Hoffman Island

Coordinates: 40°34′44″N 74°03′13″W / 40.578873°N 74.053688°W / 40.578873; -74.053688
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hoffman Island
Borough
Staten Island

Hoffman Island is an 11-acre (4.5 ha)

John Thompson Hoffman.[4]

Quarantined persons on Hoffman Island between 1910 and 1915

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hoffman (and Swinburne) Island was used as a quarantine station, housing immigrants who, upon their arrival at the immigrant inspection station at nearby Ellis Island, presented with symptoms of contagious disease(s).[1]

World War II

Starting in 1938 and extending through World War II, the United States Merchant Marine used Hoffman and Swinburne Islands as a training station.[4][5] The Quonset huts built during this period are no longer evident on Hoffman Island, but as of 2017 their remnants remain on Swinburne Island. During World War II the islands also served as anchorages for anti-submarine nets intended to protect New York Bay and its associated shipping/naval activities from enemy submarines entering from the Atlantic Ocean.[4]

Post–World War II

Since World War II several proposals for utilizing Hoffman and Swinburne Islands have been presented. In the 1950s, city planner

Nudie film on the island.[8][9]

In the 1980s, in response to plans of New York City to open new homeless shelters amidst Staten Island's residential neighborhoods, some of the potentially affected residents proposed a never-implemented plan to construct a homeless shelter on Hoffman Island, Swinburne Island or both.[10]

Current use

Hoffman and Swinburne islands are currently managed by the

harbor seals have been observed wintering on and near the islands.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Quarantine At New York". Harper's Weekly. September 6, 1879. Retrieved 2008-07-28. April 23, 1863, what is now known as the General Quarantine Act was passed, defining the quarantine establishment, authorizing its construction, creating the permanent office of Quarantine Commissioner, defining the duties and powers of the Commissioners and Health Officer, and establishing a general system of quarantine for the port. Additional powers were conferred by amendments made to this general act in 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867, under which two small steamers were purchased; the property at Tompkinsville, Staten Island, known as the Marine Hospital Grounds, was sold; and the artificial islands in the lower bay were undertaken and afterward completed – Swinburne Island in 1860, and Hoffman Island in 1873.
  2. ^
    New York Times
    . Retrieved 2007-08-21. The inhabitants of Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, man-made piles in Lower New York Bay off Staten Island, have tended to be there not because they particularly want to be, but because they have to. In the 19th century, the islands were a holding area for new immigrants feared to be carrying diseases. Later, they housed soldiers with venereal disease, quarantined parrots and, until the 1940s, merchant marines in training.
  3. ^ "Chart of Orchard Shoal, Lower Bay, New York". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0300055366
    .
  5. ^ "The Ship That Never Sails." Popular Mechanics, February 1942, pp.66-69/164.
  6. ^ "An Island Just For U". Forgotten New York. 2 May 1999. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  7. ^ Abandoned Man Made Islands in New York City Untapped Cities
  8. ^ Abelman, Lester (1965-08-04). "Nudie filming bags 11 on bare isle off staten". The Daily News. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  9. ^ "The Sexploitation Film Made on a Desert Island in New York City". The Rialto Report. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  10. ISBN 978-0739173060
    .

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoffman Island.

40°34′44″N 74°03′13″W / 40.578873°N 74.053688°W / 40.578873; -74.053688

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