Roosevelt Island is anisland inNew York City'sEast River, within theborough ofManhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough ofQueens, onLong Island, to the east. It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long, with an area of 147 acres (0.59 km2), and had a population of 11,722 as of the2020 United States census. It consists of two largely residential communities: Northtown and Southtown. Roosevelt Island is owned by the city but was leased to theNew York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for 99 years in 1969.
The island was calledMinnehanonck by theLenape andVarken Eylandt[a] (Hog Island) by theDutch during the colonial era and laterBlackwell's Island. During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the island was used by hospitals and prisons, with very limited access. It was renamedWelfare Island in 1921. Following several proposals to redevelop Welfare Island in the 1960s, the UDC leased the island, renamed it after former U.S. presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt in 1973, and redeveloped it as a series of residential neighborhoods. The first phase of Northtown, the island's first community, was completed in 1974, followed by the second phase (Northtown II) in 1989. Southtown was developed in the early 21st century, along with theCornell Tech higher-education campus.
In addition to residential towers, the island has several buildings that predate the residential development, including sixNew York City designated landmarks. The island is accessible by numerous modes of transport, includinga bridge,an aerial tram, and the city'ssubway andferry systems. Many government services, such as emergency services, are provided from Queens, but the island also has a post office and a pneumatic garbage-disposal system. There are several parks on Roosevelt Island as well, including apromenade around the island's perimeter andFour Freedoms Park at its southern end. In addition to Cornell Tech, the island contains anelementary school. Severalhouses of worship are located on Roosevelt Island, and numerous community organizations have been founded there.
Roosevelt Island is located in the middle of theEast River, betweenManhattan Island to the west andQueens to the east.[5] The island's southern tip faces47th Street on Manhattan Island, while its northern tip faces86th Street on Manhattan Island.[6] It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long,[b] with a maximum width of 800 feet (240 m).[8][9][3] The island was 107 acres (43 ha) prior to the 18th century[7][10] but has been expanded to 147 acres (0.59 km2).[8][5][11] Administratively, it is part of theNew York City borough of Manhattan.[12][13] Together withMill Rock, Roosevelt Island constitutes Manhattan'sCensus Tract 238, which has a land area of 0.279 sq mi (0.72 km2).[14]
The island is one of the southernmost locations in New York City whereFordham gneiss, a type ofbedrock commonly found beneath theSouth Bronx,[15] can be seen above ground.[7][16] The gneiss outcropping was surrounded bydolomite, which was worn down by East River currents, creating the current island.[7] The layer of bedrock is shallow and is covered byglacial till, and a 2012 study found no evidence of ponds or streams on the island.[17] Since the 19th century, the island's natural topography has been modified drastically, andfill has been added to Roosevelt Island to increase its area.[18] An ancientfault line, known asCameron's Line, runs within the East River between Roosevelt Island and Queens.[19]
Roosevelt Island's street layout is based on a master plan designed in 1969 by the architectsPhilip Johnson andJohn Burgee. Main Street runs the length of the island, splitting into a loop around Southtown;[6] it was the island's only road until 1989.[20] The street is paved in red brick.[21][22] Main Street, along with the island's parks, was intended to be a communal area for the island's various ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes.[23] The island's residences and businesses are largely clustered around Main Street.[22] Roosevelt Island is surrounded by a seawall of Fordham gneiss, quarried from the island itself.[7]
According to archaeological digs, the area around Roosevelt Island was settled byPaleo-Indians up to 12,000 years ago.[24] In particular, the area was the homeland of the Mareckawick, a group ofLenape Native Americans,[8][25] who called itMinnehanonck.[3][4] The name is variously translated as "long island" or "It's nice to be on the island".[4] The historianIsaac Newton Phelps Stokes claimed that theMinnehanonck name referred toRandalls Island, but this claim has not been corroborated.[25]
The Lenape may have visited the island.[26][8] Archeological studies have foundshell middens just opposite the island, along both the Queens and Manhattan shores, and the Lenape are known to have had settlements around waterways.[26][27] However, the island likely did not have any Lenape settlements because of the lack of freshwater.[8] There is little evidence of Native American activities on the island from before theArchaic period (which ended around 1000 BCE).[26][28]
There are disputes over who owned the island after the European colonization ofNew Netherland in the 17th century.[1] According to several sources, Dutch GovernorWouter van Twiller was said to have purchased the island from the Lenape in 1637.[29][30] A study from 1988 found that Van Twiller's deed referred to what is nowRandalls and Wards Islands further north,[1] but a subsequent study said that Van Twiller acquired Randalls, Wards, Roosevelt, andGovernors islands simultaneously.[31] In any case, Roosevelt Island was known in early modern Dutch asVarcken[s],[1][2][3]Varken,[4] orVerckens Eylandt,[1] all of which are translated in modern English as Hog Island (Varkens eiland).[32][a]
By 1639, Jan Claessen Alteras was known to have farmed Hog Island.[1][33] Reports indicate that Alteras had made improvements to the island by 1642, though the nature of the work is not known.[34] New Netherland director-generalPeter Stuyvesant took over the island in 1642.[1][33] The following year, it was leased to Francois Fyn.[1][34][33] Fyn, in turn, leased the island to Laurens Duyts, who developed further structures on the island. Duytsdefaulted on his lease in 1658 and was deported for "gross immoralities", and Fyn's lawyer took back the island.[34]
After the Dutch surrendered to the British in 1664,[1][29] a British military captain named John Manning acquired the island in 1668.[34][4][29][c] In 1673, Manning surrendered to Dutch forces who had wanted to retake New Netherland; as punishment, he had to live on the island in exile.[4][36][1] After Manning's banishment,[34] the isle became known as Manning's Island.[35][37] Manning had a mansion near the island's southern tip, where he served rum punch to visitors.[38] The island was then conveyed to Manning's stepdaughter Mary in 1676[1][31] or 1685.[39] Mary was married to Robert Blackwell,[11] who became the island's new owner and namesake.[40][4] TheBrooklyn Times-Union wrote that the island had gained the Blackwell name "by a mere chance, or the result of a marriage".[37]
The Blackwell family settled the island over four generations.[39] At the beginning of the 18th century, Blackwell built his farmhouse, theBlackwell House, on the island.[41][42] Blackwell's Island was not a major battleground in theAmerican Revolutionary War, though British troops tried to take the island after the 1776Battle of Long Island.[1][38] The British briefly seized control on September 2–4, 1776, after which the American troops took over.[39] A British prison inspector proposed using the island as a prison in the early 1780s, but it is not known whether this happened.[43][38] Blackwell's sons took over the island in 1780 and tried to sell it, at which point Blackwell's Island had several buildings and was several miles removed from New York City.[44][10] By the mid-1780s, the island included two houses, orchards, a cider mill, and other farm structures.[31][44] Contemporary sources do not mention any structures on the northern half of the island.[44] A public auction was held in 1785, but no one bought the island.[44] In 1796, Blackwell's great-grandson Jacob Blackwell constructed theBlackwell House, one ofManhattan's oldest houses.[40] James L. Bell paid the Blackwells $30,000 for the island in 1823, but Blackwell took back control two years later, upon Bell's death.[45] One source indicated that Bell never fulfilled the terms of the sale.[44]
By 1826, the cityalmshouse atBellevue Hospital was overcrowded, prompting city officials to consider moving that facility to Blackwell's Island.[46] The city government purchased the island for $32,000 (equivalent to $916,267 in 2024)[3][45][47] on July 19, 1828.[48] Ownership of the island remained unresolved for another 16 years while Bell's widow sued the city.[49] Through the 19th century, the island housed several hospitals and a prison.[4][11] At one point there were 26 institutions on the island.[11]
The city government erected apenitentiary on the island, which opened August 3, 1830.[49] There were proposals to construct a canal to split male and female prisoners; though the canal was not built, an unknown architect did build a separate building for female prisoners.[50] The island's prison population already numbered in the hundreds by 1838, whereas there were only 24 staff members (including those not assigned to guard duties).[50] By 1839, theNew York City Lunatic Asylum opened, including theOctagon Tower.[51] The asylum, with two wings made of locally quarriedFordham gneiss,[52][53] at one point held 1,700 inmates, twice its designed capacity.[40] Prisoners frequently tried to swim away from the island.[50]Almshouses, or housing for the poor, were constructed in 1847.[48] Other hospitals were soon developed on the island, including a 600-bed prison hospital that was finished in 1849.[31]Thomas Story Kirkbride, who oversaw some of the island's hospitals, described the island as having fallen into "degradation and neglect" by 1848.[54]
