Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/148

126 York City hospitals, and still others to the Almshouse. The convalescent were nursed at the public-stores on Staten Island, the use of which had been granted by the United States Government for a limited period. Others, as, for instance, the passengers of the cholera-ship, the New York, from Havre, were, by permission of the Secretary of War, sent to Bedloe's Island, where temporary hospitals had been erected for their accommodation. These temporary measures, however, were wholly inadequate to the many wants and necessities of the emigrant; and the Commissioners speedily came to the conclusion that, in order to save expenses and provide sufficient accommodation for all their sick, they would have to build their own hospitals and places of refuge.

Ward's Island was the spot which they selected for the location of these establishments. A better choice could not have been made. This island, which consists of about 200 acres, and has the shape of an irregular square, is situated in the East River, north of Blackwell's and south of Randall's Islands, and extends opposite to the city from about One Hundredth Street to One Hundred and Sixteenth Street. Its proximity to the city, and its accessibility at all seasons of the year, its exemption from the inconveniences and annoyances of a thickly settled neighborhood, together with the facilities it afforded of acquiring land of sufficient extent to meet possible future needs at a much more reasonable rate than could be obtained elsewhere, under equally favorable conditions of location, these several advantages induced that selection. The Commissioners have not been disappointed in the result, now that the demands upon the island have reached to a magnitude much beyond their anticipation. As early as June 4, 1847, they tried to buy a tract of about 8 acres of land, with an old stone building originally built for a factory, for the accommodation of the increasing number of their sick, but they could only obtain a lease of the ground. On July 14, 1847, the Commissioners resolved to erect a two-story shed, 200 feet long and 22 feet wide, for the accommodation of those who could not find employment and had not the strength to work. Early in 1848, they determined to build a hospital, within a short distance of the building used as a refuge. On November 1, 1848, it was finished and occupied. The structure was of wood,