New York and Its Institutions, 1609

The private residence of Dr. Knight, No. 97 Second avenue, was rented at a moderate price, the managers pledged to defray the expenses of the enterprise for three years, and on the first day of May the Institution was opened with Dr. Knight as resident physician and surgeon. During the first month 66 patients were treated, 10 of whom were taken into the Institution, and at the close of the year the number amounted to 828. With each succeeding year the number has increased, amounting in the year just closed to 2,507, or 11,764 during the first seven years; and even this number would have been quadrupled but for the lack of accommodations. It has been ascertained that at least one in fifteen of the population is ruptured; persons of all ages, from the youngest infant to the octogenarian, being thus afflicted. These cases are largely among the poor and laboring classes, unable to purchase trusses and other surgical appliances. The children in the Institution present many sad examples of deformity. There are cases under treatment for lateral curvatures, spinal and hip diseases, deformed limbs, paralytic affections, club-feet, weak ankles, weak knees, bow legs, and white swelling. Scores of astonishing recoveries occur annually of those who a few years since would have been pronounced incurable, and left to limp or crawl to an early grave. Another class of patients are those suffering from varicose veins, which are relieved by the laced stocking, which, like suitable trusses, spring supporters for hip diseases, and utero-abdominal supporters, have always heretofore been far beyond the reach of the poor on account of their costliness. The society manufactures its own instruments at less than one-fourth the price hitherto paid. All indigent persons applying receive counsel, and any of these instruments needed, gratuitously. The building in Second avenue was purchased in 1866, but was never able to accommodate over thirty, and as most of those admitted are compelled to remain from six to eighteen months, and a few even longer, hundreds were annually turned away, who, with careful indoor treatment, could have been saved from a life of deformity and suffering. The manifest necessity for the movement, and its auspicious beginnings, led the managers to appeal to the public for the means to found, on a firm basis, a suitable institution. This has been responded to by a number of benevolent gentlemen, among whom may be mentioned Chauncey Rose, Esq., who has contributed the handsome sum of ninety thousand dollars. The Legislature, in 1867, enlarged their charter, granting power to hold real estate to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and personal to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It also granted, through the Supervisors of New York county, twenty-five thousand dollars toward building. The new edifice was entered by the surgeon and patients in the spring of 1870, and formally opened with appropriate exercises on the eleventh of the following November.

When the edifice was finished, an indebtedness of $50,000 remained on the property. John C. Green, Esq., the president of the society, nobly proposed to donate the sum of $50,000, if the board of managers would within thirty days collect a similar sum, which was soon accomplished, sweeping away all encumbrances with a stroke, and leaving $50,000 as the foundation of a permanent endowment fund.

The building occupies five lots of ground on the north-west corner of Lexington avenue and Forty-second street. The ground plan consists of a central portion one hundred and fifteen by forty-five feet, to which are attached semi-circular wings of twenty-two feet radius at three angles, two facing the south on Forty-second street, and one at the north-east angle on Lexington avenue. A wing, rectangular in form, thirty-two by twenty-two feet, is also attached to the northwest angle. The heavy walls, which are seventy-nine feet high, are of brick, trimmed with Ohio free and Connecticut brown stone, their blended colors forming a grateful relief to the eye. The basement, which is ten feet high, contains a reception hall, with seats for one hundred out-patients, consultation-rooms, kitchen, dining-room, store-rooms, laundry, and the manufacturing department for the construction and repairs of surgico-mechanical appliances. The first floor, reached by a broad flight of steps, is bisected by a spacious hallway, while a narrower one, running at right angle with this, divides it into equal parallelograms. This floor contains a reception-room, a spacious hall for the meetings of the managers, appropriate rooms for the family, and several apartments for patients. The second and third floors, which have walls eighteen feet high, are each divided into three longitudinal divisions, to be occupied by the children; the central one on each floor is a clear space where they receive their food and instruction; the others contain their beds, clothing, etc. The fourth floor is an open expanse for convalescent patients to enjoy the sunlight, free air, and amuse themselves with suitably limited calisthenics. This story is eighteen feet high, covered with a large central and several smaller domes, through which the invigorating sunlight pours its mellow rays upon the pale but hopeful patients. The building contains an admirable system of ventilation, is heated throughout with steam; and well supplied with bath-rooms, hot and cold water. The spacious stairway is fire-proof, and the building is furnished with a fire-proof elevator, worked with steam, which carries patients' food and all other appliances from the basement to the fourth floor. The edifice has been completed at an expense of $250,000, including the site, and has ample accommodations for two hundred patients. The Institution is now prepared to receive pay patients, both children and adults, and the society has entered, we trust, upon a new era in its useful career. Its labors in the past, aside from all human and moral considerations, have been abundantly successful, relieving the city of hundreds who must have been beggars and paupers, and supplying the means of comfort and independence to many worthy families. The children are instructed in English and German, and many who never saw a book at home make surprising progress. The Institution in its management is, Protestant, though not denominational, and sound Christian morals are inculcated in the minds of its inmates, who represent all creeds and nationalities. Without disparagement to any, we can but regard this as among the very first institutions of this great metropolis.