Roosevelt Island
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Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about Template:Convert long, with an area of Template:Convert, and had a population of 11,722 as of the 2020 United States census. It consists of two largely residential communities: Northtown and Southtown. Roosevelt Island is owned by the city but was leased to the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for 99 years in 1969.
The island was called Template:Lang by the Lenape and Template:LangTemplate:Efn (Hog Island) by the Dutch during the colonial era and later BlackwellTemplate:'s Island. During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the island was used by hospitals and prisons, with very limited access. It was renamed Welfare Island in 1921. Following several proposals to redevelop Welfare Island in the 1960s, the UDC leased the island, renamed it after former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1973, and redeveloped it as a series of residential neighborhoods. The first phase of Northtown, the island's first community, was completed in 1974, followed by the second phase (Northtown II) in 1989. Southtown was developed in the early 21st century, along with the Cornell Tech higher-education campus.
In addition to residential towers, the island has several buildings that predate the residential development, including six that are New York City designated landmarks. The island is accessible by numerous modes of transport, including a bridge, an aerial tram, and the city's subway and ferry systems. Many government services, such as emergency services, are provided from Queens, but the island also has a post office and a pneumatic garbage-disposal system. There are several parks on Roosevelt Island as well, including a promenade around the island's perimeter and Four Freedoms Park at its southern end. In addition to Cornell Tech, the island contains an elementary school. Several houses of worship are located on Roosevelt Island, and numerous community organizations have been founded there.
Geography
[edit]Roosevelt Island is located in the middle of the East River, between Manhattan Island to the west and Queens to the east.<ref name="Hughes 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> The island's southern tip faces 47th Street on Manhattan Island, while its northern tip faces 86th Street on Manhattan Island.<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> It is about Template:Convert long,Template:Efn with a maximum width of Template:Convert.<ref name="LBA p. 2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641">Template:Harvnb</ref> The island was Template:Convert prior to the 18th century<ref name="KKS p. 4" /><ref name="Barlow pp. 129–130" /> but has been expanded to Template:Convert.<ref name="LBA p. 2" /><ref name="Hughes 2017" /><ref name="Conn 1989" /> Administratively, it is part of the New York City borough of Manhattan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Polner 2004" /> Together with Mill Rock, Roosevelt Island constitutes Manhattan's Census Tract 238, which has a land area of Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The island is one of the southernmost locations in New York City where Fordham gneiss, a type of bedrock commonly found beneath the South Bronx,<ref name="AKRF Inc. p. 4">Template:Harvnb</ref> can be seen above ground.<ref name="KKS p. 4" /><ref name="Barlow p. 123">Template:Harvnb</ref> The gneiss outcropping was surrounded by dolomite, which was worn down by East River currents, creating the current island.<ref name="KKS p. 4">Template:Harvnb</ref> The layer of bedrock is shallow and is covered by glacial till, and a 2012 study found no evidence of ponds or streams on the island.<ref name="AKRF Inc. p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> Since the 19th century, the island's natural topography has been modified drastically, and fill has been added to Roosevelt Island to increase its area.<ref name="AKRF Inc. pp. 4–5">Template:Harvnb</ref> An ancient fault line, known as Cameron's Line, runs within the East River between Roosevelt Island and Queens.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Roosevelt Island's street layout is based on a master plan designed in 1969 by the architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee. Main Street runs the length of the island, splitting into a loop around Southtown;<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> it was the island's only road until 1989.<ref name="Segall 2002" /> The street is paved in red brick.<ref name="Goldman 1982" /><ref name="Zengota 2005">Template:Cite news</ref> Main Street, along with the island's parks, was intended to be a communal area for the island's various ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes.<ref name="Claiborne 1975" /> The island's residences and businesses are largely clustered around Main Street.<ref name="Zengota 2005" /> Roosevelt Island is surrounded by a seawall of Fordham gneiss, quarried from the island itself.<ref name="KKS p. 4" />
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]Lenape use
[edit]According to archaeological digs, the area around Roosevelt Island was settled by Paleo-Indians up to 12,000 years ago.<ref name="AKRF Inc. p. 7">Template:Harvnb</ref> In particular, the area was the homeland of the Mareckawick, a group of Lenape Native Americans,<ref name="LBA p. 2" /><ref name="JMA p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> who called it Template:Lang.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /><ref name="Pollak 2012" /> The name is variously translated as "long island" or "It's nice to be on the island".<ref name="Pollak 2012" /> The historian Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes claimed that the Template:Lang name referred to Randalls Island, but this claim has not been corroborated.<ref name="JMA p. 5" />
The Lenape may have visited the island.<ref name="KKS p. 5" /><ref name="LBA p. 2" /> Archeological studies have found shell middens just opposite the island, along both the Queens and Manhattan shores, and the Lenape are known to have had settlements around waterways.<ref name="KKS p. 5" /><ref name="LBA pp. 2–3">Template:Harvnb</ref> However, the island likely did not have any Lenape settlements because of the lack of freshwater.<ref name="LBA p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref> There is little evidence of Native American activities on the island from before the Archaic period (which ended around 1000 BCE).<ref name="KKS p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="AKRF Inc. p. 10">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Dutch colonization
[edit]There are disputes over who owned the island after the European colonization of New Netherland in the 17th century.<ref name="KKS p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref> According to several sources, Dutch Governor Wouter van Twiller was said to have purchased the island from the Lenape in 1637.<ref name="Barlow p. 127">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal; Template:Cite gotham</ref> A study from 1988 found that Van Twiller's deed referred to what is now Randalls and Wards Islands further north,<ref name="KKS p. 6" /> but a subsequent study said that Van Twiller acquired Randalls, Wards, Roosevelt, and Governors islands simultaneously.<ref name="LBA p. 4">Template:Harvnb</ref> In any case, Roosevelt Island was known in early modern Dutch as Varcken[s],<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Hanson 1967">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /> Varken,<ref name="Pollak 2012">Template:Cite news</ref> or Verckens Eylandt,<ref name="KKS p. 6" /> all of which are translated in modern English as Hog Island (Template:Lang).<ref name="Jones 1966">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn
By 1639, Jan Claessen Alteras was known to have farmed Hog Island.<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Stokes 1915">Template:Cite book</ref> Reports indicate that Alteras had made improvements to the island by 1642, though the nature of the work is not known.<ref name="JMA p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref> New Netherland director-general Peter Stuyvesant took over the island in 1642.<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Stokes 1915" /> The following year, it was leased to Francois Fyn.<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="JMA p. 6" /><ref name="Stokes 1915" /> Fyn, in turn, leased the island to Laurens Duyts, who developed further structures on the island. Duyts defaulted on his lease in 1658 and was deported for "gross immoralities", and Fyn's lawyer took back the island.<ref name="JMA p. 6" />
Manning and Blackwell ownership
[edit]After the Dutch surrendered to the British in 1664,<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Barlow p. 127" /> a British military captain named John Manning acquired the island in 1668.<ref name="JMA p. 6" /><ref name="Pollak 2012" /><ref name="Barlow p. 127" />Template:Efn In 1673, Manning surrendered to Dutch forces who had wanted to retake New Netherland; as punishment, he had to live on the island in exile.<ref name="Pollak 2012" /><ref name="Barlow pp. 127–129">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="KKS p. 6" /> After Manning's banishment,<ref name="JMA p. 6" /> the isle became known as Manning's Island.<ref name="Yorker 1928">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Times Union 1908">Template:Cite news</ref> Manning had a mansion near the island's southern tip, where he served rum punch to visitors.<ref name="Barlow p. 129">Template:Harvnb</ref> The island was then conveyed to Manning's stepdaughter Mary in 1676<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="LBA p. 4" /> or 1685.<ref name="JMA p. 7">Template:Harvnb</ref> Mary was married to Robert Blackwell,<ref name="Conn 1989">Template:Cite news</ref> who became the island's new owner and namesake.<ref name="timeline">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Pollak 2012" /> The Brooklyn Times-Union wrote that the island had gained the Blackwell name "by a mere chance, or the result of a marriage".<ref name="Times Union 1908" />
The Blackwell family settled the island over four generations.<ref name="JMA p. 7" /> At the beginning of the 18th century, Blackwell built his farmhouse, the Blackwell House, on the island.<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 84" /><ref name="AIA5 p. 953" /> Blackwell's Island was not a major battleground in the American Revolutionary War, though British troops tried to take the island after the 1776 Battle of Long Island.<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Barlow p. 129" /> The British briefly seized control on September 2–4, 1776, after which the American troops took over.<ref name="JMA p. 7" /> A British prison inspector proposed using the island as a prison in the early 1780s, but it is not known whether this happened.<ref name="KKS pp. 6–7">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Barlow p. 129" /> Blackwell's sons took over the island in 1780 and tried to sell it, at which point Blackwell's Island had several buildings and was several miles removed from New York City.<ref name="KKS p. 7">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Barlow pp. 129–130">Template:Harvnb</ref> By the mid-1780s, the island included two houses, orchards, a cider mill, and other farm structures.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /><ref name="KKS p. 7" /> Contemporary sources do not mention any structures on the northern half of the island.<ref name="KKS p. 7" /> A public auction was held in 1785, but no one bought the island.<ref name="KKS p. 7" /> In 1796, Blackwell's great-grandson Jacob Blackwell constructed the Blackwell House, one of Manhattan's oldest houses.<ref name="timeline" /> James L. Bell paid the Blackwells $30,000 for the island in 1823, but Blackwell took back control two years later, upon Bell's death.<ref name="KKS pp. 7–8">Template:Harvnb</ref> One source indicated that Bell never fulfilled the terms of the sale.<ref name="KKS p. 7" />
Hospital and prison island
[edit]
By 1826, the city almshouse at Bellevue Hospital was overcrowded, prompting city officials to consider moving that facility to Blackwell's Island.<ref name="The New York Times 1952" /> The city government purchased the island for $32,000 (Template:Inflation)<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /><ref name="KKS pp. 7–8" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> on July 19, 1828.<ref name="JMA p. 8">Template:Harvnb</ref> Ownership of the island remained unresolved for another 16 years while Bell's widow sued the city.<ref name="KKS p. 8">Template:Harvnb</ref> Through the 19th century, the island housed several hospitals and a prison.<ref name="Pollak 2012" /><ref name="Conn 1989" /> At one point there were 26 institutions on the island.<ref name="Conn 1989" />
