Roosevelt Island

Yesterday I took a much anticipated trip to Roosevelt Island.

There are 3 ways to get to the Island (4 if you consider swimming there). There is the F train subway stop, the Roosevelt Island bridge from Astoria (good by car and bike) or you can take the Tramway from 63rd street in Manhattan. Since I wanted to travel by bike, i took the bridge. Maybe later on in my farewell tour I will try the Tramway.

The Island itself is very small. It is significantly smaller than central park, has a residential population of about 10,000 people and you can, as I did, circumnavigate the entire island by bike in about 15 minutes. At its widest point, it is not even 800 feet. On the North end of the island is a very nice park with the lighthouse, pictured above, aptly named Lighthouse Park. The rest of the island has a few buildings off of the only street, Main street. There are a few hospitals and medical institutions that have given the island its identity over the years. On the south end is the brick ruins of a jailhouse that is closed off to the public. That is going to change soon, as this fall a new waterfront development project will break ground. I have no idea what they are building.

I ran across a little community arts and music fair that was really entertaining. Other than that, i only saw a small community theatre and a few ball fields that might be considered public centers. Everything else revolves around the waterfront.

Here are a few great facts about the island:

• The island used to be called Blackwell's Island, Welfare Island and Minnihononck.
• It was renamed after FDR in 1973 in recognition of a monument that was to be built in his honor (due to the death of the architect, it was never completed)
• Welfare penitentiary was closed in 1935 to give way to the new Riker's Island prison.
• Noted social activist and anarchist, Emma Goldman was imprisoned here for her courageous work fighting for woman's rights.
• Nelly Bly went undercover to discover awful conditions in the Woman's Lunatic Asylum.
• Billy Holiday spent time in jail for prostitution here.
• Charles Dickens visited the island and wrote about the conditions of mental institution he called the "octagon" in his American Notes.
• Al Lewis "Grampa Musnter" lived here.

The Island is still known mostly for the tramway and the mental hospitals, but with new apartment buildings on the way, I'm sure all that will change soon. But, i have to say that with all the very important people and events that happened on such a small island, there ought to be more than a lighthouse and an old tramway kiosk that marks its history.

Perhaps its time to organize a radical walking tour of the Island.

pictures