Southpoint Park

Southpoint Park reflects Roosevelt Island's layered natural and human history. Its flora is native to New York City and represents the era before settlement, while its walls are built of stone from nineteenth century quarries once located on the island. Those stones had previously been part of City Hospital, built in 1857 and operating on this site until 1955. The grounds include two historic landmark buildings from the period when Roosevelt Island was called Welfare Island because of the institutions that cared for people in need. The Smallpox Hospital, designed by James Renwick, Jr., was built in the Gothic style, opened in 1856, and was the first hospital in the United States to accept patients with smallpox. During the 1870's it closed and was later reopened as The New York City Training School for Nurses. In 1909, the Strecker Memorial Laboratory was constructed as the nation's first center for the study of pathology and operated for more than fifty years; today its exterior is fully restored and it houses electric converters for the New York City Transit subways.

New York, New York · United States