1830s to 1860s
[edit]The city government erected a penitentiary on the island, which opened August 3, 1830.<ref name="KKS p. 8" /> There were proposals to construct a canal to split male and female prisoners; though the canal was not built, an unknown architect did build a separate building for female prisoners.<ref name="Gray 2012">Template:Cite web</ref> The island's prison population already numbered in the hundreds by 1838, whereas there were only 24 staff members (including those not assigned to guard duties).<ref name="Gray 2012" /> By 1839, the New York City Lunatic Asylum opened, including the Octagon Tower.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The asylum, with two wings made of locally quarried Fordham gneiss,<ref name="Horn p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> at one point held 1,700 inmates, twice its designed capacity.<ref name="timeline" /> Prisoners frequently tried to swim away from the island.<ref name="Gray 2012" /> Almshouses, or housing for the poor, were constructed in 1847.<ref name="JMA p. 8" /> Other hospitals were soon developed on the island, including a 600-bed prison hospital that was finished in 1849.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /> Thomas Story Kirkbride, who oversaw some of the island's hospitals, described the island as having fallen into "degradation and neglect" by 1848.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A workhouse was built on the island in 1852,<ref name="The New York Times 1921" /> followed by the Smallpox Hospital in 1856.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /> The Asylum burned down in 1858 and was rebuilt on the same site,<ref name="timeline" /> and the prison hospital was destroyed in the same fire.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /> Two pipes provided fresh water from the Croton Aqueduct to the island by 1860, and maps indicate that Blackwell's Island had two reservoirs as well.<ref name="KKS p. 11">Template:Harvnb</ref> The prison hospital was replaced with City Hospital (later known as Charity Hospital),<ref name="LBA p. 4" /> which was completed in 1861 and served both prisoners and New York City's poorer population.<ref name="timeline" /> A "hospital for incurables" followed in 1866.<ref name="The New York Times 1921" />
1870s to 1890s
[edit]Prisoners built the Blackwell Island Light on the island's northern tip in 1872.<ref name="NPS 1972">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1877, the hospital opened a School of Nursing, the fourth such training institution in the nation.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Late-19th-century editions of the Appleton's Dictionary of New York described Blackwell's Island's penitentiary as having a "feudal character".<ref name="Gray 2012" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Conditions in some of the hospitals declined significantly enough that the island as a whole gained a poor reputation.<ref name="Detroit Free Press 1907" /> The women's hospital on the island was completed in 1881.<ref name="The New York Times 1921" /> Inmates from the Smallpox Hospital were moved to North Brother Island in 1885, and the Smallpox Hospital building became a nurses' training school and dormitory.<ref name="JMA p. 9" /> In addition, a male nurse's training school opened in 1887 and operated for 16 years.<ref name="LBA pp. 5–7">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened on the island in 1889.<ref name="The New York Times 1921" /><ref name="timeline" />
The Strecker Memorial Laboratory was constructed in 1892 for the City Hospital.<ref name="JMA p. 9">Template:Harvnb</ref> The next year, the city began sending typhus patients to the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the decade, city officials found the almshouse and City Hospital dilapidated and overcrowded,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a grand jury declared the women's asylum a "disgrace" to New York City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The asylum's inmates were transferred to Wards Island in the mid-1890s,<ref name="timeline" /> and Wards Island's Homeopathic Hospital relocated to Blackwell's Island, becoming the Metropolitan Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A proposal to build a power plant on the island in 1895 was unsuccessful,<ref name="Horn p. 257">Template:Harvnb</ref> and the city began planning to expand the island's prisons the next year.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> Work began on new structures for the City Hospital and the almshouse in early 1897,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> and eleven new almshouse buildings opened that October.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> There were also plans to add eight pavilions to the island's infants' hospital.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The prison's hospital burned down in 1899.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> At the end of the century, the island housed 7,000 people across seven institutions.<ref name="JMA p. 8" />
1900s and 1910s
[edit]By the 20th century, Blackwell's Island had received the nickname of "Farewell Island" because of its connotations with fear and despair,<ref name="Hanson 1967a">Template:Cite news</ref> and it was also known as simply "The Island".<ref name="Detroit Free Press 1907">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, the island contained a poorhouse, the city jail, and several hospitals.<ref name="Detroit Free Press 1907" /><ref name="Hanson 1967a" /> The United States Department of the Navy proposed a drill ground and training facility at Blackwell's Island's northern end in 1901,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although city officials opposed it.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> The following year, there was a proposal to turn the island over to the federal government<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> and raze many of the existing structures;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the city's controller was also against this plan.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> Other proposals for the island in the first decade of the 20th century included new tuberculosis (consumptive) hospitals,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> additional almshouses,<ref name="The Brooklyn Citizen 1902">Template:Cite news</ref> an electric power plant,<ref name="The Brooklyn Citizen 1902" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and general hospitals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A tuberculosis ward at Metropolitan Hospital opened on the island in 1902,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> followed by an expanded nurses' school the next year.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> By the mid-1900s, the Louisville Courier-Journal called the island "the world's best guarded prison",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the New-York Tribune described the island as unsanitary.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city's controller recommended the construction of a new hospital to alleviate the poor conditions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A proposal to convert the island into a park resurfaced in 1907.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /> By the end of the decade, thousands of elderly residents voluntarily traveled to the island for "vacations" every year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The island's prisoners manufactured goods for the city, such as beds, brushes, and clothes,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Russell Sage Foundation set up a short-lived pathology institute on the island in 1907.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Queensboro Bridge, crossing Blackwell's Island, opened in 1909,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but it did not provide direct access to the island until the late 1910s.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /><ref name="Bailey 1974" /> In addition, in the early 1910s, several buildings were added at the island's City and Metropolitan hospitals,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a Catholic chapel was developed on the island.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> City corrections commissioner Katharine Davis announced plans to construct a prison hospital on the island in 1915; there was very little vacant land on the island by then.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By the 1910s, twenty-five thousand prisoners passed through the island's jail annually,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Mayor William Jay Gaynor proposed shutting the jail.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There were also proposals to move the penitentiary to Hart Island, freeing up Blackwell's Island for hospitals and charitable institutions.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> The city's deputy correction correctioner called the island's penitentiary "unfit for pigs" in a 1914 report criticizing the unsanitary and overcrowded conditions,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> and a grand jury investigation the same year found that the jail was severely mismanaged.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> Blackwell's Island Penitentiary was negatively affecting the reputation of the island's other facilities, to the point where a renaming of the island was under discussion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The women's penitentiary underwent reforms during the mid-1910s,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and some prisoners were sent off the island to other jails.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bird S. Coler ordered that the island's buildings be refurbished after he became the city's public welfare commissioner in 1918.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1920s and 1930s
[edit]In 1921, the city began using Blackwell's Penitentiary to detain women who were awaiting trial.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> The island's prison hospital was severely understaffed, and the prison was described as "a disgrace to the City of New York".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That April, the New York City Board of Aldermen renamed Blackwell's Island to Welfare Island.<ref name="The New York Times 1921">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The Standard Union 1921">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The aldermen hoped the new name would improve the island's reputation,<ref name="The Standard Union 1921" /><ref name="Jones 1966" /> though the United States Board on Geographic Names did not recognize the name change for four decades.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The state's prison commission recommended converting the island to a park in 1924,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> and the city began planning to move Welfare Island's inmates to a new jail complex on Rikers Island further north.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> By then, the Welfare Island penitentiary lacked plumbing, had rat infestations, and was susceptible to fire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The prison's hospital was so overcrowded that ill inmates had to be treated in their cells.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Prison staff were poorly compensated, and the prison received little to no maintenance.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref>
A chapel was dedicated on the island in 1925,<ref name="The New York Times 1925">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> followed by a synagogue in 1926.<ref name="The New York Times 1926">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> The city government also expanded the island's Cancer Institute in the 1920s.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> The State Department of Correction described the island in the early 1930s as "absolutely unsuitable for the purpose for which it is now used".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Board of Estimate rezoned the island in 1933 to allow redevelopment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the time, officials were planning a children's hospital and nurses' dormitory on the island.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Municipal prison commissioner Austin MacCormick reformed the island's prison in 1934 following a series of uprisings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By then, the old almshouse (the City Home) was so overcrowded that patients were being housed in abandoned portions of the Lunatic Asylum.<ref name="Horn Epilogue">Template:Harvnb</ref> Welfare Island's jail was scheduled to be relocated, and city parks commissioner Robert Moses proposed converting the jail site to a public park.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> A city committee instead recommended a plan by city hospital commissioner S. S. Goldwater, who proposed expanding the island's hospital facilities.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref>
