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North Brother Island

 
North Brother Island

 
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North Brother Island is an island in the East River
East River

The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland....
 situated between the Bronx
The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the Five Boroughs of New York City and the newest of the 62 Administrative divisions of New York#county of New York State....
 and Riker's Island. Its companion, South Brother Island
South Brother Island

South Brother Island is one of a pair of small islands in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker's Island, New York City and containing of land....
, is a short distance away. The island was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from the island now known as Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Welfare Island , and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City....
. Riverside Hospital was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox
Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
 Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease; its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinable
Quarantine

Quarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease....
 diseases.






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Generalslocum 05
North Brother Island is an island in the East River
East River

The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland....
 situated between the Bronx
The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the Five Boroughs of New York City and the newest of the 62 Administrative divisions of New York#county of New York State....
 and Riker's Island. Its companion, South Brother Island
South Brother Island

South Brother Island is one of a pair of small islands in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker's Island, New York City and containing of land....
, is a short distance away. The island was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from the island now known as Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Welfare Island , and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City....
. Riverside Hospital was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox
Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
 Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease; its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinable
Quarantine

Quarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease....
 diseases. Typhoid Mary
Mary Mallon

Mary Mallon , also known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States to be identified as a Asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever....
 was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938. The hospital closed shortly thereafter.

After World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges, and their families. Once the nationwide housing shortage abated the island was abandoned again. In the 1950s a center opened to treat adolescent drug users. The facility claimed to be the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders. By the early 1960s widespread staff corruption and patient recidivism
Recidivism

Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior....
 forced the facility to close.

The island is currently abandoned and off-limits to the public. A dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings, but supports one of the area's largest nesting colonies of Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron

The Black-crowned Night Heron , is a medium-sized heron....
.

The island was also the site of the wreck of the General Slocum
General Slocum

The SS General Slocum was a steamship launched in 1891. She caught fire and burned to the water in New York's East River on June 15, 1904. More than 1,000 people died in the accident, making it New York City's worst loss-of-life disaster until the September 11, 2001 attacks....
 which burned on June 15, 1904. Over 1,000 people died either from the fire onboard the ship or from drowning before the ship was beached on the island's shores.

Together, the two Brother Islands, North and South, have a land area of .

External links

  • Photos of the islands in 2004, and images of the General Slocum
    General Slocum

    The SS General Slocum was a steamship launched in 1891. She caught fire and burned to the water in New York's East River on June 15, 1904. More than 1,000 people died in the accident, making it New York City's worst loss-of-life disaster until the September 11, 2001 attacks....
     from .
    • -recent reports on wading bird and gull nesting activity at North Brother Island
  • Photographs and history of the abandoned Riverside Hospital
  • A second gallery of images taken by