ceremony was held in honor of the island’s soon-to-be renovations and rechristening under the name Roosevelt Island after President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The following years, during the 1970s, residential complexes were built, as well as a memorial park, aerial Tramway, and a subway station.
Today, that same octagonal, gray building located at 888 Main Street on Roosevelt Island,
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which once was the New York City Lunatic Asylum, still stands. Developer Becker + Becker Associates transformed the facility in 2006, creating an upscale 500-unit residential community. Roosevelt Island The Octagon is a luxury building providing housing from studios to 3-bedroom penthouses. The original structure has been restored and updated dramatically and it is still a landmark site on Roosevelt Island today. According to a 2000 Census, Roosevelt Island has a population of 9,520 residents. Since then, two additional residential developments have been established. Those buildings provided 1,331 more units of residential space as of summer 2008. It was projected that 1,160 additional units of residential space are to be constructed by 2013. Roosevelt Island residencies are in high demand because of the island’s proximity to mainland Manhattan, its remarkably low crime rate, and its now quaint, tranquil, community-like qualities.
Bibliography
“A Brief History.” www.rioc.com. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation of the State of New York, Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
“Elected Mayors of New York City.” www.nyc.gov. Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
“History.” The Octagon. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <www.octagonnyc.com>.
McCarthy, Thomas. “Before Rikers, Blackwell’s was DOC’s Island Home.” correctionhistory.org. Correction News, Web. 18 Mar. 2012.
“The Octagon Tower.” rihs.us. Roosevelt Island Historical Society, Web. 18 Mar. 2012.
Rodriguez-Nava, Gabriel. “The Rise of a Healthy Community.” Beyond Manhattan. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <www.nyc24.org>.
You have the outline of a solid blog post here, with a nice balance of text and visuals. I have a few suggestions to strengthen the post, however.
First, try to clean up the prose a bit. There are a few typos and some passive voice sentences. Also, you can’t “give” a namesake. The island was his namesake because it bore his name.
Second, you need to caption the photos and cite the sources for them, unless you’ve taken them yourself.
Third, I think you should consider cutting the paragraph: “The city formally changed the island’s name and purpose in 1921 to Welfare Island. Under leadership of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, major reforms took place during the 1930s and continued until more recent years. Today, Roosevelt Island is drastically different from what it once was.” I was confused when reading the text that followed, because after the above paragraph, you jumped back in time and explained all of what your summary included. Since this is a blog post rather than a formal essay, there’s no need for such a summary.
Fourth, content-wise, I would like to see a little more context. For example, this sentence confused me: “Thus, in 1921 Blackwell Island became Welfare Island on the grounds of reform.” All they did was change the name? You might look at Caro’s book and other stuff on the 1920s to understand why only the election of a reformer like LaGuardia helped prompt real change. You don’t need to add a huge amount–it’s just confusing as to why they needed reform for so long, but it only came during the Depression. So if you could answer the “why?” question, that would be helpful.
I think, too, that the Recession section needs more explanation and context. The builders seem to have finished this development about a year and a half before the market dive. How has the Recession affected sales, home prices, and the island as a whole (try the NYT, StreetEasy, or Zillow to start)? Again, this doesn’t have to be long, but to really capture the comparative aspect of this, you need to explain how your subject symbolizes some aspect of the Great Recession.
It’s really interesting, I think, that this place evolved from a lunatic asylum (what a name!) to luxury housing, and you shouldn’t be afraid to play up that irony.
Professor, I used your suggestions and changed up a lot of it (partially because when I initially tried editing it, my entire post got messed up and I basically needed to wipe it out and redo it. Luckily, I had the document saved on my computer)! Hope this is better than before.
I really liked learning about the history of Roosevelt Island considering it’s more residential now and will be a site for Cornell’s campus in the near future. Very informational!
Nice revisions–the context is stronger now. I have just two more tweaks to suggest. First, try not to use “necessitate” too much. Also, you mention at one point “a bipartisan electoral agreement to temporarily set aside differences in order to achieve a common goal” but don’t say what that goal was. Caro actually devotes a good deal of space to why the reformers challenged Tammany and what their goals were. Prison and asylum reform were only a small part of this–mostly it was about the larger Depression and Tammany–so you need to be a bit clearer.
Hi, Steph! I never viewed Roosevelt Island as a popular destination, or one with a particularly interesting history. You proved me wrong! You did an excellent job juxtaposing the Roosevelt Island of old (penitentiary) and new (residences).
I never heard about Roosevelt Island until this year when you mentioned it when you were looking for apartments. It was interesting to learn how much goes into designing and making an lunatic asylum look good! Does the fact that the building was once an asylum make the value go down, or do prospective renters find that interesting and not care?
I think you provide a very nice overall history of the developments and changes of The New York City Lunatic Asylum on Roosevelt Island. I think it’s an extremely interesting site to look into. It seems like Roosevelt Island is continuing to grow as a residential area.
Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!