After the Rikers Island jail complex opened,<ref name="SM p. 203">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> workers demolished the Welfare Island jail,<ref name="LBA p. 7" /><ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> and all inmates had been relocated by February 1936.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city announced plans for a chronic care hospital complex in 1936.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> When the Welfare Island Hospital for Chronic Diseases, later Goldwater Memorial Hospital, opened in July 1939,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Central and Neurological Hospital closed.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> An eight-building camp also opened in 1939.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1940s to 1960s
[edit]During the mid-1940s, plans were filed for a combined laundry, garage, and firehouse building;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a hospital at Welfare Island's northern tip;<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> a nurses' training school;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a chronic-disease ward at the Metropolitan Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A girls' shelter on the island opened in late 1945.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> By the late 1940s, mayor William O'Dwyer described conditions at some of the island's hospitals as "frightful",<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> mainly because of their age.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A chronic-care hospital and a laundry building were developed on Welfare Island during that era.<ref name="The New York Times 1949" /><ref name="New York Daily News 1949" /> The laundry building began construction in 1948<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> and was completed the next year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Work on a 2,000-bed facility, later known as the Bird S. Coler Hospital,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> also began in 1948.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Further projects were proposed in the late 1940s, including the Welfare Island Bridge to Queens,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a laboratory for Goldwater Hospital,<ref name="The New York Times 1949">Template:Cite web</ref> and two hospitals with a combined 1,500 beds.<ref name="New York Daily News 1949">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The bridge was intended to relieve traffic caused by the island's new hospitals,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> while the additional hospitals would serve the city's growing elderly population.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During the early 1950s, the city planned a 1,500-bed hospital on the island<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and wished to convert the island's Cancer Institute into a tuberculosis hospital.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After Coler Hospital opened in 1952,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYC Health + Hospitals 2022 d452">Template:Cite web</ref> patients were relocated there from the City Home for Dependents.<ref name="The New York Times 1952">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> City Home was emptied out by 1953.<ref name="Horn Epilogue" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Welfare Island Bridge opened in May 1955,<ref name="NYCDOT 1980" /><ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> and a bus began serving the island.<ref name="Hofmann 1966">Template:Cite news</ref> The Metropolitan Hospital moved to mainland Manhattan later that year,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while the City Hospital was replaced in 1957 by Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens.<ref name="LBA p. 7">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> Several medical facilities on the island opened during the mid-1950s, including an elderly rehabilitation center at Goldwater Hospital,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a polio treatment center at Goldwater,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a children's rehabilitation center at Coler Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There were also proposals to establish a "fire college"<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> and a women's jail on the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Another medical facility for chronically ill and elderly patients opened on Welfare Island in 1958.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By 1960, half of Welfare Island was abandoned,<ref name="Ross 1960">Template:Cite news</ref> and the Goldwater and Bird S. Coler hospitals were the only remaining institutions there.<ref name="Hanson 1967a" /><ref name="Huxtable 1969">Template:Cite news</ref> The city government had been trying since 1957, without success, to obtain $1 million to demolish the abandoned buildings.<ref name="Ross 1960" /> The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) opened a training school in 1962,<ref name="KKS p. 12">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> using 90 abandoned buildings for training purposes.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 641" /> One reporter in 1967 called Welfare Island a "ghost town, vacant lot, woodland and mausoleum for unhappy memories".<ref name="Hanson 1967a" />
Redevelopment plans
[edit]Early- and mid-1960s proposals
[edit]The businessman and politician Frederick W. Richmond announced a proposal in 1961 to redevelop the island with residences for 70,000 people. The plan would have cost $450 million and would have included a two-level platform supporting buildings as tall as 50 stories.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The American Institute of Architects' New York chapter proposed that the island instead become a park,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> while yet another plan called for the island to become housing for United Nations staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 642">Template:Harvnb</ref> Other plans included those for a college campus or a smaller-scale residential area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A New York City Subway station on Welfare Island was announced in February 1965 as part of the new 63rd Street lines under the East River;<ref name="Newsday 1965">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> the subway announcement spurred additional plans for the island's redevelopment.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 642" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There were plans to rename Welfare Island because the public generally associated the name negatively with the island's hospitals,<ref name="Hanson 1967" /><ref name="Jones 1966" /> and even the hospital's patients wanted the island to be renamed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The city government ordered the demolition of six dilapidated buildings on the island in 1965.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city took over another 45 abandoned hospital buildings via condemnation in June 1966,<ref name="Hofmann 1966" /> and the New York City Board of Estimate applied for $250,000 in federal funds for a feasibility study on the island's redevelopment later that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The New York state government proposed in December 1967 to convert most of the island into a public park, except for senior citizens' housing at the north end.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The United Nations International School considered developing a campus at the island's southern end,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the New York Board of Trade pushed to redevelop the island as a city park.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other plans included a mix of recreational facilities and low-density housing;<ref name="Kempner 1967">Template:Cite news</ref> an amusement park similar to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen;<ref name="Kempner 1967" /><ref name="Weinbrenner 1969">Template:Cite news</ref> an underground nuclear power plant;<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 642" /> a cemetery;<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645">Template:Harvnb</ref> and a "city of the future".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Johnson and Burgee plan
[edit]In February 1968, mayor John V. Lindsay named a committee to make recommendations for the island's development,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 642" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine; Template:Cite news</ref> at which point one newspaper called it "the most expensive wasteland in the world".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The state government established the Welfare Island Development Corporation (WIDC; later the Roosevelt Island Development Corporation or RIDC) that April.<ref name="Goldman 1971">Template:Cite news</ref> Early the next year, the state government canceled plans for a state park encompassing Welfare Island,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Lindsay's committee recommended renaming the island and developing housing units and recreational facilities there.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> Land clearing began that April,<ref name="Weinbrenner 1969" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Lindsay asked the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to help redevelop the island in May.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The city and state governments formally presented their proposal for Welfare Island in October 1969.<ref name="Huxtable 1969" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /><ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> After the Board of Estimate approved the plan later that month,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine; Template:Cite news</ref> the UDC signed a 99-year lease with the city that December.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The city could pay either two percent of the development cost or 40 percent of any profits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The UDC issued $250 million in bonds to help finance the project.<ref name="Goldman 1971" /> The state hoped to finish the project within eight years.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" />
The architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed the master plan for Welfare Island, which called for two neighborhoods named Northtown and Southtown, separated by a common area.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /><ref name="Dennis 1970">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The island was to become a car-free area with apartments, stores, community centers, and a waterfront promenade.<ref name="Huxtable 1969" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /><ref name="Von Eckardt 1969">Template:Cite news</ref> The apartments ranged in size from studios to four-bedroom units and were a mixture of rental and cooperative units.<ref name="Bruning 1973">Template:Cite news</ref> There would be a hotel, public schools, stores, and office space,<ref name="Dennis 1970" /> and several existing buildings would be retained.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /><ref name="PA 1974-10" /> Services such as parks and schools were near every residence,<ref name="Bruning 1973" /><ref name="Bailey 1974" /> and there was a pneumatic trash collection system.<ref name="Von Eckardt 1974">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The Christian Science Monitor 1974">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The first apartment buildings banned dogs,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> but this prohibition was not applied to buildings developed later.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, the hospitals on the island still needed vehicular access,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Schuman 1976" /> so the car ban was ultimately repealed.<ref name="Paletta 2015">Template:Cite news</ref>
