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Situated between the Harlem
and East rivers, the
island's more than 500 acres
are composed of baseball
diamonds and soccer fields,
as well as a state
psychiatric hospital and a
homeless shelter.
In 1855, the City of New
York acquired three separate
land masses between
Manhattan, Queens and the
Bronx: Randall's Island,
named after its previous
owner Jonathan Randal;
Ward's Island, named after
Jasper and Bartholomew Ward
and a marsh called Sunken
Meadows. Over the years, the
debris from construction
projects filled in the space
between the three islands.
The most notable project
that generated deposits was
the building, from October
1929 until July 1936, of the
Triborough Bridge, between
Manhattan, Queens and the
Bronx. Although the land
masses are now one island,
the northern part is still
known as Randall's Island,
while the southern section
is called Ward's.
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The Immigrant
Hospital |
The island became a
repository for people
considered undesirable to
mainstream society. The city
first used the island as a
potter's field - a public
burial ground for dead
people without family or
friends to claim them.
Later, the city built a
shelter for impoverished
immigrants and an insane
asylum on the island. In the
1930s, Robert Moses wanted
to turn both islands into a
giant recreational area, but
Moses was not persuasive
enough, and instead, New
York State built the
Manhattan Psychiatric Center
on the area previously
occupied by the insane
asylum. In addition to the
hospital, other
institutional buildings on
the island include the New
York City Fire Academy, a
homeless men's shelter, a
water treatment plant and a
maintenance garage for the
Parks Department's vehicles
and equipment.
The island still has plenty
of green space, though. It
is a popular destination on
weekend afternoons for
picnics and concerts. A new
entertainment and sports
complex is set to open in
the spring of 2004 to
replace Downing Stadium,
which was demolished in
2000. It is one of New
York's most accessible
islands. Pedestrians can
access it from the East
103rd Street footbridge in
Manhattan, the Triborough
Bridge entrance on East
125th Street in Manhattan
and Astoria Boulevard in
Queens.
The approaches to both the
Hell Gate Bridge, completed
in 1917, and the Triborough
Bridge, completed in 1936,
traverse the island.
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