Quarantine Scenes in Staten Island History
By Carlos A. Santiago
New York City’s borough of Staten Island has a long history of quarantines and public reactions to them. Just over five miles from Manhattan, Staten Island has faced numerous disease outbreaks, with quarantine measures playing a central role in containment efforts. In the nineteenth century, mass immigration and the spread of infectious diseases overwhelmed the city, leading to stricter quarantine enforcement. At the time, immigrant health regulations were managed by municipal authorities and the State Health Office, which operated a quarantine station on Staten Island. The island became a focal point for disease containment, housing sick immigrants upon their arrival in New York. Throughout its history, Staten Island has also witnessed strong public opposition to quarantine measures, sometimes leading to violent protests—including during the most recent COVID-19 pandemic. [1]
In November 2020, as COVID-19 cases surged, the state ordered bars and restaurants to close by 10 PM. One Staten Island bar defied the mandate, resulting in the revocation of its liquor license. Some Staten Islanders saw this as government overreach, viewing the restrictions as an infringement on private businesses. As the most Republican-leaning borough in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, many Staten Island residents have long been skeptical of government intervention. Residents also feel neglected by the rest of New York City, fueling resentment toward state officials and policies imposed without their input. Tensions escalated when the bar’s manager continued to sell alcohol without a license and, in an attempt to evade arrest, struck a deputy sheriff with his SUV. [2]
This 2020 event reflects a broader pattern. From yellow fever in the 1700s to the HIV epidemic of the 1980s, disease outbreaks have shaped New York City’s history. Staten Island has a unique relationship with these epidemics. Since the early to mid-nineteenth century, Staten Islanders have expressed strong, sometimes violent, opposition to quarantine measures.
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. [3]
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.” [4]
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. [5]
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. [6] 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.
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Attack On The Quarantine Establishment, On September 1, 1858." New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-281b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
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. [7]
Completed in 1870, Swinburne Island—named after Civil War veteran and surgeon Dr. John S. Swinburne—became known as "Lower Quarantine," where sick individuals were hospitalized. Hoffman Island, finished in 1872 and named after former New York Governor and New York City Mayor John T. Hoffman, was referred to as "Upper Quarantine," where asymptomatic individuals were held. Though these islands were intended to replace quarantine efforts on Staten Island, the borough’s involvement with disease containment was far from over. [8]
In 1878, another yellow fever outbreak prompted the passage of the National Quarantine Act, which shifted quarantine authority from state to federal control. This legislation reignited discussions about establishing a new quarantine hospital on Staten Island. The planned facility was to be known as the U.S. Marine Hospital. The following year, The New York Times referred to the Quarantine Act as “an experiment,” noting that the federal government had yet to exercise its authority over quarantine matters. While some raised concerns about the impact of quarantine regulations on commerce, the article emphasized that the measure was primarily a public health necessity, justified by the ongoing yellow fever epidemic. [9]
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "United States Marine Hospital, Stapleton, Staten Island, N.Y." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-cb7e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
For Staten Island, the proposed U.S. Marine Hospital had little to do with yellow fever and more to do with federal authority. On Christmas Eve, the New York Times reported on local opposition to converting Staten Island’s Seaman’s Retreat into the new U.S. Marine Hospital due to concerns about spreading infectious diseases. [10]
Despite local resistance, the Seaman’s Retreat was sold to the federal government. A follow-up article in the New York Times reported that commercial bodies in New York City had petitioned Congress to acquire the property for a government hospital, dismissing fears about disease spread as “absurd.” Ultimately, the federal government proceeded with its plan, disregarding Staten Island’s past experiences and residents’ concerns. [11]
Staten Island and the Tuberculosis Sanatorium
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "Aerial View Sea View Hospital, Staten Island N.Y. 28" New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-cb86-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
After Staten Island became a New York City borough in 1898, the island was once again chosen for a quarantine facility, this time for tuberculosis (TB). In 1905, New York City selected a site on Staten Island’s second-highest point to build a sanatorium. At the time, TB was treated with fresh air, sunlight, and a good diet, and sanatoriums provided a place for patients to receive such care. [12]
The resulting Sea View Hospital, completed in 1913, was not easily accessible to the poor, for whom treatment was often financially out of reach. Many working-class residents could not afford sanatorium care or take time off work, rendering the sanatorium a privilege unavailable to most.