By the early 1970s, the families of Welfare Island's three chaplains were the only people living on the island, excluding hospital patients.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Models of Johnson and Burgee's proposal were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in late 1970.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646">Template:Harvnb</ref> The UDC modified some of Johnson and Burgee's designs after they were publicized; for example, it added more buildings on the waterfront.<ref name="Weisman 1972">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646" /> The redevelopment attracted residents who wanted a better quality of life.<ref name="The Christian Science Monitor 1974" /> Critics expressed concerns about the fact that lower- and upper-income residents were placed on opposite sides of Main Street,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and they also questioned whether the project's $400 million construction budget could have been spent on other projects.<ref name="The Christian Science Monitor 1974" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Redevelopment
[edit]Renaming and development of Northtown
[edit]
The first phase of the development, Northtown, was to accommodate about 2,100 families.<ref name="Von Eckardt 1974" /><ref name="The Christian Science Monitor 1974" /> The law professor Adam Yarmolinsky was hired to lead the WIDC in late 1970,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> but he resigned after just over a year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Work formally began in mid-1971,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646" /><ref name="Goldman 1971" /> and the state approved the construction of the first buildings the same year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The UDC hired at least 17 architectural and engineering companies to design the structures,<ref name="Bruning 1973" /> though many of the architects resigned during construction.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646" /> The WIDC approved a proposal for 1,100 middle-income and luxury apartments in April 1972;<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> the UDC decided to build the residences as housing cooperatives after unsuccessfully looking for a private developer.<ref name="Weisman 1972" /> The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development formally designated Welfare Island as a "new town" in December 1972, making it eligible for additional funds.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref>
UDC considered renaming the island to attract new residents;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Four Freedoms Foundation proposed renaming it for U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The City Council approved the name change in July 1973,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island on August 20, 1973.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Officials began planning the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park as well;<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> although the island had been renamed in anticipation of the park's construction, the project was delayed for the next several decades.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By the middle of 1973, one building had topped out, and the island had been expanded by Template:Convert using dirt from the 63rd Street Tunnel's construction.<ref name="Buckley 1973">Template:Cite web</ref> UDC head Edward J. Logue and project manager Robert Litke convinced multiple developers to sign 40-year leases for buildings on the island.<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> Parts of the project were delayed by disputes over the relocation of a laundry building.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> By the end of the year, an advisory group recommended that the state legislature halt all UDC financing for the unbuilt phases of the Roosevelt Island development, citing the state's financial shortfalls.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At least one of the residential structures' builders had also gone bankrupt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Construction proceeded steadily through 1974, and renting began that October.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 649">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="PA 1974-10">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In addition, the existing Blackwell House and Chapel of the Good Shepherd were renovated.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 655" />
After Logue was fired in early 1975, there was uncertainty over whether additional buildings would ever be built,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> especially given the UDC's financial troubles.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Young 1975" /> The UDC decided to complete the first phase of the island's development, on which it had already spent $180 million,<ref name="Claiborne 1975">Template:Cite news</ref> and the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal took over the UDC's residential developments, including Roosevelt Island.<ref name="Peterson 1988">Template:Cite news</ref> Following an architectural design competition,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 655">Template:Harvnb</ref> the UDC hired four architecture firms to design the second phase of Northtown that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 656">Template:Harvnb</ref> Residents began moving into Roosevelt Island's first building in April 1975.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 649" /><ref name="Young 1975">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Shepard 1975">Template:Cite web</ref> Initially, there were no stores on the island,<ref name="Young 1975" /><ref name="Schuman 1976">Template:Cite news</ref> and residents had to pass through Queens to go anywhere else.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Although people were not incentivized to move to Roosevelt Island because of the lack of public transportation,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 649" /> the island was home to 170 families by the end of 1975.<ref name="Shepard 1975" /> The first four buildings in Northtown were all completed by mid-1976,<ref name="Schuman 1976" /> while the storefronts were slowly being rented.<ref name="Goldberger 1976" />
Development of Northtown II
[edit]No new buildings were completed between 1976 and 1989,<ref name="Goldberger 1990">Template:Cite news</ref> due to delays in the subway line's opening and the city's financial troubles.<ref name="Yarrow 1989">Template:Cite news</ref> The Roosevelt Island Tramway to Manhattan opened in May 1976,<ref name="Ferretti 1976" /> and the U.S. government provided a grant the same year to fund the construction of parks on the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rivercross, the only cooperative apartment building in Northtown, generally attracted upper-class families because of its high monthly fees, while the other buildings attracted middle-class residents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The FDNY training school moved to Randalls Island in 1977, and the old Roosevelt Island campus was razed.<ref name="KKS p. 12" /> There were over 3,000 residents by early 1977<ref name="Daily News 1977">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 5,500 residents by 1978.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 656" /> Two-thirds of the island's storefronts were still empty by the end of 1977, even as almost all of the rental apartments and most of the cooperative apartments were occupied.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The UDC leased some land in late 1977 to the Starrett Corporation, which planned to erect three additional buildings with a combined 1,000 apartments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Starrett and the UDC signed an agreement in June 1979, in which Starrett agreed to build the three buildings, collectively known as Northtown II, for $82 million.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref>
New York state comptroller Edward V. Regan published a report in 1980, saying that the Roosevelt Island redevelopment suffered from severe cost overruns and was losing money.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> Starrett continued to modify its plans for Northtown II,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, by 1982, the New York state government planned to begin developing Northtown II.<ref name="Gaiter 1982">Template:Cite web</ref> The opening of the subway, which would support the island's increasing population, had been repeatedly delayed,<ref name="Gaiter 1982" /> even as residents expressed concerns that the subway would cause the island's low crime rate to increase.<ref name="Goldman 1982">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Specter 1982">Template:Cite web</ref> By then, the island had 5,000 residents and 1,800 hospital patients, but relatively few businesses.<ref name="Specter 1982" /> The state legislature created the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) to operate the island in 1984.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="Seitz Miller 2011 p. 163">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The UDC re-approved the Northtown II plan in July 1984,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and RIOC approved it in 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The revised plans called for five buildings,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> containing a total of 1,100 apartments.<ref name="Oser 1985">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> Opponents of the Northtown II project wanted to maintain the island's character and expressed concerns about the lack of mass transit options;<ref name="Ladd 1987">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Applebome 1986">Template:Cite web</ref> following a lawsuit to block Northtown II, a judge approved it in late 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Ladd 1987" /> Work on Northtown II commenced at the end of 1987,<ref name="Ladd 1987" /> financed by a $176 million mortgage loan from the city.<ref name="Peterson 1988" /> The Northtown II towers, known as Manhattan Park, opened in 1989.<ref name="Conn 1989" /><ref name="Yarrow 1989" /> While the new apartments initially sold at a slower-than-expected pace,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Northtown II was 70 percent occupied by early 1990.<ref name="Finder 1990">Template:Cite web</ref>
1990s developments
[edit]The opening of the Roosevelt Island subway station, in late 1989,<ref name="Lorch 1989">Template:Cite news</ref> allowed further development to proceed.<ref name="Finder 1990" /> Officials announced the Southtown development in October 1989.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Designed by Raquel Ramati Associates,<ref name="Dunlap 1991">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Lebow 1989">Template:Cite news</ref> it was to consist of 1,956 apartments, split evenly between market-rate and affordable apartments.<ref name="Goldberger 1990" /><ref name="Lebow 1989" /> The development would span Template:Convert and house up to 5,000 people.<ref name="Lebow 1989" /> The New York City Board of Estimate approved plans for Southtown in August 1990,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but the project had been placed on hold by 1991 because RIOC had not been able to secure a developer.<ref name="Dunlap 1991" /> For much of the 1990s, no large buildings were completed on Roosevelt Island.<ref name="Ramirez 1996">Template:Cite web</ref>
In part because of the lack of development, the island's population remained lower than expected, requiring it to be subsidized.<ref name="Stamler 1999">Template:Cite web</ref> By the mid-1990s, the island had 8,200 residents, less than half the 20,000 that the state government had originally envisioned,<ref name="Ramirez 1996" /> and there were around 20 small stores.<ref name="Goldman 1998">Template:Cite web</ref> To attract visitors, RIOC developed several recreational facilities and parks and sought to restore the island's oldest buildings.<ref name="Bazzi 1993">Template:Cite news</ref> RIOC also planned to remove about Template:Convert of land to make way for a seawall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The architect Santiago Calatrava was hired to design a visitor center in the 1990s,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> but this was never built.<ref name="Roosevelt Island Historical Society 2020">Template:Cite web</ref>