Aworkhouse was built on the island in 1852,[55] followed by theSmallpox Hospital in 1856.[31] The Asylum burned down in 1858 and was rebuilt on the same site,[40] and the prison hospital was destroyed in the same fire.[31] Two pipes provided fresh water from theCroton Aqueduct to the island by 1860, and maps indicate that Blackwell's Island had two reservoirs as well.[56] The prison hospital was replaced withCity Hospital (later known as Charity Hospital),[31] which was completed in 1861 and served both prisoners and New York City's poorer population.[40] A "hospital for incurables" followed in 1866.[55]
Prisoners built theBlackwell Island Light on the island's northern tip in 1872.[57] In 1877, the hospital opened a School of Nursing, the fourth such training institution in the nation.[31][58]
Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island) from the East River, c. 1862
Late-19th-century editions of theAppleton's Dictionary of New York described Blackwell's Island's penitentiary as having a "feudal character".[50][59] Conditions in some of the hospitals declined significantly enough that the island as a whole gained a poor reputation.[60] The women's hospital on the island was completed in 1881.[55] Inmates from the Smallpox Hospital were moved toNorth Brother Island in 1885, and the Smallpox Hospital building became a nurses' training school and dormitory.[61] In addition, a male nurse's training school opened in 1887 and operated for 16 years.[62] TheChapel of the Good Shepherd opened on the island in 1889.[55][40]
TheStrecker Memorial Laboratory was constructed in 1892 for the City Hospital.[61] The next year, the city began sendingtyphus patients to the island.[63] During the decade, city officials found the almshouse and City Hospital dilapidated and overcrowded,[64] and a grand jury declared the women's asylum a "disgrace" to New York City.[65] The asylum's inmates were transferred toWards Island in the mid-1890s,[40] and Wards Island's Homeopathic Hospital relocated to Blackwell's Island, becoming theMetropolitan Hospital.[66] A proposal to build a power plant on the island in 1895 was unsuccessful,[67] and the city began planning to expand the island's prisons the next year.[68] Work began on new structures for the City Hospital and the almshouse in early 1897,[69] and eleven new almshouse buildings opened that October.[70] There were also plans to add eight pavilions to the island's infants' hospital.[71] The prison's hospital burned down in 1899.[72] At the end of the century, the island housed 7,000 people across seven institutions.[48]
By the 20th century, Blackwell's Island had received the nickname of "Farewell Island" because of its connotations with fear and despair,[73] and it was also known as simply "The Island".[60] At the time, the island contained apoorhouse, the city jail, and several hospitals.[60][73] TheUnited States Department of the Navy proposed a drill ground and training facility at Blackwell's Island's northern end in 1901,[74] although city officials opposed it.[75] The following year, there was a proposal to turn the island over to the federal government[76] and raze many of the existing structures;[77] the city's controller was also against this plan.[78] Other proposals for the island in the first decade of the 20th century included new tuberculosis (consumptive) hospitals,[79] additional almshouses,[80] an electric power plant,[80][81] and general hospitals.[82] A tuberculosis ward at Metropolitan Hospital opened on the island in 1902,[83] followed by an expanded nurses' school the next year.[84] By the mid-1900s, theLouisville Courier-Journal called the island "the world's best guarded prison",[85] and theNew-York Tribune described the island as unsanitary.[86] The city's controller recommended the construction of a new hospital to alleviate the poor conditions.[87]
A proposal to convert the island into a park resurfaced in 1907.[3] By the end of the decade, thousands of elderly residents voluntarily traveled to the island for "vacations" every year.[88] The island's prisoners manufactured goods for the city, such as beds, brushes, and clothes,[89] and theRussell Sage Foundation set up a short-lived pathology institute on the island in 1907.[90] TheQueensboro Bridge, crossing Blackwell's Island, opened in 1909,[91] but it did not provide direct access to the island until the late 1910s.[3][6] In addition, in the early 1910s, several buildings were added at the island's City and Metropolitan hospitals,[92] and a Catholic chapel was developed on the island.[93] City corrections commissionerKatharine Davis announced plans to construct a prison hospital on the island in 1915; there was very little vacant land on the island by then.[94]
By the 1910s, twenty-five thousand prisoners passed through the island's jail annually,[95] and MayorWilliam Jay Gaynor proposed shutting the jail.[96] There were also proposals to move the penitentiary toHart Island, freeing up Blackwell's Island for hospitals and charitable institutions.[97] The city's deputy correction correctioner called the island's penitentiary "unfit for pigs" in a 1914 report criticizing the unsanitary and overcrowded conditions,[98] and agrand jury investigation the same year found that the jail was severely mismanaged.[99] Blackwell's Island Penitentiary was negatively affecting the reputation of the island's other facilities, to the point where a renaming of the island was under discussion.[100] The women's penitentiary underwent reforms during the mid-1910s,[101] and some prisoners were sent off the island to other jails.[102]Bird S. Coler ordered that the island's buildings be refurbished after he became the city's public welfare commissioner in 1918.[103]
In 1921, the city began using Blackwell's Penitentiary to detain women who were awaiting trial.[104] The island's prison hospital was severely understaffed, and the prison was described as "a disgrace to the City of New York".[105] That April, theNew York City Board of Aldermen renamed Blackwell's Island to Welfare Island.[55][106] The aldermen hoped the new name would improve the island's reputation,[106][32] though theUnited States Board on Geographic Names did not recognize the name change for four decades.[107] The state's prison commission recommended converting the island to a park in 1924,[108] and the city began planning to move Welfare Island's inmates to a new jail complex onRikers Island further north.[109] By then, the Welfare Island penitentiary lacked plumbing, had rat infestations, and was susceptible to fire.[110] The prison's hospital was so overcrowded that ill inmates had to be treated in their cells.[111] Prison staff were poorly compensated, and the prison received little to no maintenance.[112]
A chapel was dedicated on the island in 1925,[113] followed by a synagogue in 1926.[114] The city government also expanded the island's Cancer Institute in the 1920s.[115] The State Department of Correction described the island in the early 1930s as "absolutely unsuitable for the purpose for which it is now used".[116] The Board of Estimaterezoned the island in 1933 to allow redevelopment.[117] At the time, officials were planning a children's hospital and nurses' dormitory on the island.[118] Municipal prison commissionerAustin MacCormick reformed the island's prison in 1934 following a series of uprisings.[119] By then, the old almshouse (the City Home) was so overcrowded that patients were being housed in abandoned portions of the Lunatic Asylum.[120] Welfare Island's jail was scheduled to be relocated, and city parks commissionerRobert Moses proposed converting the jail site to a public park.[121] A city committee instead recommended a plan by city hospital commissionerS. S. Goldwater, who proposed expanding the island's hospital facilities.[122]
After the Rikers Island jail complex opened,[123][124] workers demolished the Welfare Island jail,[125][126] and all inmates had been relocated by February 1936.[127] The city announced plans for achronic care hospital complex in 1936.[128] When the Welfare Island Hospital for Chronic Diseases, laterGoldwater Memorial Hospital, opened in July 1939,[129] the Central and Neurological Hospital closed.[130] An eight-building camp also opened in 1939.[131]
During the mid-1940s, plans were filed for a combined laundry, garage, and firehouse building;[132] a hospital at Welfare Island's northern tip;[133] a nurses' training school;[134] and a chronic-disease ward at the Metropolitan Hospital.[135] A girls' shelter on the island opened in late 1945.[136] By the late 1940s, mayorWilliam O'Dwyer described conditions at some of the island's hospitals as "frightful",[137] mainly because of their age.[138] A chronic-care hospital and a laundry building were developed on Welfare Island during that era.[139][140] The laundry building began construction in 1948[141] and was completed the next year.[142] Work on a 2,000-bed facility, later known as theBird S. Coler Hospital,[143] also began in 1948.[144] Further projects were proposed in the late 1940s, including theWelfare Island Bridge to Queens,[145] a laboratory for Goldwater Hospital,[139] and two hospitals with a combined 1,500 beds.[140][146] The bridge was intended to relieve traffic caused by the island's new hospitals,[147] while the additional hospitals would serve the city's growing elderly population.[148]