Local landowners also opposed the sanatorium. In a letter to the New York Times, one Staten Island resident argued that the presence of “thousands of consumptives” would degrade property values and force long-time residents to sell their homes. Despite such protests, Sea View Hospital opened, providing TB treatment to those who could afford it. [13]
Modern Parallels: Staten Island and COVID-19
Staten Island’s longstanding tensions with New York City, state, and federal governments over quarantine matters were largely dormant until recent years, thanks to advances in vaccines and public health. However, the COVID-19 pandemic revived these debates.
In November 2019, the first confirmed COVID-19 case heralded a new era of pandemic response. Staten Island again found itself embroiled in quarantine-related conflict. The November 2020 incident involving a bar manager who struck a deputy sheriff with his SUV reflects a deep-seated resistance to state-imposed public health measures, echoing the Staten Island Quarantine War of 1858. While the 2020 conflict did not involve literal flames, it kindled a spirit of defiance that legislation alone cannot extinguish.
Carlos A. Santiago is the Programs Associate and Archivist at CitizensNYC, a grantmaking nonprofit that has provided microgrants to grassroots community projects across New York City since 1975. He holds a BA and MA in History from SUNY Buffalo and Brooklyn College, where he studied the history of tourism and urbanization in Puerto Rico. While managing digital collections at a genealogy nonprofit from 2019 to 2022, he uncovered stories about New York City that deepened his interest in researching the city where he was born and raised.
[1] Brendan P. O'Malley, Protecting the Stranger: The Origins of US Immigration Regulation in Nineteenth-Century New York (PhD diss., CUNY Graduate Center, 2015), 20-23.
[2] Amanda Rosa, “How a Bar Became a Symbol of Staten Island Virus Defiance,” New York Times, December 9, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/nyregion/macs-staten-island-covid.html.
[3] Richard M. Bayles, History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York: From its Discovery to the Present Time (New York: L.E. Preston, 1887), 267.
[4] Bayles, History of Richmond County, 268.
[5] Bayles, History of Richmond County, 269.
[6] Bayles, History of Richmond County, 269-270.
[7] The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Attack On The Quarantine Establishment, On September 1, 1858." New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-281b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
[8] John F. Gill, “A Quarantine Hospital So Unwelcome that New Yorkers Burned it Down,” New York Times, May 8, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/realestate/a-quarantine-hospital-so-unwelcome-that-new-yorkers-burned-it-down.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article.
[9] National Park Service, "Hoffman and Swinburne Islands," Gateway National Recreation Area, last updated June 16, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/historyculture/hoffman-and-swinburne-islands.htm.
[10] “NATIONAL QUARANTINE,” New York Times, May 28, 1879, https://www.nytimes.com/1879/05/28/archives/national-quarantine.html.
[11] “THEY DON’T WANT A HOSPITAL,” New York Times, December 24, 1883, https://www.nytimes.com/1883/12/24/archives/they-dont-want-a-hospital.html.
[12] “THE PROPOSED MARINE HOSPITAL.,” New York Times, December 25, 1883, https://www.nytimes.com/1883/12/25/archives/the-proposed-marine-hospital.html.
[13] Michaeleen Doucleff, “Medicines to Fight White Plague Are Losing their Punch,” NPR, July 19, 2013, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/05/188906912/tuberculosis-white-plague-doctors-modern-medicine.
[14] “A Staten Island Protest.,” New York Times, February 13, 1906, https://www.nytimes.com/1906/02/13/archives/a-staten-island-protest.html.