RIOC proposed selling off the Southtown site in 1997,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Related Companies and Hudson Companies signed an agreement to develop Southtown.<ref name="Hughes 2017" /><ref name="Garber 2024">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The plans for Southtown were subsequently redrawn;<ref name="Stamler 1999" /> the revised plan called for three buildings to the east of Main Street, six buildings to the west, and new recreational fields.<ref name="Hevesi 2001" /> Southtown's development also entailed reducing the size of the existing Blackwell Park, which prompted opposition from Northtown residents who used the park.<ref name="Hevesi 2001" /> A 26-story hotel with a convention center was proposed on the island in 1998, though this plan was controversial.<ref name="Goldman 1998" /> There was also growing discontent with RIOC.<ref name="Stamler 1999" /> As a result, mayor Rudy Giuliani proposed having the city take over the island in 1999,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and state legislator Pete Grannis also proposed legislation to allow the island to govern itself.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A contractor was hired to build the first section of Southtown in May 1999,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center indicated that it would build a tower in Southtown to house its staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2000s to present
[edit]_016_-_Riverwalk_Place_(455_Main_Street).jpg){kind=link}
By the 2000 United States census, Roosevelt Island had a population of 9,520.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the island's original buildings, which were part of the Mitchell–Lama affordable housing program, were planned to be converted to market-rate housing during the time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Polner 2004" /> Southtown's first buildings, including two structures for medical workers were announced in early 2001.<ref name="Real Estate Weekly 2001">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Hevesi 2001">Template:Cite web</ref> The first two Southtown buildings were completed in 2002,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> and a proposal to redevelop the Octagon tower as an apartment building was announced that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The largely inaccessible Southpoint Park was opened year-round in 2003, a year after Governor George Pataki signed legislation designating several parks on the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The island's first two condominium buildings, both in Southtown, and the Octagon were developed next.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Brozan 2005">Template:Cite web</ref> All three structures had been completed by 2007, increasing the island's population to around 12,000.<ref name="Hughes 2007">Template:Cite web</ref> Southtown's fifth and sixth buildings were completed by 2008.<ref name="Sheftell 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> By the late 2000s, there were long waiting lists for residences on the island,<ref name="Sheftell 2008" /><ref name="Hughes 2007" /> and people quickly moved into the new residential buildings.<ref name="Fung 2011">Template:Cite magazine; Template:Cite news</ref> Although the Roosevelt Island Residents Association expressed concerns that the new developments would cause gentrification, the island largely retained its middle-class housing stock.<ref name="Bellafante 2014">Template:Cite web</ref>
Work commenced on Four Freedoms Park in 2009,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> along with a redesign of Southpoint Park.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Southpoint Park reopened in 2011,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Four Freedoms Park was finished the next year.<ref name="Foderaro 2012" /> A RIOC survey from 2010 found that only 12 percent of residents shopped on the island,<ref name="Cohen 2012" /> and RIOC leased the island's largely vacant retail space to the Related Companies and Hudson Companies the next year.<ref name="Fung 2011" /><ref name="Cohen 2012">Template:Cite web</ref> Related and Hudson renovated 33 storefronts,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while RIOC waived food-truck permit fees to entice food vendors.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> The city government selected Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University in late 2011 to develop the Cornell Tech research center on the island;<ref name="Pérez-Peña 2011">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> the proposal included three towers, a hotel, and a conference center.<ref>Template:Cite magazine; Template:Cite web</ref> The campus replaced the outmoded Goldwater Memorial Hospital,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which closed in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> Work on Cornell Tech itself began in 2015,<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Laterman 2015" /> and the campus opened two years later.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Graduate students moved to the island after Cornell Tech opened.<ref name="Krueger 2021">Template:Cite web</ref>
Meanwhile, the island's population had grown to 11,661 by the 2010 United States census.<ref name="Ganeeva 2013">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the Mitchell–Lama apartments were converted to market-rate housing in the 2010s, while development of additional residential structures continued.<ref name="Laterman 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> The seventh Riverwalk building was finished in 2015,<ref name="Hughes 2017" /><ref name="Paletta 2015" /> followed by the eighth in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Firefighters Field was renovated with the development of the eighth Riverwalk building.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To attract visitors, RIOC announced in 2018 that it would create an "art trail" around the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> RIOC began soliciting plans for a memorial to the journalist Nellie Bly in 2019;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it ultimately commissioned The Girl Puzzle monument by Amanda Matthews,<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> which was dedicated in December 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> There was an additional influx of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, particularly among those looking for open space.<ref name="Krueger 2021" /> The final building in Southtown, Riverwalk 9, began construction in November 2022<ref name="Johnston 2022">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> and topped out the next year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2024, plans were announced for a Template:Convert "healing forest" at the southern end of the island.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> The last building in the Riverwalk development, Riverwalk Heights, was completed in 2024, adding 357 units to Roosevelt Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
[edit]When the first residential buildings opened, Roosevelt Island's amenities and wheelchair accessibility made it attractive to disabled residents and families with children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many of the first residents were white, middle-income families,<ref name="Oser 1976" /> and disabled patients from the island's hospitals moved into the apartments as well.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The island also attracted residents who wanted to live in a racially integrated neighborhood, as well as those who wanted to avoid housing discrimination in other areas.<ref name="Finder 1990" />
Due to its proximity to the headquarters of the United Nations, Roosevelt Island attracted UN employees almost as soon as the first building opened.<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> A New York Times article from 1999 described Roosevelt Island's diverse demographics as being another factor in its popularity among diplomatic staff.<ref name="Hall 1999">Template:Cite web</ref> The island has been home to many diplomatic staff over the years,<ref name="Seitz Miller 2011 p. 163" /><ref name="Ganeeva 2013" /> including Kofi Annan when he was United Nations Secretary General.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One of every three Roosevelt Island residents was foreign-born by 2000.<ref name="Hughes 2007" />
The 2020 United States census showed that Roosevelt Island had a population of 11,722,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> across three census tracts.<ref name="NYC Population FactFinder" /> The racial makeup of Roosevelt Island's three census tracts was 36.3% (4,251) White, 10.6% (1,237) African American, 33.2% (3,897) Asian, 2.8% (333) from other races, and 4.8% (564) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 12.3% (1,440) of the population.<ref name="NYC Population FactFinder">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2020 census data from the New York City Department of City Planning, Roosevelt Island is grouped as part of the Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island neighborhood tabulation area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The neighborhood tabulation area had 59,200 residents.<ref name="NYC Population FactFinder" />
Community
[edit]Roosevelt Island's redevelopment in the 1970s spurred the creation of a community distinct from the rest of Manhattan.<ref name="Specter 1982" /><ref name="Sherman 1988">Template:Cite news</ref> Following Northtown's completion, an architectural critic wrote for Architectural Design that Roosevelt Island "seems to be more of a hermetically sealed suburb than an integral part of New York City".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> One newspaper from 1989 described the island as a "small, self-contained, family-oriented community", with its own Little League Baseball team, newspaper, and library.<ref name="Sherman 1988" /> A Washington Post article from the same year described the island as having the feel of a small town but with a closer connection to Manhattan.<ref name="Conn 1989" /> A New York Times article from 1999 said the island had the feel of "a postwar suburb of some European city", distinct from the rest of New York City.<ref name="Hall 1999" /> In 2008, the New York Daily News described the island as a "fantastic and peaceful place to live", albeit with many disputes among residents.<ref name="Sheftell 2008" />
Over the years, several dozen volunteer groups have been developed on the island.<ref name="Seitz Miller 2011 p. 163" /> These include the Roosevelt Island Garden Club, which consists of 120 plots tended by members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is also a farmer's market.<ref name="Jacobson 2014" /> in addition to organizations such as the Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association<ref name="Laterman 2015" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance.<ref name="Laterman 2015" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> A historical society, the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, has archival material about the island's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The island has a biweekly newspaper, The Main Street Wire,<ref name="US GPO-1998">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Polner 2004">Template:Cite news</ref> which was founded in 1981;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> it originally had a column with pieces about the history of Roosevelt Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There have been community traditions on Roosevelt Island, such as Halloween parades, Black History Month events, and Lunar New Year celebrations.<ref name="Segall 2002">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Applebome 1986" /> Various activities take place on the island throughout the year, such as picnics and concerts,<ref name="Hughes 2007" /> in addition to annual Roosevelt Island Day celebrations since 1995.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The island has also hosted events like the Roosevelt Island Table Tennis Tournament<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Figment NYC festival.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> Every summer since 2015, the Manhattan Park Pool Club has commissioned a mural for the Manhattan Park development's pool deck.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> Roosevelt Island has sometimes been used as a filming location, such as for the films Spider-Man (2002)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Dark Water (2005).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Buildings
[edit]The 1969 master plan divided the island into two residential communities: Northtown and Southtown.<ref name="Huxtable 1969" /><ref name="Von Eckardt 1969" /> The plan received mixed reviews. A writer for New York magazine wrote that the Johnson–Burgee design was "a nice plan for a very nice community", while an Architectural Forum reviewer called it "purposefully schematic and architecturally nonspecific".<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> The Wall Street Journal wrote of the buildings on the island: "Their physical surfaces are harsh but the streetscapes aren't."<ref name="Paletta 2015" /> In 1977, the City Club of New York gave Roosevelt Island's buildings a special honor award for the quality of their designs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although most of the residential structures contain rental apartments, there are also condominiums and cooperative housing.<ref name="Hughes 2017" /> Roosevelt Island generally has more wheelchair-accessible housing than other neighborhoods, in part because of its past use as a hospital island.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Northtown