During the early 1950s, the city planned a 1,500-bed hospital on the island[149] and wished to convert the island's Cancer Institute into a tuberculosis hospital.[150] After Coler Hospital opened in 1952,[151][152] patients were relocated there from the City Home for Dependents.[46] City Home was emptied out by 1953.[120][153] The Welfare Island Bridge opened in May 1955,[154][155] and a bus began serving the island.[156] TheMetropolitan Hospital moved to mainland Manhattan later that year,[157] while the City Hospital was replaced in 1957 byElmhurst Hospital Center in Queens.[125][158] Several medical facilities on the island opened during the mid-1950s, including an elderly rehabilitation center at Goldwater Hospital,[159] a polio treatment center at Goldwater,[160] and a children's rehabilitation center at Coler Hospital.[161] There were also proposals to establish a "fire college"[162] and a women's jail on the island.[163] Another medical facility for chronically ill and elderly patients opened on Welfare Island in 1958.[164]
By 1960, half of Welfare Island was abandoned,[165] and the Goldwater and Bird S. Coler hospitals were the only remaining institutions there.[73][166] The city government had been trying since 1957, without success, to obtain $1 million to demolish the abandoned buildings.[165] TheNew York City Fire Department (FDNY) opened a training school in 1962,[167][168] using 90 abandoned buildings for training purposes.[3] One reporter in 1967 called Welfare Island a "ghost town, vacant lot, woodland and mausoleum for unhappy memories".[73]
The businessman and politicianFrederick W. Richmond announced a proposal in 1961 to redevelop the island with residences for 70,000 people. The plan would have cost $450 million and would have included a two-level platform supporting buildings as tall as 50 stories.[169][170] TheAmerican Institute of Architects' New York chapter proposed that the island instead become a park,[171] while yet another plan called for the island to become housing forUnited Nations staff.[172][173] Other plans included those for a college campus or a smaller-scale residential area.[174] ANew York City Subway station on Welfare Island was announced in February 1965 as part of the new63rd Street lines under the East River;[175] the subway announcement spurred additional plans for the island's redevelopment.[173][176] There were plans to rename Welfare Island because the public generally associated the name negatively with the island's hospitals,[2][32] and even the hospital's patients wanted the island to be renamed.[177]
The city government ordered the demolition of six dilapidated buildings on the island in 1965.[178] The city took over another 45 abandoned hospital buildings viacondemnation in June 1966,[156] and theNew York City Board of Estimate applied for $250,000 in federal funds for a feasibility study on the island's redevelopment later that year.[179] The New York state government proposed in December 1967 to convert most of the island into a public park, except for senior citizens' housing at the north end.[180] TheUnited Nations International School considered developing a campus at the island's southern end,[181] and the New York Board of Trade pushed to redevelop the island as a city park.[182] Other plans included a mix of recreational facilities and low-density housing;[183] an amusement park similar toTivoli Gardens in Copenhagen;[183][184] an undergroundnuclear power plant;[185][173] a cemetery;[186] and a "city of the future".[187]
In February 1968, mayorJohn V. Lindsay named a committee to make recommendations for the island's development,[173][188] at which point one newspaper called it "the most expensive wasteland in the world".[189] The state government established the Welfare Island Development Corporation (WIDC; later the Roosevelt Island Development Corporation or RIDC) that April.[190] Early the next year, the state government canceled plans for a state park encompassing Welfare Island,[191] and Lindsay's committee recommended renaming the island and developing housing units and recreational facilities there.[192] Land clearing began that April,[184][193] and Lindsay asked theNew York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to help redevelop the island in May.[194] The city and state governments formally presented their proposal for Welfare Island in October 1969.[166][186][195] After the Board of Estimate approved the plan later that month,[186][196] the UDC signed a 99-year lease with the city that December.[197] The city could pay either two percent of the development cost or 40 percent of any profits.[198] The UDC issued $250 million in bonds to help finance the project.[190] The state hoped to finish the project within eight years.[186]
The architectsPhilip Johnson andJohn Burgee designed the master plan for Welfare Island, which called for two neighborhoods named Northtown and Southtown, separated by a common area.[186][199][200] The island was to become acar-free area with apartments, stores, community centers, and a waterfront promenade.[166][186][201] The apartments ranged in size from studios to four-bedroom units and were a mixture of rental andcooperative units.[202] There would be a hotel, public schools, stores, and office space,[199] and several existing buildings would be retained.[186][203] Services such as parks and schools were near every residence,[202][6] and there was a pneumatic trash collection system.[204][205] The first apartment buildings banned dogs,[206] but this prohibition was not applied to buildings developed later.[207][208] Additionally, the hospitals on the island still needed vehicular access,[209][210] so the car ban was ultimately repealed.[211]
By the early 1970s, the families of Welfare Island's three chaplains were the only people living on the island, excluding hospital patients.[212] Models of Johnson and Burgee's proposal were exhibited at theMetropolitan Museum of Art in late 1970.[213][214] The UDC modified some of Johnson and Burgee's designs after they were publicized; for example, it added more buildings on the waterfront.[215][214] The redevelopment attracted residents who wanted a better quality of life.[205] Critics expressed concerns about the fact that lower- and upper-income residents were placed on opposite sides of Main Street,[216] and they also questioned whether the project's $400 million construction budget could have been spent on other projects.[205][217]
The first phase of the development, Northtown, was to accommodate about 2,100 families.[204][205] The law professorAdam Yarmolinsky was hired to lead the WIDC in late 1970,[218] but he resigned after just over a year.[219] Work formally began in mid-1971,[214][190] and the state approved the construction of the first buildings the same year.[220] The UDC hired at least 17 architectural and engineering companies to design the structures,[202] though many of the architects resigned during construction.[214] The WIDC approved a proposal for 1,100 middle-income and luxury apartments in April 1972;[221] the UDC decided to build the residences as housing cooperatives after unsuccessfully looking for a private developer.[215] TheUnited States Department of Housing and Urban Development formally designated Welfare Island as a "new town" in December 1972, making it eligible for additional funds.[222]
UDC considered renaming the island to attract new residents;[223] the Four Freedoms Foundation proposed renaming it for U.S. presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.[224] The City Council approved the name change in July 1973,[225] and Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island on August 20, 1973.[226] Officials began planning theFranklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park as well;[227] although the island had been renamed in anticipation of the park's construction, the project was delayed for the next several decades.[228] By the middle of 1973, one building hadtopped out, and the island had been expanded by 4 acres (1.6 ha) using dirt from the63rd Street Tunnel's construction.[229] UDC headEdward J. Logue and project manager Robert Litke convinced multiple developers to sign 40-year leases for buildings on the island.[6] Parts of the project were delayed by disputes over the relocation of a laundry building.[230] By the end of the year, an advisory group recommended that the state legislature halt all UDC financing for the unbuilt phases of the Roosevelt Island development, citing the state's financial shortfalls.[231] At least one of the residential structures' builders had also gone bankrupt.[232] Construction proceeded steadily through 1974, and renting began that October.[233][203] In addition, the existing Blackwell House and Chapel of the Good Shepherd were renovated.[234]
After Logue was fired in early 1975, there was uncertainty over whether additional buildings would ever be built,[235] especially given the UDC's financial troubles.[236][237] The UDC decided to complete the first phase of the island's development, on which it had already spent $180 million,[23] and theNew York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal took over the UDC's residential developments, including Roosevelt Island.[238] Following anarchitectural design competition,[234] the UDC hired four architecture firms to design the second phase of Northtown that year.[239][240] Residents began moving into Roosevelt Island's first building in April 1975.[233][237][241] Initially, there were no stores on the island,[237][210] and residents had to pass through Queens to go anywhere else.[242][243] Although people were not incentivized to move to Roosevelt Island because of the lack of public transportation,[233] the island was home to 170 families by the end of 1975.[241] The first four buildings in Northtown were all completed by mid-1976,[210] while the storefronts were slowly being rented.[244]
