North and South Brother Islands are a pair of small islands located in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

between the mainland Bronx and

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a prison island in the East River in the Bronx, New York (state), New York, United States, that contains New York City's largest jail. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was orig ...

. North Brother Island was once the site of the Riverside Hospital for quarantinable diseases but is now uninhabited. The islands had long been privately owned, but were purchased by the federal government in 2007 with some funding from

the Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

and others; both were given to the city. They were then designated as sanctuaries for water birds. According to the

New York City Parks Department The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

, which oversees the islands, North Brother Island has about of land, and South Brother Island about .Staff (November 29, 2007
"The Daily Plant: South Brother Island Goes To The Birds"

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

Public access is prohibited but permission is occasionally given to researchers and journalists; a NYC Parks staff member escorts all such visitors.

History

Both North Brother Island and South Brother Island were claimed by the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

in 1614 and were originally named ''De Gesellen'', translated as "the companions" or "the brethren" in English. One source states that the islands were named by navigator

Adriaen Block Adriaen Courtsen Block (c. 1567 – 27 April 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages ...

. By the late 1600s the islands were owned by the British who occupied the area. In 1695 the government granted both to James Graham who did not develop the islands because the currents in the area were treacherous. The islands were both originally part of Queens County. On June 8, 1881, North Brother Island was transferred to what was then part of New York County (later to become

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

). On April 16, 1964, South Brother Island was also transferred to the Bronx. The islands had been incorporated into

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

in 1870, before the

consolidation of New York City The City of Greater New York was the consolidation of the City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Island, which took effect on January 1, 1898. New York had already annexed the Bronx (west of the Bronx River in 187 ...

in 1898.

North Brother Island

The northern of the islands was uninhabited until 1885, though a lighthouse was built in 1869. In the mid-1880s the Riverside Hospital moved there from Blackwell's Island (now known as

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...

). Riverside Hospital had been founded in the 1850s as a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease. Its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinable diseases, initially typhoid and then smallpox and tuberculosis. During the polio epidemic in 1916, Riverside treated numerous patients. Like the waterfront gantry, the oldest building was erected in 1885 and the last to be established was the

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Pavilion, which opened in 1943. It was rendered obsolete within the decade due to the increasing availability, acceptance, and use of the

tuberculosis vaccine Tuberculosis (TB) vaccines are vaccinations intended for the prevention of tuberculosis. Immunotherapy as a defence against TB was first proposed in 1890 by Robert Koch. As of 2021, the only effective tuberculosis vaccine in common use is the B ...

after 1945. The island was the site of the wreck of the '' General Slocum'', a steamship that burned on June 15, 1904: 1,021 people died either from the fire on board the ship, or from drowning before the ship beached on the island's shores. According to Joseph Mitchell, a reporter for newspapers and for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', the island was the site of many outings of "The Honorable John McSorley Pickle, Beefsteak, Baseball Nine, and Chowder Club" organized by John McSorley of

McSorley's Old Ale House McSorley's Old Ale House is the oldest Irish wikt:saloon, saloon in New York City. Opened in the mid-19th century at 15 7th Street (Manhattan), East 7th Street, in what is now the East Village, Manhattan, East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, ...

; photos of the outings are featured on the walls of the bar.

Mary Mallon Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), commonly known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish Americans, Irish-born American cook who is believed to have infected between 51 and 122 people with typhoid fever. The infections caused ...

, also known as Typhoid Mary, was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in November 1938. Because of her contagious illness, she had been declared a public menace in 1915; she suffered a stroke in 1932 and was thereafter confined to the hospital. Researchers estimate that Mallon had contaminated "at least one hundred and twenty two people, including five who died". According to the '' Smithsonian'' magazine, the need for a quarantine hospital in a remote location had declined by the 1930s, as "public health advances lessened the need to quarantine large numbers of individuals". Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges and their families. After the nationwide housing shortage abated, the island was again abandoned until the 1950s, when a center opened to treat adolescent

drug addicts Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

. The facility claimed it was the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders.

Heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

addicts were confined to this facility and locked in a room until they were clean. Many of them believed they were being held against their will. Staff corruption and cost forced the facility to close in 1963. The facility is said to have been the inspiration for the Broadway play '' Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?'', which helped to launch the career of

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...

. Since the mid-1960s, New York City mayors have considered a variety of uses for the island.

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...

, for instance, proposed to sell it, and

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. Koch was a lifelong Democrat who ...

thought it could be converted into housing for the homeless. The city also considered using it as an extension of the jail at

. Now serving as a sanctuary for herons and other wading shorebirds, the island is presently abandoned and off-limits to the public. Most of the original 25 buildings still stand, "in various states of extreme dilapidation"; hence, permits to visit are issued only for "compelling academic and scientific purposes". Some buildings are in danger of collapse; a dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings. In October 2014,

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

member

Mark Levine Mark Andrew LeVine is an American historian, musician, writer, and professor. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. Education LeVine received his B.A. in comparative religion and biblical studies from Hunter ...

, chair of the City Council's Parks Committee, led a delegation to visit the island, and declared his desire afterward to open the island for limited "light-touch, environmentally sensitive" public access. In October 2016, ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine reported that the council had commissioned a study from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

's School of Design, followed by a public hearing, on how the island could be converted into a park with controlled access by the public. In 2016, the executive director of the Historic House Trust warned that there were many hazards, due to the deteriorating buildings and open manholes. In addition to resolving those problems, a dock would have been needed. Overall, the cost appeared to be prohibitive and no actual steps were ever taken. In 2017, reporter Josh Robin of the

NY1 NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The chan ...

channel was allowed to visit the North island and posted a video report that included some of the abandoned buildings. Also in 2017, the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

filmed an episode on North Brother Island for the series '' What on Earth?''. Journalist Dave Mosher accompanied the crew and posted a report and still photographs of the buildings and environment. The report stated that the island is "both eerie and beautiful" but added that most buildings were unsafe, that few buildings still included a "functional roof" and poison ivy was problematic everywhere. On 8 March 2025 at around 5pm the FDNY received reports of smoke coming from the island. The FDNY dispatched land and marine units to investigate. Units from the land reported what appeared to be a brush fire on the island and directed all land units to respond to "The Rock" FDNY's training center to await transportation to the island. FDNY Marine 6 responded along with the Marine Battalion and confirmed they had smoke from the middle of the island. The Marine Battalion transmitted a 10-75 (10 signal confirming a fire/emergency) for a fire in one of the structures on the island. The marine battalion also stated that the roof had collapsed. Marine 6 transported firefighters from the Rock to North Brother Island to combat the blaze. Marine 1 also responded with their big boat, "343", which is capable of pumping 50,000 gallons per minute and assisted in putting the fire out. Engine 83 and Ladder 29 were first due. It took firefighters 5 hours and 12 minutes to extinguish the blaze. The YouTube Channel
FDNY Response Videos
posted a video showing the firefighting operations.

South Brother Island

In the mid-19th century, Alfred W. White, who was in charge of public health for the city, used South Brother Island as the city's first dump, where garbage, manure, offal and carcasses were sent to help clean up the city, which consisted at that time of only Manhattan and its islands. However, the island is only about a half-mile from the Bronx and the country estates of the city's rich, such as William Ligett and Jacob Lorillard, both scions of tobacco families. It was also close enough to the shoreline villages of Queens County to be noxious to them as well, and the combination of Queens villages and wealthy Bronxites convinced the Queens County Supreme Court to stop the dumping.

Jacob Ruppert Jacob Ruppert Jr. (August 5, 1867 – January 13, 1939) was an American brewer, businessman, National Guard colonel and politician who served for four terms representing New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1899 to 1907. ...

