What very few people know: Manhattan is an island. Surrounded by water and other islands. There is the immigrant island of Ellis Island not far from the Statue of Liberty and Governors Island off the southern tip of Manhattan, which has now been rediscovered by New Yorkers.
Narrow Roosevelt Island on the East River, a run-down island in the early 1980s, is now a prime residential area and tourist attraction, thanks to its renovated aerial tramway and subway station.
In the very northeast of Manhattan, between La Guardia Airport in Queens and the Bronx, there are other archipelagos such as the prison island of Rikers Island and the two brother islands. The latter two say little even to true New Yorkers. The northern and larger, namely North Brother Island, measures just five hectares.
But around 1900, this island was known to most residents of the metropolis – albeit always with a sense of horror. As the population of New York City exploded in the late 19th century, infectious diseases ramped up the Manhattan slums: smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis, measles, diphtheria, fever, and polio were among the most common epidemics.
Island between strong currents
Because of its isolated location and notorious currents, North Brother Island was still an undeveloped area. Here the city fathers decided to build a special hospital: the Riverside Hospital became New York City’s quarantine hospital from 1885.
The best-known Riverside patient was Mary Mallon. The immigrant from Ireland was better known as “Thypus-Mary” because she was spreading thypus bacteria without being sick. However, she had infected numerous people in her area, which is why she had to live in the Riverside Hospital until her death in 1938.
In 1963 the hospital, which had last housed an addiction clinic for young people, was closed. Since then the island has been left to its own devices. Entering the premises is strictly forbidden. Green plants proliferate, a colony of night herons has taken up quarters here.
The US Photographer Christopher Payne has visited the enchanted plague island several times, roamed through the empty hospital wards, kitchens and residential buildings and captured the quarantine world of yore in pictures. Entitled “North Brother Island – The Last Unknown Place in New York City” his best photographs are published in a photo book by Empire State Editions, a publisher of the Fordham University Pressappeared.
You can also click through the following photo series:
– Lost Places in the USA: moments of eternity at the side of the highway
– Manhattan from above These are the best observation decks in New York City
– Discarded and Abandoned: These are the most fascinating wrecks in the world