No new buildings were completed between 1976 and 1989,[245] due to delays in the subway line's opening and the city's financial troubles.[246] TheRoosevelt Island Tramway to Manhattan opened in May 1976,[247] and the U.S. government provided a grant the same year to fund the construction of parks on the island.[248] Rivercross, the only cooperative apartment building in Northtown, generally attracted upper-class families because of its high monthly fees, while the other buildings attracted middle-class residents.[249] The FDNY training school moved toRandalls Island in 1977, and the old Roosevelt Island campus was razed.[167] There were over 3,000 residents by early 1977[250][251] and 5,500 residents by 1978.[240] Two-thirds of the island's storefronts were still empty by the end of 1977, even as almost all of the rental apartments and most of the cooperative apartments were occupied.[252] The UDC leased some land in late 1977 to theStarrett Corporation, which planned to erect three additional buildings with a combined 1,000 apartments.[253] Starrett and the UDC signed an agreement in June 1979, in which Starrett agreed to build the three buildings, collectively known as Northtown II, for $82 million.[254]
New York state comptrollerEdward V. Regan published a report in 1980, saying that the Roosevelt Island redevelopment suffered from severe cost overruns and was losing money.[255] Starrett continued to modify its plans for Northtown II,[256] and, by 1982, the New York state government planned to begin developing Northtown II.[257] The opening of the subway, which would support the island's increasing population, had been repeatedly delayed,[257] even as residents expressed concerns that the subway would cause the island's low crime rate to increase.[21][258] By then, the island had 5,000 residents and 1,800 hospital patients, but relatively few businesses.[258] The state legislature created theRoosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) to operate the island in 1984.[40][259]
The UDC re-approved the Northtown II plan in July 1984,[260] and RIOC approved it in 1986.[261] The revised plans called for five buildings,[262] containing a total of 1,100 apartments.[263] Opponents of the Northtown II project wanted to maintain the island's character and expressed concerns about the lack of mass transit options;[264][265] following a lawsuit to block Northtown II, a judge approved it in late 1986.[266][264] Work on Northtown II commenced at the end of 1987,[264] financed by a $176 million mortgage loan from the city.[238] The Northtown II towers, known as Manhattan Park, opened in 1989.[11][246] While the new apartments initially sold at a slower-than-expected pace,[267] Northtown II was 70 percent occupied by early 1990.[268]
The opening of theRoosevelt Island subway station, in late 1989,[269] allowed further development to proceed.[268] Officials announced the Southtown development in October 1989.[270] Designed by Raquel Ramati Associates,[271][272] it was to consist of 1,956 apartments, split evenly between market-rate and affordable apartments.[245][272] The development would span 19 acres (7.7 ha) and house up to 5,000 people.[272] The New York City Board of Estimate approved plans for Southtown in August 1990,[273] but the project had been placed on hold by 1991 because RIOC had not been able to secure a developer.[271] For much of the 1990s, no large buildings were completed on Roosevelt Island.[274]
In part because of the lack of development, the island's population remained lower than expected, requiring it to be subsidized.[275] By the mid-1990s, the island had 8,200 residents, less than half the 20,000 that the state government had originally envisioned,[274] and there were around 20 small stores.[276] To attract visitors, RIOC developed several recreational facilities and parks and sought to restore the island's oldest buildings.[277] RIOC also planned to remove about 1 acre (0.40 ha) of land to make way for a seawall.[278] The architectSantiago Calatrava was hired to design a visitor center in the 1990s,[279] but this was never built.[280]
RIOC proposed selling off the Southtown site in 1997,[281] and theRelated Companies and Hudson Companies signed an agreement to develop Southtown.[5][282] The plans for Southtown were subsequently redrawn;[275] the revised plan called for three buildings to the east of Main Street, six buildings to the west, and new recreational fields.[283] Southtown's development also entailed reducing the size of the existing Blackwell Park, which prompted opposition from Northtown residents who used the park.[283] A 26-story hotel with a convention center was proposed on the island in 1998, though this plan was controversial.[276] There was also growing discontent with RIOC.[275] As a result, mayorRudy Giuliani proposed having the city take over the island in 1999,[284] and state legislatorPete Grannis also proposed legislation to allow the island to govern itself.[285] A contractor was hired to build the first section of Southtown in May 1999,[286] andMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center indicated that it would build a tower in Southtown to house its staff.[287]
By the2000 United States census, Roosevelt Island had a population of 9,520.[288] Some of the island's original buildings, which were part of theMitchell–Lama affordable housing program, were planned to be converted to market-rate housing during the time.[289][13] Southtown's first buildings, including two structures for medical workers were announced in early 2001.[290][283] The first two Southtown buildings were completed in 2002,[291] and a proposal to redevelop the Octagon tower as an apartment building was announced that year.[292] The largely inaccessible Southpoint Park was opened year-round in 2003, a year after GovernorGeorge Pataki signed legislation designating several parks on the island.[293] The island's first two condominium buildings, both in Southtown, and the Octagon were developed next.[294][295] All three structures had been completed by 2007, increasing the island's population to around 12,000.[296] Southtown's fifth and sixth buildings were completed by 2008.[297] By the late 2000s, there were long waiting lists for residences on the island,[297][296] and people quickly moved into the new residential buildings.[298] Although the Roosevelt Island Residents Association expressed concerns that the new developments would causegentrification, the island largely retained its middle-class housing stock.[299]
Work commenced on Four Freedoms Park in 2009,[300] along with a redesign of Southpoint Park.[301] Southpoint Park reopened in 2011,[302] and Four Freedoms Park was finished the next year.[303] A RIOC survey from 2010 found that only 12 percent of residents shopped on the island,[304] and RIOC leased the island's largely vacant retail space to the Related Companies and Hudson Companies the next year.[298][304] Related and Hudson renovated 33 storefronts,[305] while RIOC waived food-truck permit fees to entice food vendors.[306] The city government selectedTechnion – Israel Institute of Technology andCornell University in late 2011 to develop theCornell Tech research center on the island;[307] the proposal included three towers, a hotel, and a conference center.[308] The campus replaced the outmoded Goldwater Memorial Hospital,[309] which closed in 2013.[310] Work on Cornell Tech itself began in 2015,[311][312] and the campus opened two years later.[313] Graduate students moved to the island after Cornell Tech opened.[314]
Meanwhile, the island's population had grown to 11,661 by the2010 United States census.[315] Some of the Mitchell–Lama apartments were converted to market-rate housing in the 2010s, while development of additional residential structures continued.[312] The seventh Riverwalk building was finished in 2015,[5][211] followed by the eighth in 2019.[316] Firefighters Field was renovated with the development of the eighth Riverwalk building.[317] To attract visitors, RIOC announced in 2018 that it would create an "art trail" around the island.[318] RIOC began soliciting plans for a memorial to the journalistNellie Bly in 2019;[319] it ultimately commissionedThe Girl Puzzle monument byAmanda Matthews,[320] which was dedicated in December 2021.[321] There was an additional influx of residents during theCOVID-19 pandemic in New York City, particularly among those looking for open space.[314] The final building in Southtown, Riverwalk 9, began construction in November 2022[322] and topped out the next year.[323] In March 2024, plans were announced for a 2,700-square-foot (250 m2) "healing forest" at the southern end of the island.[324] The last building in the Riverwalk development, Riverwalk Heights, was completed in 2024, adding 357 units to Roosevelt Island.[325][326] In 2025, the RIOC extended its lease of Roosevelt Island to 2078.[327]
When the first residential buildings opened, Roosevelt Island's amenities and wheelchair accessibility made it attractive to disabled residents and families with children.[328] Many of the first residents were white, middle-income families,[329] and disabled patients from the island's hospitals moved into the apartments as well.[330] The island also attracted residents who wanted to live in a racially integrated neighborhood, as well as those who wanted to avoidhousing discrimination in other areas.[268]
Due to its proximity to theheadquarters of the United Nations, Roosevelt Island attracted UN employees almost as soon as the first building opened.[6] ANew York Times article from 1999 described Roosevelt Island's diverse demographics as being another factor in its popularity among diplomatic staff.[331] The island has been home to many diplomatic staff over the years,[259][315] includingKofi Annan when he wasUnited Nations Secretary General.[332] One of every three Roosevelt Island residents was foreign-born by 2000.[296]
The2020 United States census showed that Roosevelt Island had a population of 11,722,[333] across three census tracts.[334] The racial makeup of Roosevelt Island's three census tracts was 36.3% (4,251)White, 10.6% (1,237)African American, 33.2% (3,897)Asian, 2.8% (333) fromother races, and 4.8% (564) from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino residents of any race were 12.3% (1,440) of the population.[334] In the 2020 census data from theNew York City Department of City Planning, Roosevelt Island is grouped as part of the Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island neighborhood tabulation area.[335][336] The neighborhood tabulation area had 59,200 residents.[334]