[edit]The first phase of Roosevelt Island's development was called Northtown, with about 2,140 apartments.<ref name="Bailey 1974" /><ref name="The Atlanta Constitution 1976">Template:Cite news</ref> Northtown consists of four housing complexes: Westview, Island House, Rivercross, and Eastwood.<ref name="Schuman 1976" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The architectural firm of Sert, Jackson & Associates designed the Island House and Rivercross buildings east of Main Street, while John Johansen and Ashok Bhavnani designed the Eastwood and Westfield buildings on the west side.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Goldberger 1976">Template:Cite web</ref> All four structures are U-shaped buildings, which measure up to 20 stories high and are faced in concrete or corrugated brick.<ref name="Goldberger 1976" /><ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 651–652" /> Three of the buildings were rental apartment complexes: Island House, Westview, and Eastwood (the latter of which had affordable housing). Rivercross was structured as a housing cooperative.<ref name="Oser 1976">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Daily News 1977" /> All of these buildings, except Rivercross, were originally subsidized under the state's Mitchell–Lama Housing Program.<ref name="Polner 2004" /> The first apartments included built-in heating and air-conditioning units,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while the buildings themselves included health clubs.<ref name="The Atlanta Constitution 1976" /> Westview and Eastwood also had skip-stop elevators that stopped at three-floor intervals; this allowed for more flexible apartment layouts on floors that were not served by elevators.<ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 651–652">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Goldberger 1976" />
Northtown II (also known as Manhattan Park<ref name="Sheftell 2008" />), located north of Northtown and on the west side of Main Street,<ref name="Peterson 1988" /> was developed by the Starrett Corporation and designed by the firm Gruzen Samton.<ref name="Brooks 1987">Template:Cite web</ref> Completed in 1989,<ref name="Goldberger 1990" /> it occupies Template:Convert and consists of five buildings.<ref name="Sherman 1988" /> The complex comprises around 1,100 rental apartments,<ref name="Oser 1985" /> split into about 220 affordable apartments and about 880 market-rate apartments.<ref name="Brooks 1987" /> The affordable apartments are clustered within one building. In all five structures, the apartments range from one to three bedrooms.<ref name="Sherman 1988" /> There are also a garden, picnic space, community center, playgrounds, and daycare center.<ref name="Brooks 1987" /> Near the north end of the island is a 500-unit apartment building known as the Octagon, which is centered around a remaining portion of the Lunatic Asylum.<ref name="Sheftell 2008" /><ref name="Hughes 2017" />
In addition to the apartment buildings, the northern part of Roosevelt Island contains the Metropolitan Hospital's former church, which was built in the 1920s and became a wedding venue in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A stone structure, Chapel of St. Dennis, was built near the Octagon around 1935–1940; little else is known about this chapel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Southtown and southern end
[edit]Southtown (also referred to as Riverwalk<ref name="Brozan 2005" /><ref name="Johnston 2022" />) was developed starting in 2001.<ref name="Real Estate Weekly 2001" /><ref name="Hevesi 2001" /> When complete, Southtown will have 2,000 units in nine buildings.<ref name="Bellafante 2014" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, eight of Southtown's nine planned buildings had been completed, while the last structure was under construction.<ref name="Johnston 2022" /> Some of the buildings house medical staff who work in Manhattan.<ref name="Hughes 2017" /><ref name="Polner 2004" /> The structures contain a total of over 2,000 apartments, of which 40 percent are affordable housing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the buildings in Southtown are condominiums, including Riverwalk Place and Riverwalk Court.<ref name="Hughes 2007" /> In contrast to the older Northtown buildings, which were developed in groups, the Riverwalk structures were constructed as standalone buildings; the Wall Street Journal regarded Southtown as lacking the "coherent streetscapes" of Northtown.<ref name="Paletta 2015" />
The southern end of the island also contains four buildings, which are part of the Cornell Tech graduate-school campus and research center.<ref name="McKnight 2017">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> The $2 billion facility includes 2 million square feet of space on an Template:Convert site.<ref name="Warerkar 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> The first phase of the campus includes a main academic building, a graduate housing tower, and an innovation hub/tech incubator.<ref name="McKnight 2017" /> The 26-story Cornell Tech residential tower has 350 apartments and was intended as the world's largest passive house residential tower when it was built.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> Cornell Tech's first phase also includes a conference center and a hotel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The hotel is 18 stories high, with 224 rooms, and is known as the Graduate Roosevelt Island; it opened in 2021 as the island's first hotel.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref>
Designated landmarks
[edit].jpg){kind=link}
Roosevelt Island has six buildings and structures that are New York City designated landmarks,<ref name="Laterman 2015" /><ref name="AIA5 pp. 952–954">Template:Harvnb</ref> all of which are also on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn The Blackwell House at Main Street, one of the city's few remaining farmhouses,<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 84">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was built between 1796 and 1804 for James Blackwell.<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 84" /><ref name="AIA5 p. 953">Template:Harvnb</ref> Also along Main Street is the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, an Episcopal church from 1889.<ref name="AIA5 p. 953" /><ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 pp. 84–85">Template:Harvnb</ref> Blackwell Island Light, an octagonal Gothic-style lighthouse at the northern end of the island, was built in 1872;<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 85">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="AIA5 p. 954">Template:Harvnb</ref> it measures Template:Convert tall and was designed by Renwick.<ref name="NPS 1972" />
The remaining three official city landmarks are former hospitals.<ref name="AIA5 pp. 952–954" /><ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 84" /> At the island's southern tip are the Smallpox Hospital, a Gothic-style ruin built in 1857 as the first smallpox hospital in the U.S., and the Strecker Laboratory, a Romanesque Revival-style electrical substation built in 1892 as a laboratory. At the northern end is the Octagon, the sole remaining structure from the 1839 Lunatic Asylum.<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 85" /><ref name="AIA5 p. 954" /> The ruins of the City Hospital, a mid-19th-century building on the southern tip of the island, had been listed on the NRHP,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but were razed in 1994 due to extreme neglect.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Governance and infrastructure
[edit]The neighborhood is part of Manhattan Community District 8. In the 1970s, when the city's community districts were being redrawn, there were disputes over whether the island should be served by a district in Manhattan or Queens.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While the island was ultimately placed within a Manhattan community district, it received emergency services from Queens.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Polner 2004" /> The island's other services come from Manhattan; for example, it was still assigned a ZIP Code and an area code from Manhattan.<ref name="Conn 1989" /> The island has a ZIP Code of 10044, and residents are assigned area codes 212, 332, 646,Template:Efn and 917.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The United States Postal Service operates the Roosevelt Island Station at 694 Main Street;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the island's post office opened in October 1976.<ref name="Daily News 1977" /> The firm of Kallman and McKinnell designed the post office, along with a small fire station and a set of stores.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646" />
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, a state public-benefit corporation, operates the island's infrastructure and oversees its development.<ref name="Seitz Miller 2011 p. 163" /><ref name="Lambert 1994">Template:Cite web</ref> RIOC manages transportation and private security on the island, and it is also responsible for leasing out stores, developing apartments, and preserving the island's landmarked buildings.<ref name="Lambert 1994" /> Although RIOC is a state agency, its members are appointed rather than elected,<ref name="Garber 2024" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though straw polls for positions on RIOC's board were hosted starting in 2008.<ref name="Brosh 2008" /> By law, five of RIOC's nine members must be island residents,<ref name="Brosh 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> but not RIOC's CEO.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Much of RIOC's income comes from fees collected from private developers.<ref name="Garber 2024" />
Utilities
[edit]Parts of New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, which provides fresh water to much of New York City, pass underneath the island; the section under Roosevelt Island opened in 1998<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Baltimore Sun 1998">Template:Cite web</ref> and travels as much as Template:Convert under the island.<ref name="Baltimore Sun 1998" /> Roosevelt Island also had its own steam plant behind the Roosevelt Island Tramway's terminal until 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, Verdant Power installed tidal turbines under the East River's eastern channel in the 2000s as part of the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project;<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> The turbines powered small parts of the island.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Three new turbines were installed in the 2020s.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref>
Waste disposal
[edit]Before the 1970s, raw waste from Roosevelt Island was dumped directly into the East River.<ref name="Buckley 1973" /> Garbage on Roosevelt Island is collected by an automated vacuum collection (AVAC) system, which consists of pneumatic tubes measuring either Template:Convert,<ref name="Mason 2010">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Template:Convert,<ref name="Chaban 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> or Template:Convert wide.<ref name="Bodarky 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> Manufactured by Swedish firm Envac and installed in 1975, it was the second AVAC system in the U.S. at the time of its installation, after the Disney utilidor system.<ref name="Mason 2010" /><ref name="Bodarky 2017" /> It is one of the world's largest AVAC systems,<ref name="Chaban 2015" /> collecting trash from 16 residential towers.<ref name="Mason 2010" /> Trash from each tower is transported to the Central Collections and Compaction Plant<ref name="Chaban 2015" /> at up to Template:Convert.<ref name="Mason 2010" /> The collection facility contains three turbines that spin the garbage;<ref name="Bodarky 2017" /> the trash is then compacted and sent to a landfill.<ref name="Mason 2010" /><ref name="Bodarky 2017" /> The pneumatic tube system collects Template:Convert<ref name="Bodarky 2017" /> or Template:Convert of trash each day.<ref name="Chaban 2015" /> On several occasions, tenants have damaged the system by throwing large objects, such as strollers and Christmas trees, into the tubes.<ref name="Mason 2010" /><ref name="Bodarky 2017" />