, a brewery magnate and early owner of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, had a summer house on the island that burned down in 1909. No one has lived on the island since then, and there are no structures extant. Ruppert owned the island until the late 1930s, and in 1944 it was purchased by John Gerosa, president of the Metropolitan Roofing Supply Company; he said he planned to construct cottages for employees but they were never built. Snowy Egret Plume

In 1975, the city sold South Brother Island to Hampton Scows Inc., a

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

investment company, for $10. Hampton Scows paid property taxes every year but did not develop the island. In November 2007, the island was purchased in a complicated transaction in which $2 million of federal grant money from the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

's Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program was allocated to the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...

and

the POINT Community Development Corporation The POINT Community Development Corporation is a non-profit community development corporation dedicated to youth development, culture, and the economic revitalization of the Hunts Point neighborhood of the South Bronx, from which it takes its na ...

. The

Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

then acquired the island on behalf of those organizations, and then donated it to the city's Parks Department as a wildlife sanctuary. It is managed by the city's Parks Department and the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

. South Brother Island was the 13th island to come under the Parks Department's jurisdiction.

Wildlife

Both islands are part of a designated wildlife sanctuary. From the 1980s through the early 2000s, North Brother Island supported one of the area's largest nesting colonies of

black-crowned night heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax'') r black-capped night heron commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and Nort ...

. However, by 2008 this species had abandoned the island for unknown reasons.

Barn swallow The barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') is the most widespread species of swallow in the world, occurring on all continents, with vagrants reported even in Antarctica. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply f ...

s use the abandoned structures for nesting, and can be seen flying over the island. On South Brother Island, dense brush supports nesting colonies of several species of birds, notably

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, great white egret, or great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. R ...

snowy egret The snowy egret (''Egretta thula'') is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, , which is a diminutive of , 'heron'. The species name ''thula'' is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, a ...

, and

double-crested cormorant The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes and in coastal areas and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska ...

. The New York City Bird Alliance has monitored nesting colonies on the island for over 20 years. In their May/July 2019 Nesting Survey however, the New York City Bird Alliance was unable to confirm the great blue heron or the green heron as breeding on any of the coastal islands. Some other wading bird species, including black-crowned night-herons, were found to have breeding colonies on South Brother Island; snowy egret and double-crested cormorant were also found nesting there. In fact, "the three largest wader nesting colonies" in the survey included South Brother Island. There was no mention in the report of any significant findings on North Brother Island.

In popular culture

In June 2009, North Brother Island was featured in episode 8 ("Armed and Defenseless") of ''

Life After People ''Life After People'' is a television series on which scientists, mechanical engineers, and other experts speculate about what might become of planet Earth if humanity suddenly disappeared. The featured experts also talk about the impact of h ...

'' on the History Channel. It was used as an example of what would happen to structures after 45 years without humans. It was featured in the ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web serie ...

'' episode " Working Girls" and was mentioned in the episode " Twaining Day". It was also featured in the ''

Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...

'' episode " The Island", and it is a location inhabited by women and children in

Victor LaValle Victor LaValle (born February 3, 1972) is an American author. He is the author of a short-story collection, ''Slapboxing with Jesus'', and five novels, ''The Ecstatic,'' ''Big Machine,'' ''The Devil in Silver,'' '' The Changeling'', and ''Lone Wo ...

's 2017 novel '' The Changeling''. North Brother Island was also mentioned as the Enclave base in ''

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur ''Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'' (or simply ''Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'') is an American animated superhero television series developed by Steve Loter, Jeffrey M. Howard, and Kate Kondell for Disney Channel. Based on '' Moon Girl A ...

'' season 1 finale "O.M.G. Issue 2".

References

External links

NYC Audubon Western Long Island Sound Project – includes Harbor Herons

"North Brother Island may someday open to the public"
'' Curbed New York'' (additional images)
Abandoned Riverside Hospital history and photos

{{authority control Bird sanctuaries of the United States Ghost towns in New York (state) History of New York City Islands of New York City Islands of the Bronx Islands of the East River Modern ruins Nature reserves in New York (state) Parks in the Bronx Protected areas of the Bronx PS General Slocum Uninhabited islands of New York (state)