Roosevelt Island's redevelopment in the 1970s spurred the creation of a community distinct from the rest of Manhattan.[258][337] Following Northtown's completion, an architectural critic wrote forArchitectural Design that Roosevelt Island "seems to be more of a hermetically sealed suburb than an integral part of New York City".[338] One newspaper from 1989 described the island as a "small, self-contained, family-oriented community", with its ownLittle League Baseball team, newspaper, and library.[337] AWashington Post article from the same year described the island as having the feel of a small town but with a closer connection to Manhattan.[11] ANew York Times article from 1999 said the island had the feel of "a postwar suburb of some European city", distinct from the rest of New York City.[331] In 2008, theNew York Daily News described the island as a "fantastic and peaceful place to live", albeit with many disputes among residents.[297]
Over the years, several dozen volunteer groups have been developed on the island.[259] These include the Roosevelt Island Garden Club, which consists of 120 plots tended by members.[339] There is also a farmer's market.[340] in addition to organizations such as the Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association[312][341] and the Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance.[312][342] Ahistorical society, the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, has archival material about the island's history.[343] The island has a biweekly newspaper,The Main Street Wire,[344][13] which was founded in 1981;[345] it originally had a column with pieces about the history of Roosevelt Island.[346]
There have been community traditions on Roosevelt Island, such asHalloween parades,Black History Month events, andLunar New Year celebrations.[20][265] Various activities take place on the island throughout the year, such as picnics and concerts,[296] in addition to annual Roosevelt Island Day celebrations since 1995.[347] The island has also hosted events like the Roosevelt Island Table Tennis Tournament[348] and the Figment NYC festival.[349] Every summer since 2015, the Manhattan Park Pool Club has commissioned a mural for the Manhattan Park development's pool deck.[350] Roosevelt Island has sometimes been used as a filming location, such as for the filmsSpider-Man (2002)[351] andDark Water (2005).[352]
The 1969 master plan divided the island into two residential communities: Northtown and Southtown.[166][201] The plan received mixed reviews. A writer forNew York magazine wrote that the Johnson–Burgee design was "a nice plan for a very nice community", while anArchitectural Forum reviewer called it "purposefully schematic and architecturally nonspecific".[6]The Wall Street Journal wrote of the buildings on the island: "Their physical surfaces are harsh but the streetscapes aren't."[211] In 1977, theCity Club of New York gave Roosevelt Island's buildings a special honor award for the quality of their designs.[353] Although most of the residential structures contain rental apartments, there are alsocondominiums andcooperative housing.[5] Roosevelt Island generally has more wheelchair-accessible housing than other neighborhoods, in part because of its past use as a hospital island.[354]
The first phase of Roosevelt Island's development was called Northtown, with about 2,140 apartments.[6][355] Northtown consists of four housing complexes: Westview, Island House, Rivercross, and Eastwood.[210][356] The architectural firm ofSert, Jackson & Associates designed the Island House and Rivercross buildings east of Main Street, whileJohn Johansen and Ashok Bhavnani designed the Eastwood and Westfield buildings on the west side.[357][244] All four structures are U-shaped buildings, which measure up to 20 stories high and are faced in concrete or corrugated brick.[244][358] Three of the buildings were rental apartment complexes: Island House, Westview, and Eastwood (the latter of which had affordable housing). Rivercross was structured as a housing cooperative.[329][250] All of these buildings, except Rivercross, were originally subsidized under the state'sMitchell–Lama Housing Program.[13] The first apartments included built-in heating and air-conditioning units,[359] while the buildings themselves included health clubs.[355] Westview and Eastwood also had skip-stop elevators that stopped at three-floor intervals; this allowed for more flexible apartment layouts on floors that were not served by elevators.[358][244]
Northtown II (also known as Manhattan Park[297]), located north of Northtown and on the west side of Main Street,[238] was developed by theStarrett Corporation and designed by the firmGruzen Samton.[360] Completed in 1989,[245] it occupies 8.5 acres (3.4 ha) and consists of five buildings.[337] The complex comprises around 1,100 rental apartments,[263] split into about 220 affordable apartments and about 880 market-rate apartments.[360] The affordable apartments are clustered within one building. In all five structures, the apartments range from one to three bedrooms.[337] There are also a garden, picnic space, community center, playgrounds, and daycare center.[360] Near the north end of the island is a 500-unit apartment building known asthe Octagon, which is centered around a remaining portion of the Lunatic Asylum.[297][5]
Main Street on Roosevelt Island
In addition to the apartment buildings, the northern part of Roosevelt Island contains the Metropolitan Hospital's former church, which was built in the 1920s and became a wedding venue in 2021.[361] A stone structure, Chapel of St. Dennis, was built near the Octagon around 1935–1940; little else is known about this chapel.[362]
Southtown (also referred to as Riverwalk[295][322]) was developed starting in 2001.[290][283] When complete, Southtown will have 2,000 units in nine buildings.[299][363] As of 2022[update], eight of Southtown's nine planned buildings had been completed, while the last structure was under construction.[322] Some of the buildings house medical staff who work in Manhattan.[5][13] The structures contain a total of over 2,000 apartments, of which 40 percent are affordable housing.[364] Some of the buildings in Southtown are condominiums, including Riverwalk Place and Riverwalk Court.[296] In contrast to the older Northtown buildings, which were developed in groups, the Riverwalk structures were constructed as standalone buildings; theWall Street Journal regarded Southtown as lacking the "coherent streetscapes" of Northtown.[211]
The southern end of the island also contains four buildings, which are part of theCornell Tech graduate-school campus and research center.[365] The $2 billion facility includes 2 million square feet of space on an 11-acre (4.5 ha) site.[366] The first phase of the campus includes a main academic building, a graduate housing tower, and an innovation hub/tech incubator.[365] The 26-story Cornell Tech residential tower has 350 apartments and was intended as the world's largestpassive house residential tower when it was built.[367] Cornell Tech's first phase also includes a conference center and a hotel.[368] The hotel is 18 stories high, with 224 rooms, and is known as the Graduate Roosevelt Island; it opened in 2021 as the island's first hotel.[369]
The remaining three official city landmarks are former hospitals.[370][41] At the island's southern tip are theSmallpox Hospital, aGothic-style ruin built in 1857 as the first smallpox hospital in the U.S., and the Strecker Laboratory, aRomanesque Revival-style electrical substation built in 1892 as a laboratory. At the northern end is the Octagon, the sole remaining structure from the 1839 Lunatic Asylum.[374][375] The ruins of theCity Hospital, a mid-19th-century building on the southern tip of the island, had been listed on the NRHP,[376] but were razed in 1994 due to extreme neglect.[377]
The neighborhood is part ofManhattan Community District 8. In the 1970s, when the city's community districts were being redrawn, there were disputes over whether the island should be served by a district in Manhattan or Queens.[378] While the island was ultimately placed within a Manhattan community district, it received emergency services from Queens.[379][13] The island's other services come from Manhattan; for example, it was still assigned aZIP Code and anarea code from Manhattan.[11] The island has a ZIP Code of 10044, and residents are assigned area codes212, 332, 646,[e] and917.[381] TheUnited States Postal Service operates the Roosevelt Island Station at 694 Main Street;[382] the island's post office opened in October 1976.[250] The firm of Kallman and McKinnell designed the post office, along with a small fire station and a set of stores.[214]
TheRoosevelt Island Operating Corporation, astate public-benefit corporation, operates the island's infrastructure and oversees its development.[259][383] RIOC manages transportation and private security on the island, and it is also responsible for leasing out stores, developing apartments, and preserving the island's landmarked buildings.[383] Although RIOC is a state agency, its members are appointed rather than elected,[282][384] thoughstraw polls for positions on RIOC's board were hosted starting in 2008.[385] By law, five of RIOC's nine members must be island residents,[385] but not RIOC's CEO.[386] Much of RIOC's income comes from fees collected from private developers.[282]
Parts ofNew York City Water Tunnel No. 3, which provides fresh water to much of New York City, pass underneath the island; the section under Roosevelt Island opened in 1998[387][388] and travels as much as 780 feet (240 m) under the island.[388] Roosevelt Island also had its own steam plant behind the Roosevelt Island Tramway's terminal until 2013.[389] In addition,Verdant Power installedtidal turbines under the East River's eastern channel in the 2000s as part of theRoosevelt Island Tidal Energy project;[390] The turbines powered small parts of the island.[391] Three new turbines were installed in the 2020s.[392]