Emergency services
[edit]
NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler is located in the northern portion of the island<ref name="Hughes 2017" /> and has been Roosevelt Island's only public hospital since 2013, when Goldwater Memorial Hospital closed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although the 1969 plan for Roosevelt Island called for dedicated fire and police stations,<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 645" /> Template:As of the island receives all of its emergency services from Queens.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Roosevelt Island is patrolled by the 114th Precinct of the New York City Police Department,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> located at 34Template:Hyphen16 Astoria Boulevard in Astoria, Queens.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department also patrols the island;<ref name="Goldman 1982" /><ref name="Polner 2004" /> its officers can make arrests but do not carry weapons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Roosevelt Island has no firehouse.<ref name="Murphy 2004">Template:Cite news</ref> Fire protection services are provided by Engine Company 260 of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY),<ref name="Chung 2019">Template:Cite web</ref> located at 11Template:Hyphen15 37th Avenue in Astoria.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The FDNY maintains its Special Operations Command facility at 750 Main Street on the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Engine Company 261, in Long Island City, served the island until it closed in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There was controversy over the firehouse's closure,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a New York Supreme Court judge subsequently ruled that the closure was illegal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2019, mayor Bill de Blasio's office told reporters that the firehouse would not reopen because the island already had additional emergency services.<ref name="Chung 2019" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Recreation and green spaces
[edit]Parks
[edit]
When Roosevelt Island was redeveloped in the 1970s, about a quarter of the land area was set aside for parks.<ref name="Claiborne 1975" /> The island has four primary parks: Lighthouse, Octagon, Southpoint, and Four Freedoms parks.<ref name="Laterman 2015" /> At the northern tip of Roosevelt Island is Lighthouse Park, named after the Blackwell Island Light.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Octagon Park, a Template:Convert green space, contains a prow-shaped performance stage facing the East River's west channel;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it was originally planned as an ecological park with bedrock outcrops.<ref name="Barlow p. 125">Template:Harvnb</ref> Near the south end of the island is Southpoint Park, a Template:Convert green space containing the Strecker Lab and Smallpox Hospital buildings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Template:Convert Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, a New York State Park,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> opened in 2012 at the southern end of the island.<ref name="Foderaro 2012">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Tyrnauer 2012" /> Four Freedoms Park was designed by Louis Kahn in 1974<ref name="Goldberger 1974" /> and consists of two rows of trees converging toward a granite "room" at the island's southern tip.<ref name="Goldberger 1974">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Tyrnauer 2012">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
There is a smaller park located around the Blackwell House.<ref name="Specter 1982" /> The southern tip of Roosevelt Island was formerly occupied by the Delacorte Fountain,<ref name="The New York Times 1969">Template:Cite news</ref> which was donated by publisher George T. Delacorte Jr. in mid-1967<ref name="Hanson 1967" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and dedicated in 1969.<ref name="The New York Times 1969" /> The fountain sprayed water from the East River Template:Convert into the air.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A local group planted trees at the southern tip of the island in 1985, which quickly died due to blasts from the Delacorte Fountain;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the fountain was turned off in the 1980s and subsequently taken apart.<ref name="Roosevelt Island Historical Society 2020" /> The entire island is circled by a publicly accessible waterfront promenade.<ref name="Specter 1982" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Because of its greenery, Roosevelt Island received a Tree City USA designation for several years in the 1990s and 2000s.<ref name="Goldman 1998" /><ref name="Segall 2002" />
Recreational facilities
[edit]_036_-_Firefighters_Field.jpg){kind=link}
There are four outdoor recreational fields on Roosevelt Island:<ref name="RIOC Fields">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Capobianco Field, located south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge ramp; measures Template:Convert<ref name="RIOC Fields" />
- Firefighters Field, located next to the ferry terminal north of Queensboro Bridge; measures Template:Convert<ref name="RIOC Fields" />
- McManus Field, located across from the New York City Department of Sanitation building at the north end of the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Originally known as Octagon Park,<ref name="Dowling 2019" /> it contained soccer, tennis, and baseball facilities, as well as areas for picnics and barbecues.<ref name="Bazzi 1993" /> The park was renamed from Octagon Field in October 2019 to honor Jack McManus, the former Chief of the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department.<ref name="Dowling 2019">Template:Cite news</ref>
- Pony Field, located east of the Octagon; measures Template:Convert<ref name="RIOC Fields" />
The Roosevelt Island Racquet Club is located near the Roosevelt Island Tramway stop<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1991">Template:Cite web</ref> and was developed in the early 1990s, with 11 courts underneath a pair of domes.<ref name="Bazzi 1993" /><ref name="The New York Times 1991" /> Also next to the tram stop is the Sportspark indoor recreation center, with a studio, swimming pool, gym, and recreation room.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are additional tennis courts in Octagon Park, next to the Octagon.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
[edit]Schools and higher education
[edit]Template:Multiple image Roosevelt Island is served by the New York City Department of Education.<ref name="NYCDOE M217">Template:Cite web</ref> When it was redeveloped as a residential community in the 1970s, the island was planned with up to 16 schools serving grades K-12, each accommodating 180 to 300 students.<ref name="The New York Times 1974" /> Roosevelt Island's schools were spread across several apartment buildings.<ref name="The New York Times 1974">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The school system taught fine arts as part of a partnership with Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and each school taught a foreign language as well.<ref name="Claiborne 1975" />
The first school on Roosevelt Island opened in 1975 with a single student and two teachers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the 1980s, the island had five school buildings, each serving two grades.<ref name="Specter 1982" /> All of the island's schools were combined in 1992 into PS/IS 217 Roosevelt Island School,<ref name="timeline" /> which is located on Main Street.<ref name="NYCDOE M217" /> By the 21st century, PS/IS 217 was the only public school on the island, serving students from pre-kindergarten to grade 8.<ref name="Hughes 2007" /><ref name="Jacobson 2014">Template:Cite web</ref> High-school students on the island generally went to schools in Manhattan.<ref name="Hughes 2007" /> The Child School and Legacy High School serves special needs children with learning and emotional disabilities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2011, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Cornell Tech, a Cornell University-Technion-Israel Institute of Technology graduate school of applied sciences, would be built on the island.<ref name="Pérez-Peña 2011" /> The first phase of Cornell Tech opened in 2017.<ref name="Warerkar 2017" />
Library
[edit]The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Roosevelt Island branch at 504 Main Street.<ref name="nypl-roosevelt-island">Template:Cite web</ref> The library was founded in the 1970s as a volunteer initiative.<ref name="nypl-roosevelt-island" /><ref name="Coleman 1998">Template:Cite news</ref> Two residents, Dorothy and Herman Reade, founded the island's first library within a rented space in 1976; the collection had moved to 625 Main Street by 1977.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Reades' library was unusual in that it used a custom classification system, rather than the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which the Reades did not know much about.<ref name="Coleman 1998" /> The library moved to its own building at 524 Main Street in 1979<ref name="nypl-roosevelt-island" /> or the 1980s.<ref name="Coleman 1998" /> The library on Main Street was named the Dorothy and Herman Reade Library of Roosevelt Island in the early 1980s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Residents originally paid dues to access the library.<ref name="US GPO-1998" />
The library became a branch of the NYPL system in 1998, allowing the branch to access the NYPL's much larger collection.<ref name="Coleman 1998" /> The Empire State Center for the Book dedicated a plaque on the island in 2016, marking the island's literary connections.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current NYPL branch at 504 Main Street opened in January 2021 and covers Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Religion
[edit]There have been churches and chapels for several Christian denominations on the island.<ref name="Berdy Society 2003 p. 37">Template:Cite book</ref> The Chapel of the Good Shepherd, a Late Victorian Gothic style structure,<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 pp. 84–85" /> was Roosevelt Island's first church and operated until 1958 as an Episcopal church.<ref name="Berdy Society 2003 p. 37" /><ref name="The New York Times 1975">Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> The chapel reopened in 1975 as a community center.<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 pp. 84–85" /><ref name="The New York Times 1975" /> The Chapel of Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted dated to 1909<ref name="Berdy Society 2003 p. 37" /> and was a Gothic-style stone building serving the island's Catholic community.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Church of the Good Samaritan was developed for the Lutheran community in 1917. Both the Chapel of Our Lady and the Church of the Good Samaritan have since been demolished.<ref name="Berdy Society 2003 p. 37" /> At the Metropolitan Hospital was an Episcopal chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (consecrated 1925),<ref name="The New York Times 1925" /> and a Catholic chapel, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.<ref name="Berdy Society 2003 p. 37" />
Welfare Island originally contained the Council Synagogue, which opened in 1926<ref name="The New York Times 1926" /> and was described as having a "pleasing exterior" and a "simple, dignified interior".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Following the residential redevelopment, the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation was founded Template:Circa; the Chabad Lubavitch Center of Roosevelt Island moved into the RIJC's space in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Chabad of Roosevelt Island also operates a Chabad Jewish student organization in association with Cornell Tech, which accommodates many international students from Israel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is also a mosque operated by the Islamic Society of Roosevelt Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transportation
[edit]Until its development in the late 20th century, Roosevelt Island was largely inaccessible from the outside world, and a guard banned most visitors, including all children under age 12.<ref name="Bailey 1974" /> The island was accessed solely by rowboat until the early 20th century.<ref name="Lippincott 2001" /> Even through the 1950s, the only modes of transit to and from the island were a ferry from 78th Street in Manhattan and an elevator from the Queensboro Bridge.<ref name="Bailey 1974" />
