Wards Island, New York City

Original title: Front View of the State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital Institutions, Ward's Island. Engraving by Roylance & Purcell N.Y. Source: Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York by Friedrich Kapp, 1870.

Wards Island is a 255-acre landmass lying in the northern end of the East River, between Manhattan and Queens, north of Roosevelt Island. Today, it is joined to the Randalls Island. Wards Island was known as Tenkenas (wild lands) Island at the time the Dutch settlers acquired from its native inhabitants, in 1637.

In June 4, 1847, the New York State Board of Commissioners of Emigration tried to buy a tract of about 8 acres of land, for the accommodation of the increasing number of their sick, but they could only obtain a lease of the ground. There was an old stone building originally built for a factory on this tract. On July 14, 1847, the Com missioners 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, it was finished and occupied.

The Refuge for Destitute Immigrants on Wards Island opened in July 1866. The complex was operated under the authority of the New York State Board of Commissioners of Emigration, which also run the State Emigrant Landing Depot at Castle Garden in the southern tip of Manhattan. Later other buildings were constructed, including a nursery, two chapels, doctors' residences, and barracks. The Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane, opened about 1871. The western portion of Wards Island contained a smallpox hospital. The buildings of the complex were later taken over by the Manhattan State Hospital, and have since been demolished.