Before the 1970s, raw waste from Roosevelt Island was dumped directly into the East River.[229] Garbage on Roosevelt Island is collected by anautomated vacuum collection (AVAC) system, which consists ofpneumatic tubes measuring either 20 inches (510 mm),[393] 22 inches (56 cm),[394] or 24 inches (61 cm) wide.[395] Manufactured by Swedish firmEnvac and installed in 1975, it was the second AVAC system in the U.S. at the time of its installation, after theDisney utilidor system.[393][395] It is one of the world's largest AVAC systems,[394] collecting trash from 16 residential towers.[393] Trash from each tower is transported to the Central Collections and Compaction Plant[394] at up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).[393] The collection facility contains three turbines that spin the garbage;[395] the trash is then compacted and sent to a landfill.[393][395] The pneumatic tube system collects 6 short tons (5.4 t)[395] or 10 short tons (9.1 t) of trash each day.[394] On several occasions, tenants have damaged the system by throwing large objects, such as strollers and Christmas trees, into the tubes.[393][395]
NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler is located in the northern portion of the island[5] and has been Roosevelt Island's only public hospital since 2013, when Goldwater Memorial Hospital closed.[396] Although the 1969 plan for Roosevelt Island called for dedicated fire and police stations,[186] as of 2024[update] the island receives all of its emergency services from Queens.[397] Roosevelt Island is patrolled by the 114th Precinct of theNew York City Police Department,[398] located at 34-16 Astoria Boulevard inAstoria, Queens.[399] TheRoosevelt Island Public Safety Department also patrols the island;[21][13] its officers can make arrests but do not carry weapons.[400]
Roosevelt Island has no firehouse.[401] Fire protection services are provided by Engine Company 260 of theNew York City Fire Department (FDNY),[402] located at 11-15 37th Avenue in Astoria.[403] The FDNY maintains its Special Operations Command facility at 750 Main Street on the island.[404]Engine Company 261, inLong Island City, served the island until it closed in 2003.[405] There was controversy over the firehouse's closure,[406] and aNew York Supreme Court judge subsequently ruled that the closure was illegal.[407] In 2019, mayorBill de Blasio's office told reporters that the firehouse would not reopen because the island already had additional emergency services.[402][408]
Four Freedoms Park at the southern end of Roosevelt Island
When Roosevelt Island was redeveloped in the 1970s, about a quarter of the land area was set aside for parks.[23] The island has four primary parks: Lighthouse, Octagon, Southpoint, and Four Freedoms parks.[312] At the northern tip of Roosevelt Island is Lighthouse Park, named after the Blackwell Island Light.[409] Octagon Park, a 15-acre (6.1 ha) green space, contains a prow-shaped performance stage facing the East River's west channel;[410] it was originally planned as an ecological park with bedrock outcrops.[411] Near the south end of the island is Southpoint Park, a seven-acre (2.8 ha) green space containing the Strecker Lab and Smallpox Hospital buildings.[412] The four-acre (1.6 ha)Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, aNew York State Park,[413] opened in 2012 at the southern end of the island.[303][414] Four Freedoms Park was designed byLouis Kahn in 1974[415] and consists of two rows of trees converging toward a granite "room" at the island's southern tip.[415][414]
Additionally, the southern part ofCornell Tech contains a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m), publicly accessibleberm around 6 acres (2.4 ha) in area.[416] The berm is undeveloped, but the buildings it is intended to protect from flooding are planned to be built by 2027.[417]
There is a smaller park located around the Blackwell House.[258] The southern tip of Roosevelt Island was formerly occupied by theDelacorte Fountain,[418] which was donated by publisherGeorge T. Delacorte Jr. in mid-1967[2][419] and dedicated in 1969.[418] The fountain sprayed water from the East River 400 to 600 feet (120 to 180 m) into the air.[420] A local group planted trees at the southern tip of the island in 1985, which quickly died due to blasts from the Delacorte Fountain;[421] the fountain was turned off in the 1980s and subsequently taken apart.[280] The entire island is circled by a publicly accessible waterfront promenade.[258][422] Because of its greenery, Roosevelt Island received aTree City USA designation for several years in the 1990s and 2000s.[276][20]
There are four outdoor recreational fields on Roosevelt Island:[423]
Capobianco Field, located south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge ramp; measures 175 by 230 feet (53 by 70 m)[423]
Firefighters Field, located next to the ferry terminal north of Queensboro Bridge; measures 303 by 178 feet (92 by 54 m)[423]
McManus Field, located across from theNew York City Department of Sanitation building at the north end of the island.[424] Originally known as Octagon Park,[425] it contained soccer, tennis, and baseball facilities, as well as areas for picnics and barbecues.[277] The park was renamed from Octagon Field in October 2019 to honor Jack McManus, the former Chief of the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department.[425]
Pony Field, located east of the Octagon; measures 250 by 230 feet (76 by 70 m)[423]
The Roosevelt Island Racquet Club is located near the Roosevelt Island Tramway stop[426][427] and was developed in the early 1990s, with 11 courts underneath a pair of domes.[277][427] Also next to the tram stop is the Sportspark indoor recreation center, with a studio, swimming pool, gym, and recreation room.[428] There are additional tennis courts in Octagon Park, next to the Octagon.[429]
Roosevelt Island is served by theNew York City Department of Education.[430] When it was redeveloped as a residential community in the 1970s, the island was planned with up to 16 schools serving grades K-12, each accommodating 180 to 300 students.[431] Roosevelt Island's schools were spread across several apartment buildings.[431][432] The school system taught fine arts as part of a partnership withSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and each school taught a foreign language as well.[23]
The first school on Roosevelt Island opened in 1975 with a single student and two teachers.[433] By the 1980s, the island had five school buildings, each serving two grades.[258] All of the island's schools were combined in 1992 into PS/IS 217 Roosevelt Island School,[40] which is located on Main Street.[430] By the 21st century, PS/IS 217 was the only public school on the island, serving students frompre-kindergarten to grade 8.[296][340] High-school students on the island generally went to schools in Manhattan.[296]The Child School and Legacy High School servesspecial needs children with learning and emotional disabilities.[434]
TheNew York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Roosevelt Island branch at 504 Main Street.[435] The library was founded in the 1970s as a volunteer initiative.[435][436] Two residents, Dorothy and Herman Reade, founded the island's first library within a rented space in 1976; the collection had moved to 625 Main Street by 1977.[437] The Reades' library was unusual in that it used a custom classification system, rather than theDewey Decimal Classification system, which the Reades did not know much about.[436] The library moved to its own building at 524 Main Street in 1979[435] or the 1980s.[436] The library on Main Street was named the Dorothy and Herman Reade Library of Roosevelt Island in the early 1980s.[438] Residents originally paid dues to access the library.[344]
The library became a branch of the NYPL system in 1998, allowing the branch to access the NYPL's much larger collection.[436] The Empire State Center for the Book dedicated a plaque on the island in 2016, marking the island's literary connections.[439] The current NYPL branch at 504 Main Street opened in January 2021 and covers 5,200 square feet (480 m2).[440][441]
There have been churches and chapels for severalChristian denominations on the island.[442] The Chapel of the Good Shepherd, a Late Victorian Gothic style structure,[373] was Roosevelt Island's first church and operated until 1958 as an Episcopal church.[442][443] The chapel reopened in 1975 as a community center.[373][443] The Chapel of Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted dated to 1909[442] and was a Gothic-style stone building serving the island'sCatholic community.[444] The Church of the Good Samaritan was developed for theLutheran community in 1917. Both the Chapel of Our Lady and the Church of the Good Samaritan have since been demolished.[442] At the Metropolitan Hospital was an Episcopal chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (consecrated 1925),[113] and a Catholic chapel, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.[442]
Welfare Island originally contained the Council Synagogue, which opened in 1926[114] and was described as having a "pleasing exterior" and a "simple, dignified interior".[445] Following the residential redevelopment, the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation was foundedc. 1987; theChabad Lubavitch Center of Roosevelt Island moved into the RIJC's space in 2006.[446] Chabad of Roosevelt Island also operates a Chabad Jewish student organization in association with Cornell Tech, which accommodates many international students fromIsrael.[447] There is also amosque operated by the Islamic Society of Roosevelt Island.[448]