Template:As of, the island is accessible via bridge, aerial tramway, ferry, and subway.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although the tramway and subway stations are both wheelchair-accessible, both modes of transit can experience outages that occasionally make it impossible for disabled residents to travel to and from the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Furthermore, despite the existence of several modes of transit, the island still had a reputation for being hard to access during the 21st century.<ref name="Krueger 2021" />
Pedestrian and vehicular access
[edit]Although Roosevelt Island is located directly under the Queensboro Bridge, it is no longer directly accessible from the bridge itself. A trolley previously connected passengers from Queens and Manhattan to a stop in the middle of the bridge, where passengers took an elevator down to the island. The trolley operated from the bridge's opening in 1909 until April 7, 1957.<ref name="McCandlish 1957">Template:Cite news</ref> An elevator building, on the bridge's north side, was finished in 1918<ref name="Bailey 1974">Template:Cite news</ref> or 1919.<ref name="McCandlish 1957" /> The elevator was closed to the public in 1957, after the Roosevelt Island Bridge opened,<ref name="McCandlish 1957" /> but was not demolished until 1970.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As late as August 1973, another passenger elevator ran from the Queens end of the bridge to the island,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Roosevelt Island Bridge, a vertical-lift bridge over the East River's eastern channel to Astoria, Queens, opened in 1955.<ref name="NYCDOT 1980" /> It is the only vehicular route to the island<ref name="The New York Times 2001">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NYCDOT 1980" /> and also contains a sidewalk.<ref name="NYCDOT 1980">Template:Cite web</ref> News media said in 2001 that the bridge was almost never lifted,<ref name="Lippincott 2001">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The New York Times 2001" /> though it was lifted more frequently starting in the 2000s.<ref name="Murphy 2004" /> There is a bike lane on the bridge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Roosevelt Island's main parking facility is the Motorgate Garage,<ref name="Driving 2014" /> which was designed by the firm of Kallman & McKinnell and originally had 1,000 parking spaces.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 646" /> It is designed in a brutalist style, with a concrete facade, and also included the island's first post office and fire station.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 652">Template:Harvnb</ref> There are also parking meters along Main Street,<ref name="Driving 2014">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> but parking is limited to 20 minutes.<ref name="Hughes 2017" /> Since 2020, the island has also had Citi Bike bikeshare stations.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
Mass transit
[edit]The New York City Subway's 63rd Street Line was proposed in 1965 with a station directly serving the island.<ref name="Newsday 1965" /> Service on the 63rd Street Line began in October 1989,<ref name="Lorch 1989" /> but the line had no direct subway access to much of Queens until 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The line's Roosevelt Island station (served by the Template:NYCS trains) is one of the deepest stations below sea level in the system, at more than Template:Convert below ground level.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The BMT 60th Street Tunnel (Template:NYCS trains) and the IND 53rd Street Line (Template:NYCS trains) both pass under Roosevelt Island, without stopping, on their way between Manhattan and Queens.<ref>Template:NYCS const</ref> There are emergency exit shafts to the island from both the 53rd Street and 60th Street tunnels.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Roosevelt Island Tramway was proposed in the 1970s after delays in the subway's construction.<ref name="Buckley 1973" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was completed in May 1976, providing access to Midtown Manhattan,<ref name="Ferretti 1976">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> and had been intended as a temporary mode of transport until the subway station opened.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 652" /><ref name="Conn 1989" /> The tram was completely reconstructed in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
When the island was being redeveloped in the 1970s, the UDC had planned to operate 20-seat electric minibuses there.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> Template:As of, MTA Bus's Template:NYC bus link route operates between the island and Queens, making a loop around Roosevelt Island.<ref>Template:Cite NYC bus map</ref><ref name="RIOC Bus">Template:Cite web</ref> RIOC also operates the Red Bus, a shuttle bus service that circulates around the island.<ref name="RIOC Bus" /> The latter service is fare-free,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> connecting apartment buildings to the subway and tramway.<ref name="RIOC Bus" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A ferry service ran from Welfare Island to Manhattan from 1935 to June 1956,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although the island's old ferry terminal remained standing for several years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A ferry route ran directly to Lower Manhattan briefly during 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite news</ref> Roosevelt Island has been served by NYC Ferry's Astoria route since August 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite web</ref> The ferry landing is on the east side of the island near the tramway station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable people
[edit]
Prisoners
[edit]- George Appo – pickpocket and con artist<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Ethel Byrne – sentenced to 30 days for distribution of information about birth control;<ref name="Armstrong 2021 p. 484">Template:Cite book</ref> became the first woman in the U.S. ever to be force-fed in prison after going on a hunger strike there<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Ida Craddock – convicted for obscenity under the Comstock laws<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Ann O'Delia Diss Debar – served six months for fraud as a medium<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- George Washington Dixon – served six months for libel against Reverend Francis L. Hawks<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Fritz Duquesne – Nazi spy and leader of the Duquesne Spy Ring, the largest convicted espionage case in United States history<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
- Becky Edelson – for "using threatening language" during a speech<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Carlo de Fornaro – for criminal libel<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Emma Goldman – several times, for activities in support of anarchism and birth control and against the World War I draft<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Billie Holiday – served on prostitution charges<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
- Mary Jones – 19th-century transgender prostitute who was a center of media attention for coming to court wearing feminine attire<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Eugene Reising – firearms designer convicted of violating the Sullivan Act<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Madame Restell – for performing abortions<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Margaret Sanger – sentenced to 30 days for distribution of information about birth control; jailed after her sister Ethel Byrne<ref name="Armstrong 2021 p. 484" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Boss Tweed – served one year on corruption-related charges; had a private room and secretary on the island<ref name="Gray 2012" />
- Mae West – served eight days on public obscenity charges for her play Sex<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Visitors
[edit]- Charles Dickens – described conditions at the "Octagon", an asylum for the mentally ill then located on the northern portion of the island, in his American Notes (1842)<ref name="Conn 1989" />
- William Wallace Sanger – physician-in-chief at the Blackwell's Island Hospital,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> wrote here the book The History of Prostitution including his experiences as physician-in-chief<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Joseph Lister - near the end of his trip to the United States, performed an operation at Charity Hospital on Blackwell's Island (1876)<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
- Nellie Bly – went undercover as a patient in the Women's Lunatic Asylum and reported what happened in the New York World as well as her book Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Egon Erwin Kisch – visited the Welfare Island penitentiary under a false name (Mister Becker) for the report "Prisons on an Island on East River" as part of his reportage Volume "Paradise America" (1930)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Residents
[edit]- Kofi Annan (1938–2018) – United Nations Secretary-General<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Michelle Bachelet (born 1951) – president of Chile and Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Jonah Bobo (born 1997) – actor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Michael Brodsky (born 1948) – author<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Perry Chen (born 1976) – entrepreneur, best known for being the creator and principal founder of Kickstarter, the online crowdfunding platform for creative ideas<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Alice Childress (1912–1994) – playwright and author<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Billy Crawford (born 1982) – singer, songwriter and actor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Roy Eaton (born 1930) – pianist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Mike Epps (born 1970) – stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer and rapper, best known for playing Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and its sequel, Friday After Next<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Paul Feinman (1960–2021) – associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Wendy Fitzwilliam (born 1972) – former Miss Universe and Miss Trinidad and Tobago<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Amanda Forsythe (born 1976) – light lyric soprano known for her interpretations of baroque music and the works of Rossini<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Buddy Hackett (1924–2003) – comedian and actor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Anna-Maria Henckel von Donnersmarck (born 1940) – German political activist<ref name="Goodyear 2019" />
- Count Leo-Ferdinand Henckel von Donnersmarck (1935–2009) – German businessman and official of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta<ref name="Goodyear 2019" />
- Count Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (born 1973) – German film director<ref name="Goodyear 2019">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
- Tim Keller (1950–2023) – Christian author and minister<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Al Lewis (1923–2006) – actor, best known as "Grandpa" in The Munsters<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Sarah Jessica Parker (born 1965) – actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Andrea Rosen (born 1974) – comedian<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Jon Sciambi (born 1970) – ESPN broadcaster<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Lyndsey Scott – model, actress, iOS mobile app software developer<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]Sources
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite landmarks
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite report
- Template:Cite book
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- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite NY2000
- Template:Cite NY1960
- Template:Cite aia5
External links
[edit]Template:Commons category Template:Wikivoyage
- Template:Official website for RIOC, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation
- Parks & Recreation Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation's website for Events, memberships, permits
- Roosevelt Island Residents Association
- 1903 Panorama of Blackwell's Island, N.Y., Library of Congress, Thomas A. Edison motion picture
- The Island Nobody Knows, a fully digitized exhibition catalog about Roosevelt Island from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
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