It would be simply impossible to present within the limits of a single
chapter, or indeed in half a dozen chapters of the size of this, a
description of the Benevolent and Charitable Institutions of New York.
We can do no more than glance at them. Besides the institutions already
mentioned, there are twenty-one hospitals, twenty-three asylums,
seventeen homes, five missions, industrial schools, and miscellaneous
societies, making a total of sixty-six institutions, or with those
already noticed, a total of nearly one hundred benevolent, charitable,
penal, and reformatory institutions supported by the city and people of
New York.
Among the hospitals the largest and oldest is the New York Hospital,
formerly located on Broadway opposite Pearl street. The Hospital is in
charge of the medical faculty of the University of New York. At present
the operations of this institution are entirely suspended, and will not
be resumed until the completion of new buildings, the old ones having
been sold and pulled down.
The Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane, is a branch of the New York
Hospital. It is situated on One-hundred-and-seventeenth street, between
Tenth and Eleventh avenues. It is one of the most complete
establishments in the world, and is admirably conducted.
Bellevue Hospital, on the East River, at the foot of Twenty-sixth street,
is one of the largest in the city. It will accommodate 1200 patients,
and is conducted by the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections.
There is no charge for treatment and attendance, everything being free.
The hospital is in charge of the most distinguished physicians of the
city, and as a school of clinical instruction ranks among the first in
the world. The course is open to the students of all the medical schools
in the city.
[Picture: BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.]
St. Luke's Hospital, on Fifty-fourth street and Fifth avenue, is a noble
institution, and one of the prettiest places on the great thoroughfare of
fashion. Its erection is due to the labors of the Rev. Dr. W. A.
Muhlenberg. It is the property of the Episcopal Church, by which body it
is conducted. The sick are nursed here by the "Sisters of the Holy
Communion," a voluntary association of unmarried Protestant ladies. The
hospital has accommodations for over one hundred patients, and is said to
be the best conducted of any denominational charity in the city.
Patients who are able to pay are required to do so, but the poor are
received without charge.
The Roosevelt Hospital, a magnificent structure, is situated on West
Fifty-ninth street, between Ninth and Tenth avenues, and is to furnish,
when completed, accommodations for 600 patients. It is the gift of the
late Jas. H. Roosevelt of New York to the suffering.
[Picture: ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL.]
The Presbyterian Hospital, on Seventy-first street, between Fourth and
Madison avenues, is not yet completed. It is a beautiful structure, and
is to have accommodations for several hundred patients. It is the
property of the Presbyterian Church of New York. The site, valued at
$250,000, and a further sum of $250,000 in cash, were the gift of Mr.
James Lenox.
The Roman Catholic Church conducts the Hospitals of St. Francis and St.
Vincent, the former on East Fifth street, and the latter on the corner of
Eleventh street and Seventh avenue. These two institutions contain about
250 beds.
The German Hospital, Seventy-seventh street and Fourth avenue, is, as
yet, incomplete. It was erected by the German citizens of New York, but
receives patients of every nationality and color. The poor are received
without charge under certain restrictions. There are accommodations for
about seventy-five patients in the present buildings. Connected with the
hospital is a dispensary from which medical advice and medicines are
given to the poor.
The Jews of New York have just completed a magnificent edifice, known as
the Mount Sinai Hospital, on Lexington avenue, between Sixty-sixth and
Sixty-seventh streets. It will contain 200 beds. The present Hebrew
Hospital, in Twenty-eighth street, near Eighth avenue, contains about
sixty-five beds. The Jews also have a burial ground, in which those of
their faith who die in the Hospital are buried without expense to their
friends.
The Child's Hospital, Lexington avenue and Fiftieth street, embraces four
distinct charities: A Foundling Asylum, a Nursery for the children of
laboring women, a Child's Hospital, and a Lying-in Asylum. The buildings
are very extensive. The annual Charity Ball is given in behalf of this
institution.
The Woman's Hospital of the State of New York, Fourth avenue and Fiftieth
street, is a handsome building, and the only institution of its kind in
the country. It owes its existence to the exertions of Dr. J. Marion
Sims, who is, together with Dr. Emmett, still in charge of it. It is
devoted exclusively to the treatment of female diseases. It is attended
by physicians from all parts of the country, who come to receive clinical
instruction in this branch of their profession.