Until its development in the late 20th century, Roosevelt Island was largely inaccessible from the outside world, and a guard banned most visitors, including all children under age 12.[6] The island was accessed solely by rowboat until the early 20th century.[449] Even through the 1950s, the only modes of transit to and from the island were a ferry from 78th Street in Manhattan and an elevator from theQueensboro Bridge.[6]
As of 2024[update], the island is accessible via bridge, aerial tramway, ferry, and subway.[450] Although the tramway and subway stations are both wheelchair-accessible, both modes of transit can experience outages that occasionally make it impossible for disabled residents to travel to and from the island.[451] Furthermore, despite the existence of several modes of transit, the island still had a reputation for being hard to access during the 21st century.[314]
Although Roosevelt Island is located directly under the Queensboro Bridge, it is no longer directly accessible from the bridge itself. A trolley previously connected passengers from Queens and Manhattan to a stop in the middle of the bridge, where passengers took an elevator down to the island. The trolley operated from the bridge's opening in 1909 until April 7, 1957.[452] An elevator building, on the bridge's north side, was finished in 1918[6] or 1919.[452] The elevator was closed to the public in 1957, after theRoosevelt Island Bridge opened,[452] but was not demolished until 1970.[453] As late as August 1973, another passenger elevator ran from the Queens end of the bridge to the island,[454][455]
The Roosevelt Island Bridge, avertical-lift bridge over the East River's eastern channel toAstoria, Queens, opened in 1955.[154] It is the only vehicular route to the island[456][154] and also contains a sidewalk.[154] News media said in 2001 that the bridge was almost never lifted,[449][456] though it was lifted more frequently starting in the 2000s.[401] There is a bike lane on the bridge.[457]
Roosevelt Island's main parking facility is the Motorgate Garage,[458] which was designed by the firm of Kallman & McKinnell and originally had 1,000 parking spaces.[214] It is designed in abrutalist style, with a concrete facade, and also included the island's first post office and fire station.[459] There are alsoparking meters along Main Street,[458][460] but parking is limited to 20 minutes.[5] Since 2020, the island has also hadCiti Bike bikeshare stations.[461]
TheNew York City Subway's63rd Street Line was proposed in 1965 with a station directly serving the island.[175] Service on the 63rd Street Line began in October 1989,[269] but the line had no direct subway access to much of Queens until 2001.[462] The line'seponymous station (served by theF and <F> trains) is one of the deepest stations below sea level in the system, at more than 100 feet (30 m) below ground level.[463] TheBMT 60th Street Tunnel (N, R, and W trains) and theIND 53rd Street Line (E and M trains) both pass under Roosevelt Island, without stopping, on their way between Manhattan and Queens.[464] There are emergency exit shafts to the island from both the 53rd Street and 60th Street tunnels.[465]
TheRoosevelt Island Tramway was proposed in the 1970s after delays in the subway's construction.[229][466] It was completed in May 1976, providing access to Midtown Manhattan,[247] and had been intended as a temporary mode of transport until the subway station opened.[459][11] The tram was completely reconstructed in 2010.[467]
An MTA Orion VII NG running on the Q102
When the island was being redeveloped in the 1970s, the UDC had planned to operate 20-seat electric minibuses there.[468] As of 2023[update],MTA Bus'sQ102 route operates between the island and Queens, making a loop around Roosevelt Island.[469][470] RIOC also operates theRed Bus, a shuttle bus service that circulates around the island.[470] The latter service is fare-free,[471] connecting apartment buildings to the subway and tramway.[470][472]
A ferry service ran from Welfare Island to Manhattan from 1935 to June 1956,[473] although the island's old ferry terminal remained standing for several years.[474] A ferry route ran directly toLower Manhattan briefly during 1986.[475] Roosevelt Island has been served byNYC Ferry's Astoria route since August 2017.[476] The ferry landing is on the east side of the island near the tramway station.[477]
Ethel Byrne – sentenced to 30 days for distribution of information about birth control;[479] became the first woman in the U.S. ever to be force-fed in prison after going on a hunger strike there[480]
Egon Erwin Kisch – visited the Welfare Island penitentiary under a false name (Mister Becker) for the report "Prisons on an Island on East River" as part of his reportage Volume "Paradise America" (1930)[498]
Perry Chen (born 1976) – entrepreneur, best known for being the creator and principal founder ofKickstarter, the online crowdfunding platform for creative ideas[503]
Mike Epps (born 1970) – stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer and rapper, best known for playing Day-Day Jones inNext Friday and its sequel,Friday After Next[507]
^abc"Eylandt" is the early-modern Dutch spelling; the word for "island" in 21st-century Dutch iseiland. In addition, different sources give slightly different spellings.[1][2][3][4]
^A 1989 study gave a length of 1.97 miles (3.17 km).[7]
^Another source gives 1666 as the year of Manning's takeover.[35]
^The Queensboro Bridge, which crosses the island, is als a city landmark and iso listed on the NRHP.[8][57]
^The area codes 646 and 332 are overlays of the original 212 area code, which serves Manhattan.[380]
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^"Women on Island See Better Days: Reforms Change Inmates From Sullen Mob to Friendly Family".New-York Tribune. April 17, 1916. p. 5.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest575556509.
^"Shift Under Way at Blackwell's: Twenty Prisoners Transferred Under New System to City Farm".New-York Tribune. September 19, 1916. p. 7.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest575616398.
^"Welfare Island Improvements".The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 28, 1923. p. 25. RetrievedMarch 28, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^"Welfare Island Hospital Called Too Old to Use: Report to Albany Also Condemns Continuation of Riker's Island Dumping".New York Herald Tribune. October 29, 1931. p. 36.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1114261489.
^"Children's Hospital for Welfare Island: $870,000 Nine-story Structure Will Be Added to East River Institutional Group".The New York Times. January 5, 1932. p. 47.ISSN0362-4331.ProQuest99743480.
^Jones, Lamoyne (April 29, 1934). "Welfare Island's Whole System Modernized and Reformed as Sequel to Raid by MacCormick".New York Herald Tribune. p. A4.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1114818008.
^"City Day Camp Is Reopened for Convalescents: Welfare Island Institution Begins Second Season With Only 20 Patients".New York Herald Tribune. May 2, 1940. p. 40.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1260920748.
^"New Hospital To Replace City Home for Aged: Welfare Island Project Will House 1,800 Now Living in Century-Old Buildings No. 1 Post-War Project of the Department of Hospitals".New York Herald Tribune. January 14, 1945. p. 29.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1267833957;"Hospital on Welfare Is, Will Cost $6,000,000".The New York Times. January 13, 1945.ISSN0362-4331. RetrievedApril 1, 2024.
^abRoss, Don (July 4, 1960). "Welfare Island Only Half Used: Weeds and Shells of Buildings Cover Invaluable Land".New York Herald Tribune. p. 4.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1337903204.
^Ross, Don (December 12, 1961). "A Refuge in Time of World Tension: Welfare Island Proposed as Home for UN Staff".New York Herald Tribune. p. 6.ISSN1941-0646.ProQuest1326183217.
^Fulton, William (January 16, 1968). "Report From New York: Bleak East River Island May Be in for a Sprucing Up".Chicago Tribune. p. 19.ISSN1085-6706.ProQuest170396471.
^abcGoldman, John J. (July 29, 1971). "Welfare Island's New City Begins to Rise".Los Angeles Times. p. 17.ISSN0458-3035.ProQuest156826842.
^abDennis, Landt (January 2, 1970). "River town for 20,000 families?: Optimism voiced Plan explained Landmarks to stay".The Christian Science Monitor. p. 17.ISSN0882-7729.ProQuest511204190.
^abVon Eckardt, Wolf (July 14, 1974). "2,100 Families Awaited at New York Island Town".The Atlanta Constitution. p. 16H.ProQuest1615900941.
^abcd"'Utopian' island next door to Manhattan: Isolation valued Some nearly complete".The Christian Science Monitor. December 6, 1974. p. 9.ISSN0882-7729.ProQuest511743504;"Island 'Utopia' Rises Off Manhattan".The Buffalo News. December 3, 1974. p. 71. RetrievedMarch 21, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^abWeisman, Steven R. (June 4, 1972). "Doubts Linger, but Welfare Island Venture Moves Ahead".The New York Times. p. R1.ISSN0362-4331.ProQuest119409313.
^abcYoung, Lynn; Malamud, Phyllis (July 14, 1975). "O Pioneers!".Newsweek. Vol. 86, no. 2. pp. 55–56.ProQuest1882516706.
^abcPeterson, Iver (October 16, 1988). "For Roosevelt Island, a New Residential Complex: The approaching addition of 1,500 new residents to the 5,200 already on the island stirs concern".The New York Times. p. R9.ISSN0362-4331.ProQuest110467699.
^abcLebow, Joan (August 21, 1989). "Developer of Project on Roosevelt Island Off Manhattan Faces Unusual Challenge".The Wall Street Journal. p. 1.ISSN0099-9660.ProQuest398098510.
^abcBazzi, Mohamad (February 19, 1993). "Closeup They're Good Sports for Redevelopment Roosevelt Island Officials Tout Attractions".Newsday. p. 27.ISSN2574-5298.ProQuest278581237.
^abcGarber, Nick (February 5, 2024). "Embattled Roosevelt Island leader put on leave from state post while allegations are reviewed".Crain's New York Business. Vol. 40, no. 5. p. 11.ProQuest2923429272.
