Photo credit: Mickey Z.
Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
March 21, 2017
Late last year, I visited and photographed the crumbling ruins of the old Renwick Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island (formerly Welfare Island, formerly Blackwell’s Island). Called “the most haunted place in New York City,” it opened in 1856.
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
The 100-bed hospital treated 7,000 patients annually, and roughly 450 would die each year. That means that upwards of 13.5 thousand deaths due to smallpox happened within the walls of the Renwick during its 30 years as a hospital.
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
The Smallpox Hospital accommodated “charity cases” in wards on the lower floors and a series of private rooms a the upper stories for paying patients.
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
I did my best to proceed with respect and compassion on the grounds of a structure, wherein so many souls needlessly passed on. Considering that at least 13,500 perished in the Smallpox Hospital upon just arriving to America, these ruins also represent the ruins of so many unrealized dreams. We owe it to them (and ourselves) to do the work to realize our dreams…and bring as many others along for the ride as possible.
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
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Mickey Z. is currently writing two books, a political memoir called How to Change Minds & Influence the Future: Rebuilding Activism From the Ground Up (Microcosm Publishing) and a novella entitled stain red. In the meantime, he can be found here.
The Unrealized Dreams of the Renwick Smallpox Hospital (photo essay) by Mickey Z. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://worldnewstrust.com/the-unrealized-dreams-of-the-renwick-smallpox-hospital-photo-essay-mickey-z.