The other prominent hospitals are, Dr. Knight's Institution for the
Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled; the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary;
the House of Rest for Consumptives; the New York Infirmary for Women and
Children; the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women; the
Hahneman Hospital; the Stranger's Hospital (a private charity); the New
York Ophthalmic Hospital; the New York Aural Institute; and the Manhattan
Eye and Ear Hospital.
[Picture: INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.]
Among the asylums are the Institution for the Blind, on Ninth avenue and
Thirty-fourth street; the New York Institution for the Instruction of the
Deaf and Dumb, on Washington Heights, overlooking the Hudson; the
Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes, Broadway, near
Forty-fifth street; the New York Orphan Asylum, Seventy-third street,
west of Broadway; the Colored Orphan Asylum, One-hundred-and-tenth street
and Tenth avenue; the Orphan Home and Asylum of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, Forty-ninth street and Lexington avenue; the Sheltering Arms, an
Episcopal institution for the Protection and Care of Orphans and half
Orphans, especially those whose bodily infirmities would exclude them
from other institutions; three Roman Catholic Orphan Asylums, one at the
corner of Mott and Prince streets, one on Fifth avenue (for boys), on the
block above the new Cathedral, and one in Madison avenue (for girls),
immediately in the rear of that just mentioned; the New York Asylum for
Lying-in Women, 83 Marion street; the Society for the Relief of Half
Orphans and Destitute Children, 67 West Tenth street; the Leake and Watts
Orphan House, West One-hundred-and-tenth street, near the Central Park;
the New York Juvenile Asylum, One-hundred-and-seventy-sixth street,
devoted to the reformation of juvenile vagrants; the Hebrew Benevolent
and Orphan Asylum, Third avenue and Seventy-seventh street; St. Barnabas
House, 304 Mulberry street, an Episcopal "Home for Homeless Women and
Children;" the Institution of Mercy, 33 Houston street, a Roman Catholic
institution for the visitation of the sick and prisoners, the instruction
of poor children, and the protection of virtuous women in distress; the
Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum of St. Vincent de Paul, Thirty-ninth street,
near Seventh avenue; the Society for the Protection of Destitute Roman
Catholic Children, the Protectory of which is located at West Farms, in
Westchester County; the New York Foundling Asylum, in Washington Square;
the Shepherd's Fold, Eighty-sixth street and Second avenue, an
establishment similar to the "Sheltering Arms," and conducted by the
Episcopal Church; the Woman's Aid Society and Home for Training Young
Girls, Seventh avenue and Thirteenth street; and St. Joseph's Orphan
Asylum (Roman Catholic), Avenue A and Eighty-ninth street.
Among the Homes and Missions are, the Association for the Relief of
Respectable Aged Indigent Females, in East Twentieth street; the Ladies'
Union Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Forty-second street,
near Eighth avenue; the American Female Guardian Society and Home for the
Friendless, 29 East Twenty-ninth, and 32 East Thirtieth streets; the Home
for Incurables, an Episcopal institution, with its buildings at West
Farms; the Samaritan Home for the Aged, Ninth avenue and Fourteenth
street; the Colored Home, First avenue and Sixty-fifth street; St. Luke's
(Episcopal) Home for Indigent Christian Females, Madison avenue and
Eighty-ninth street; the Presbyterian Home for Aged Women, Seventy-third
street, between Fourth and Madison avenues; the Union Home School, for
the Orphans of Soldiers and Sailors, on the Boulevard at
One-hundred-and-fifty-first street; the Female Christian Home for Women,
314 East Fifteenth street; the Home for Friendless Women, 86 West Fourth
street; the Women's Prison Association, 213 Tenth avenue; the Roman
Catholic Home for the Aged Poor, 447 West Thirty-second street; the
Chapin Home for the Aged and Infirm (Universalist), now in course of
erection; the Baptist Home for Aged and Infirm Persons, 41 Grove street;
the Home for Aged Hebrews, 215 West Seventeenth street; the Ladies
Christian Union or Young Women's Home, 27 and 28 Washington Square; the
Water street Home for Women, 273 Water street, devoted to the reformation
of fallen women, and occupying the building formerly used by John Allen,
"the wickedest man in New York," as a dance house; Wilson's Industrial
School for Girls, Avenue A and St. Mark's place; the New York House and
School of Industry, 120 West Sixteenth street; and the Society for the
Employment and Relief of Poor Women (Unitarian).
The city conducts five large and excellent dispensaries, at which the
poor may receive medical advice, treatment and medicines free of charge.
There are also a number of dispensaries devoted to the gratuitous
treatment of special diseases.