^"New York".Engineering News-Record. Vol. 242, no. 21. May 31, 1999. p. 167.ProQuest235667299.
^Sandler, Linda (December 15, 1999). "For Hospitals, the Emergency Is Housing --- Rise in Residential Prices Prompts Rush to Build Homes for Medical Staff".The Wall Street Journal. p. B18:1.ISSN0099-9660.ProQuest398688398.
^"Community".Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. Archived fromthe original on October 31, 2006. RetrievedJune 16, 2006.
^abcdeSheftell, Jason (January 25, 2008). "Roosevelt Island. Is This the Start of a New Look for the Neighborhood?".New York Daily News. p. 4.ISSN2692-1251.ProQuest306162548.
^abFung, Amanda (May 23, 2011). "Life's a new deal on Roosevelt Island".Crain's New York Business. Vol. 27, no. 21. p. 16.ProQuest871792674;Shallwani, Pervaiz (September 30, 2011). "Property – Block Party: Roosevelt Island Shops for More Stores".The Wall Street Journal. p. A.20.ISSN0099-9660.ProQuest894801063.
^Anderson, John (May 3, 2002). "'Spider-Man' Is Just Marvel-ous / A fun spin on action, humor, romance".Newsday. p. B11.ISSN2574-5298.ProQuest279530720.
^Lagnado, Lucette (January 22, 2003). "Calling a Hospital Home: Some Patients Stay for Years At New York's Coler-Goldwater; Many Have Nowhere Else to Go".The Wall Street Journal. p. B1.ISSN0099-9660.ProQuest2436457063.
^ab"New Town Rising On N.Y. Island".The Atlanta Constitution. June 20, 1976. p. 4H.ProQuest1557748290.
^abBrosh, Brendan (February 10, 2008). "The People Vote, but for What, on Roosevelt Island?".New York Daily News. p. 38.ISSN2692-1251.ProQuest306173289.
^Armistead, Thomas F. (July 13, 1998). "New Route for New York Water Will Be Opened This Month".Engineering News-Record. Vol. 241, no. 2. p. 16.ProQuest235769376.
^Brosh, Brendan (May 1, 2007). "That's Flower Power. Roosevelt Island Gets Green Light as Turbines Harness East River Current".New York Daily News. p. 1.ISSN2692-1251.ProQuest306103455.
^abcdChaban, Matt A.V. (August 3, 2015)."Garbage Collection, Without the Noise or the Smell".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. RetrievedJuly 28, 2017.While vehicles still found their way onto the island, garbage trucks were largely banished, thanks to the pneumatic tube system, one of the largest in the world. It sucks up roughly 10 tons of trash from the island's 12,000 residents each day.... After they drop garbage down chutes in their buildings, it collects at the bottom until a trapdoor is activated, releasing the waste into 22-inch-wide red steel tubes that run underground.
^abMurphy, William (August 14, 2004). "Roosevelt Island, Stuck Bridge Fuels Fire Fears, After Losing Access, FDNY to Employ Full-time Engine Company on Island Until After Convention".Newsday. p. A04.ISSN2574-5298.ProQuest279811446.
^"Section O: Environmental Conservation and Recreation, Table O-9".2014 New York State Statistical Yearbook(PDF). The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. 2014. p. 672. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on September 16, 2015. RetrievedJune 2, 2016.
^abDowling, Rachel (October 8, 2019)."Octagon Field Renamed McManus, Tensions Remain".The Main Street Wire. Archived fromthe original on July 19, 2022. RetrievedJuly 19, 2022.Last week, over a year after its abrupt closure last August, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) re-opened Octagon Field and re-naming it Jack McManus Field in honor of the recently retired Chief of the Island's Public Safety Department (PSD).
^Sanger, William Wallace (April 1, 1859).The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes and Effects throughout the World. BoD – Books on Demand.ISBN978-3-7524-2830-8.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Insunza, Andrea; Ortega, Javier (October 24, 2013)."Cuánto ha cambiado Bachelet".Qué Pasa (in Spanish). RetrievedOctober 25, 2013.
^Bechet, Matilde (February 27, 2019)."Senior composes and plans original musical".The Ithacan. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Though a musical seems grandiose and monumental under the pageantry of performance and bright stage lights, every production begins with just an idea. For senior Jonah Bobo, the idea for him to write his own musical came nearly three years ago.... Hayat, a playwright and graduate from SUNY Purchase, grew up in Roosevelt Island, New York, a few houses down from Bobo, her brother's friend.
^Cohen, Joshua (April 2008)."The Bank Teller's Game – Michael Brodsky".Zeek. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Called byLibrary Journal 'one of the most important writers working today,' Michael Brodsky is very much a writer for an idealized tomorrow. He was born in the Bronx in 1951, and lives in the seclusion nearest to Manhattan, namely Roosevelt Island.
^Ashley, Dottie (October 12, 1977)."Playwright Comes 'Home'".The Columbia Record. RetrievedJuly 19, 2022 – via newspapers.com.Ms Childress now lives on the recently renewed Roosevelt Island a small community of modern apartment buildings and swimming pools in the middle of Manhattan's East River.
^"Billy, Coleen address 'racist' prenup photos".ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. March 12, 2018. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Crawford also assured the public that he is familiar with racism, and said they mean no harm. 'I grew up in a very diverse city (Roosevelt Island), and had experienced bullying and racism in my youth because of my being "an Asian." Trust me, we meant no harm,' he said.
^"Biography".The History Makers. June 17, 2019. RetrievedAugust 11, 2020.
^"Mike Epps Unleashes His Wrath On A Heckler!!".Hip Hop News Uncensored. August 2, 2018. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Epps was born on November 18, 1970 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Epps family moved to Roosevelt Island, New York when he was young.
^McKinley Jr., James C. (June 21, 2017)."First Openly Gay Judge Confirmed for New York's Highest Court".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.So the choice of Paul G. Feinman, an associate justice of the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, to fill the seat left open by the death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam in April was a watershed for gay New Yorkers.... Justice Feinman and his husband, Robert Ostergaard, a web publisher, live on Roosevelt Island.
^"Thank You Letters of Secretary-General to Goodwill Ambassadors"(PDF).United Nations Archives Search Engine. United Nations Archives and Records Management Section. November 10, 2000. RetrievedJuly 19, 2021.Ms. Wendy Fitzwilliam 40 River Road #16J Roosevelt Island, NY 10044
^Dyer, Richard (December 31, 2004)."Soprano Amanda Forsythe voices her love of opera".The Boston Herald. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Forsythe was elegant, poised, focused, and determined as she talked recently about her emerging career. She grew up on Roosevelt Island, alongside Manhattan, and sang in high school choirs without ever taking her vocal potential very seriously.
^Trott, William C. (August 13, 1986)."Hackett Goes To Sea".United Press International. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.Buddy Hackett loves his Roosevelt Island. He got up early Tuesday to be on the maiden voyage of a ferry that runs from the island down the East River to Wall Street on Manhattan. The rotund comedian lives on Roosevelt when in New York City and said he wanted to be on the ferry's 'maiden voyage because I want to go down in history like Christopher Columbus.'
^abcGoodyear, Dana (January 14, 2019)."An Artist's Life, Refracted in Film".The New Yorker. RetrievedApril 5, 2024.Donnersmarck's father was among the first in the family to need a job. He became an executive at Lufthansa, and when Florian was one and his brother, Sebastian, was three the family moved to Roosevelt Island, as part of a social experiment to establish an economically diverse colony on 'Welfare Island.'
^Hooper, Joshua (November 25, 2009)."Tim Keller Wants to Save Your Yuppie Soul".New York. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.On a sunny morning not long ago, Keller greets me at his upper-floor apartment on Roosevelt Island and ushers me into his study.
^Homme, Alexander (October 30, 2009)."Roosevelt Island".Manhattan Style. Archived fromthe original on October 8, 2011.Al Lewis was also known as the unofficial mayor of Roosevelt Island
^Ross, Barbara (August 31, 2016)."Victoria's Secret model being sued for 'misleading' Airbnb listing defends her Roosevelt Island apartment".New York Daily News. RetrievedAugust 13, 2019.That's what a Victoria's Secret model insisted Wednesday about her Roosevelt Island apartment that was the subject of a new lawsuit by an unhappy Airbnb customer. However, the model, Lyndsey Scott, said she 'acknowledges' the complaints of attorney Christian Pugaczewski and is 'working closely with Airbnb to ensure that this is settled in a fair and just manner.'
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