Throughout its history, Staten Island has maintained a tumultuous relationship with city, state, and federal governments, which often prioritized the interests of merchants and other elites over the concerns of the island’s residents. This tension is exemplified by the quarantine facilities established on Staten Island during the 1800s and 1900s.
Yellow Fever and Staten Island Quarantine
In 1799, yellow fever arrived in New York City through its bustling ports, which were already among the world’s busiest. Fearing a halt in commerce, government officials proposed quarantining ships and passengers to prevent the spread of disease. To contain the outbreak, commissioners from the state legislature sought to establish a quarantine facility away from Manhattan’s ports, choosing Staten Island, which consisted of independent towns before becoming a borough of New York City in 1898.
When the commissioners acquired a site for a quarantine hospital on Staten Island in 1799, local landowners resisted. However, the government exercised eminent domain to seize the land, and soon hospitals and other buildings were erected to treat yellow fever and other contagious diseases. This facility became known as the New York Marine Hospital, or simply “The Quarantine.”
Despite the prevalence of yellow fever in the late 1840s, calls to abolish the quarantine hospital persisted. A committee formed in 1849 to consider Staten Island’s concerns ultimately recommended relocating The Quarantine, although shipping merchants—concerned about potential disruptions to their interests—opposed this change. The merchants, wielding significant influence due to their economic contributions, successfully thwarted efforts to relocate the facility and kept The Quarantine in operation for a few more years.
In 1856, another yellow fever outbreak reignited calls to remove The Quarantine, but once again, the proposal was blocked by merchants and immigration officials. The Quarantine suffered from poor mismanagement. Employees who worked at the hospital freely returned to their communities, becoming vectors for spreading disease. Compounding this issue, the prevailing miasma theory of the time held that diseases spread through “bad air,” creating further alarm. Most of the hospital’s patients were immigrants, viewed by many as carriers of disease. The rapid increase in immigration during the 1840s and 1850s fueled anti-immigrant sentiments, adding tension to the already volatile situation. Mismanagement, xenophobia, and merchant interests culminated in what became known as the Staten Island Quarantine War.
On September 1-2, 1858, a mob, organized by local landowners and fueled by years of neglect and anti-immigrant sentiment, attacked the Quarantine, setting it ablaze. No deaths were reported, but the hospital was completely destroyed. The federal government responded by establishing Swinburne and Hoffman Islands in 1860 to house immigrants arriving through New York’s ports, relocating quarantine facilities away from Staten Island.