Aerial view of the RFK-Triborough Bridge (left) and the Hell Gate Bridge (right) to Wards Island (top)

Wards Island is situated in the East River in New York City. Administratively it is part of the borough of Manhattan. It is bridged by rail to the borough of Queens by the Hell Gate Bridge and it is joined to Randall's Island to the north by landfill. The two islands together are run by the Randall's Island Sports Foundation under a partnership agreement with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Together, the two islands form New York County's Census Tract 240, which had a total population of 1,386 living on 2.2 km² of land area, according to the United States Census, 2000.^[1]

Viaducts leading to the RFK-Triborough Bridge and Hell Gate bridges pass overhead. Vehicular access is by the Little Hell Gate bridge from Randall's Island, while a narrow pedestrian and bicycling bridge, Wards Island Bridge, links the island to the east side of Manhattan in Harlem.

The island is home to several public facilities, including Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center^[2] (which serves the criminally insane), and a New York City Department of Environmental Protection wastewater treatment plant. It is also home to Wards Island Park, which offers stunning views, athletic fields, and picnic grounds.

There is also a homeless shelter, the Charles Gay Assessment Shelter (Clark Thomas Building), on the island run by the New York City Department of Homeless Services.^[3]

History[link]

Colonial period[link]

At the time of its appropriation from New York's native inhabitants to the Dutch settlers in 1637, the island was known as Tenkenas which translated to "Wild Lands".

Later, the island's name changed several times. At times it was known as "Buchanan's Island" and "Great Barn Island", both of which were likely corruptions of the surname "Barendt," the name of an early owner.

During the Revolutionary War the island served as a military post for the British military.

Detail of 1896 map of Long Island City, showing Wards Island, from the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

Early America[link]

After the war ended, Jaspar Ward and Bartholomew Ward took ownership of the island that later carried their surname. Although a small population had lived on the island since as early as the 17th century, the Ward brothers developed the island more heavily by building a cotton mill and building the first bridge to cross the East River in 1807, connecting the island with Manhattan at 114th Street.

The bridge, paid for by Bartholomew Ward and Philip Milledolar, was a wooden drawbridge. The bridge lasted until 1821, when it was destroyed in a storm.

After the bridge was destroyed, the island was largely abandoned until 1840, when the island was transformed into a dumping ground for everything unwanted in New York City. Between 1840 and 1930, the island was used for:

• Burial of hundreds of thousands of bodies relocated from the Madison Square and Bryant Park graveyards.
• The State Emigrant Refuge, a hospital for sick and destitute immigrants, opened in 1847, the biggest hospital complex in the world during the 1850s.
• The New York City Asylum for the Insane, opened around 1863.
• An immigration station from 1860 until the 1892 opening of Ellis Island.
• Manhattan State Hospital, operated by the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene when it took over the immigration and asylum buildings in 1899.^{[citation needed]} With 4,400 patients, it was the largest psychiatric institution in the world. The 1920 census notes that the hospital had a total of 6045 patients. It later became the Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

Reconstruction[link]

Wards Island began to change when the 1930 Metropolitan Conference of Parks recommended transforming Randall's and Wards islands into recreational parks. Robert Moses, Parks Commissioner in 1934, announced the plans for developing Wards Island. The city would connect it to Randall's Island just to the north by filling Little Hell Gate and it would be cleared for playing fields and promenades.

The creation of the park was followed by the development of the Triborough Bridge (renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), starting in 1936 and lasting seven years, and the building of the Ward's Island Water Pollution Control Plant, which was built in 1937 and occupies nearly one quarter of the island.

The current Wards Island Bridge, a pedestrian bridge connecting the island to Manhattan, was built in 1951. It was designed to give access to Wards Island Park to East Harlem, which has few public green spaces. In 2006 the original walkway of the Triborough Bridge Queens leg, alighting in Randall's Island, was demolished and a shorter, wider and less steep one built to connect to Wards Island.

Most of Wards Island Park was closed in early 2008, pending renovation.

• 

  East River Fields Before Construction - June 2007

• 

  East River Fields During Construction - April 2008

• 

  East River Fields Completion - Sept 2008

• 

  Wards Meadow During Construction - Feb 2008

• Triboro island.JPG

  Ward's and Randall's island from the Air - June 2009

Scylla Point[link]

In 1984, the point at the southeastern tip of the island was officially designated "Negro Point", based on the unofficial usage of riverboat workers.^[4] The United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used that name. In 2001, Henry Stern, the Parks Commissioner, upon learning of the name, thought it was offensive.^[5] He replaced it with "Scylla Point" and paired it with Charybdis Playground in Astoria Park; the two features are on opposite sides of Hell Gate, just as the mythological monsters of Scylla and Charybdis were on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina.^[6]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Seitz, Sharon & Miller, Stuart. (2003) The Other Islands of New York. ISBN 0-88150-502-1.
• NYC Gov Parks - Ward's Island

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wards Island

• History of Ward's Island
• Photo Essay of Biking Ward's Island and Footbridge Hours of Operation

Coordinates: 40°47′15″N 73°55′31″W / 40.7875°N 73.92528°W / 40.7875; -73.92528

v t e Islands of New York City Barren Island The Blauzes Broad Channel Island Chimney Sweeps City Island Coney Island Ellis Island Governors Island Hart Island High Island Hoffman Island Hunter Island Isle of Meadows Liberty Island Long Island Manhattan Mill Rock North Brother Island Prall's Island Randall's Island Rat Island Rikers Island Roosevelt Island Ruffle Bar Shooters Island South Brother Island Staten Island Swinburne Island Travers Island Twin Island U Thant Island Wards Island

v t e Neighborhoods in the New York City Borough of Manhattan Alphabet City Astor Row Battery Park City Bowery Carnegie Hill Chelsea Chinatown Civic Center Columbus Circle Cooperative Village Diamond District East Harlem East Village Financial District Five Points Flatiron District Garment District Gashouse District Gramercy Park Greenwich Village Hamilton Heights Harlem Hell's Kitchen Herald Square Hudson Heights Hudson Yards Inwood Italian Harlem Kips Bay Koreatown Lenox Hill Le Petit Senegal Liberty Island Lincoln Square Little Germany Little Italy Little Syria Loisaida Lower East Side Lower Manhattan Madison Square Manhattan Valley Manhattanville Marble Hill Marcus Garvey Park Meatpacking District Midtown Manhattan Morningside Heights Murray Hill NoHo Nolita NoMad Peter Cooper Village Pomander Walk Radio Row Randall's Island Roosevelt Island Rose Hill San Juan Hill SoHo South Street Seaport South Village Strivers' Row Stuyvesant Square Stuyvesant Town Sugar Hill Sutton Place Sylvan Court Mews, Sylvan Place, and Sylvan Terrace Tenderloin Theatre District Times Square TriBeCa Tudor City Turtle Bay Two Bridges Union Square Upper East Side Upper Manhattan Upper West Side Wards Island Washington Heights Waterside Plaza West Village Yorkville Community Boards: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12