Bloomingdale Insane Asylum
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The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (1821–1889) was an American private hospital for the care of the mentally ill, founded by New York Hospital. It was located in the
Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningsi ...
neighborhood of
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in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
is now located. It relocated to
White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...
, as the
Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic The Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic (PWC) was a hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, United States. It was founded by an endowment bestowed by Payne Whitney (March 20, 1876 – May 25, 1927) upon his death. Whitney w ...
, now known as the " NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center." The road leading to the asylum from the thriving city of New York (at the time consisting only of
lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
) was called Bloomingdale Road in the 19th century, and is now called Broadway. The term "Bloomingdale" dates back to the era of Dutch rule in New Amsterdam, and is possibly a reference to " Bloemendaal," the name of a small village in the flower-growing region near
Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...
in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. Bloomingdale is described as being a small village on the island, in Spafford's Gazetteer, of 1813.


History

The Bloomingdale Asylum was proposed in an address by Dr. Peter Middleton at King's College (today Columbia College), on November 3, 1769: "The necessity and usefulness of a public Infirmary has been so warmly and pathetically set forth in a discourse delivered by Dr. Samuel Bard, at the college commencement, in May last, that his Excellency, Sir Henry Moore immediately set on foot a subscription for that purpose to which himself and most of the gentlemen present liberally contributed." Subscriptions to this fund were continued, and in 1770, Doctors Peter Middleton, John Jones and Samuel Bard presented to the Colonial Government a petition for the incorporation of a public hospital. The petition was granted by a charter bearing the date of June 13, 1771 incorporating the "Society of the Hospital in the city of New York, in America", later termed the "Society of the New York Hospital". Between 1816 and 1818 the Society of the New York Hospital purchased of land on which to build an asylum in a part of upper Manhattan, then largely farmland and referred to as ''Bloomingdale Asylum.'' According to Andrew Dolkart, the large, "elegantly detailed Federal style brownstone building" was ready for occupancy in 1821. In 1829 the hospital erected another 30-bed building for a male population and in 1837 another building expansion for females. At the time the asylum was built it was the only hospital in the state caring for the mentally ill. Beginning in 1841, poor patients were moved to the newly opened
New York City Lunatic Asylum The Octagon, built in 1834, is a historic octagonal building and attached apartment block complex located at 888 Main Street on Roosevelt Island in New York City. It originally served as the main entrance to the New York City Mental Health Hos ...
on
Blackwell's Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, with an area of , and had a ...
(now
Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...
) and the Bloomingdale Asylum became the exclusive preserve of those whose families could afford to pay for their care. Plans to expand the asylum began in 1826. Two new buildings had been added by 1829, and the campus would continue to expand for many decades. The grounds of the asylum were elegantly laid out with walks and gardens. Farming and gardening were considered therapeutic, so there was a working farm with orchards, vegetable gardens, barns and pasture land. In the 1880s, with the city expanding northward, the trustees of the New York Hospital began to sell parts of the Asylum's land to various institutions, including the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum on the campus of what is now the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The trustees of Columbia College, now Columbia University, bought the bulk of the Bloomingdale Asylum property in 1892 and began planning the construction of a new campus. Some of the property was purchased by
The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
and served as its campus until 1969. The
Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...
currently occupies the property on Claremont Avenue. In 1889, the Bloomingdale Asylum moved to a new campus in
White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...
. The campus was renamed the
Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic The Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic (PWC) was a hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, United States. It was founded by an endowment bestowed by Payne Whitney (March 20, 1876 – May 25, 1927) upon his death. Whitney w ...
, after Payne Whitney (1876–1927) bequeathed a large gift to New York Hospital specifically for mental health. Whitney was an American businessman and member of the influential
Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...
. Today the campus is known as NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health after the 1998 merger of New York and Presbyterian Hospitals. The historical records of the Bloomingdale Asylum are housed in the Medical Center Archives of the Weill Cornell Medical Library. Columbia University occupied several buildings forming the old asylum in the early years. The last building erected on the Bloomingdale Asylum's Morningside Heights campus was the ''Macy Villa'', a gabled, brick building with white trim, which was designed by architect Ralph Townsend to resemble a private home for the comfort of wealthy gentlemen afflicted with mental illnesses, and donated by William H. Macy in 1885. It is the only building from the old asylum that survives. It has had a number of uses over the years, but is now known as Buell Hall and houses ''La Maison Française''. The American artist Charles Deas was institutionalized at the asylum from 1848 until his death in 1867.


Controversy

In 1872, the New York journalist, Julius Chambers, conducted an undercover investigation of the institution by having himself committed with the help of his senior editor and some of his friends. After ten days, they had him released and a series of articles was published in the ''
New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...
'' exposing abuses of inmates. This led to a dozen patients being released who were determined to be sane. The administration was reorganized and some administrators dismissed."Julius Chambers" in '' Dictionary of American Biography'' (1936) Charles Scribner's Sons, New York


Notes


References

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External links

* {{authority control 1821 establishments in New York (state) 1889 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct hospitals in Manhattan Hospital buildings completed in 1821 Hospitals established in 1821 Psychiatric hospitals in New York (state) Morningside Heights, Manhattan