The RIOC Column

Herbert E. Berman President Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. e-mail: HBerman@rioc.com

July 4 is the day we welcome the rest of the City to Roosevelt Island for the annual fireworks display. We hope our visitors spend a little more time to visit the Island and see why we are so proud of this special spot in the middle of the East River.

What we now know as Roosevelt Island was called Minnahannock Island by the Algonquin Indians before the Dutch purchased it in 1637. It went through various names and identities in the first decades of European control, depending on who owned it at the time.

The City of New York purchased the Island, then called Blackwell Island, in 1828, as the home for institutions such as prisons, mental hospitals and nursing homes. Renamed Welfare Island in 1921, it continued as a repository for these types of institutions. But in 1968, Mayor John Lindsay formed a commission to look into the future of the Island.

In 1969, the New York State Urban Development Corporation signed a 99-year lease with New York City to develop the Island, using a master plan designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee as its guideline. This plan called for a mixed-income community of 20,000 people living in 5,000 units in a largely traffic free environment. The plan was later amended to lower the intended density, but its general principles remain in effect today.

Roosevelt Island is a jewel of the City, home to over 9,000 people living in a nationally-recognized model mixed-income community. The Island has six historic landmarks, several spacious parks, sports facilities, numerous playgrounds, a waterfront promenade, and unparalleled views of Manhattan.

And we have the aerial Tramway that first opened in 1976 to provide residents of the Island direct access to Manhattan. The Tram is currently being repaired and expected to resume service this fall to transport thousands of riders safely across the East River, offering vivid views of the most spectacular urban vistas in the world.

We urge visitors to take the time to walk around the Island.

Both the northern and southern tips boast historic sites linked to Irish architect James Renwick, Jr., who also designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The northern tip boasts the 134-year-old Lighthouse built with stone quarried on the Island by convicts and inmates from the Island’s institutions. The southern tip has the remains of the 152-year-old Smallpox Hospital, the City’s only landmarked ruin.

In the center of the Island stands the Blackwell House, dating to 1794, and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, which dates to 1888.

The "newest" addition to our historic inventory is the Octagon Tower. Once the center of a mental health hospital, it has recently been renovated as part of the development of an apartment building, just one example of how the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), the State-created public-benefit corporation that controls the Island, works to include public amenities in its development contracts.

Check our website at www.rioc.com for more information about who we are and what we do.

So let’s welcome visitors who come for the fireworks and urge them to spend a little more time seeing what Roosevelt Island has to offer. Maybe today’s visitor will become tomorrow’s neighbor.