Blackwell's Island Asylum

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The Blackwell's island Asylum was the first lunatic asylum for the city of New York and the first municipal mental hospital in the country. The institution was the first in what later became a larger system of New York City Asylums which was comprised of hospitals on Blackwell's, Ward's, and more briefly Hart's and Randall's Islands in New York City.

The Blackwell's Island Asylum was part of a larger complex of city buildings on the island, including at one point or another a Prison, By the early 1800's New York City had become the largest urban area in the United States, a population heavily bolstered by immigration and industrialization. As a result there were large numbers of indigent insane, who care fell to the city. In the years leading up to 1825 the cities insane were either kept in the city almshouse on at the Bloomingdale Asylum. It was in the year 1825 that the insane of the city were moved to the basement and first floor of a building built as a General Hospital on Blackwell's Island, part of a larger complex of municipal institutions on the island comprising of an almshouse and prison. It was here where the mentally ill remained in conditions described by the very commissioners in charge of the hospital described as "a miserable refuge for their trial, undeserving of the name Asylum, in these enlightened days". It was not until 14 years later, in 1834, which the city approved for construction of a separate institution for the insane on the island as a result of long communications from Dr. James McDonald, however the hospital was not completed until 1839.

This new institution, located on the northernmost end of the island, was at this time completely separated from the other institutions on the island and given autonomy. Despite this new autonomy and purpose built hospital the conditions at the hospital quickly degraded and for the duration of its existence the hospital was plagued by overcrowding, under-funding, and scandals. In 1840 only one year after opening the population stood at 278, while by 1870, with no significant improvement in housing or infrastructure, the hospital housed 1,300, far more than any state hospital at the time. This overcrowding served to greatly hinder not only living conditions at the hospital but also impeded efficient internal administration. The inability to properly administer a facility of this size was made apparent by the substandard diet of the patients, frequent outbreaks of disease, and even the employment of convicts from the Blackwell's Island Prison as attendants to reduce costs.

This large patient population was a result of the hospital's general use to provide cheap custodial care to insane immigrants, with a population of 534 immigrant patients compared to only 121 native born patients in 1850. When considering the population of New York City at the time was less than half immigrant the true disproportion of this statistic is made apparent. The superintendent during the 1850's recognizing this appealed to the state for financial aid, citing both the extreme burden placed on the city by having to care for non-resident insane and the fact citizens of New York City were forced to pay taxes to support the State Asylum at Utica, which provided them no aid. His suggestions that the state either open an asylum in the city or take on the responsibility of immigrant insane fell on deaf ears and the population of the hospital continued to grow, necessitating the creation of a new city asylum on Wards Island in 1871.

By of 1866 the hospital had grown to


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