City students might one day be able to visit an abandoned island in the East River rich in history, as city officials are looking into making North Brother Island accessible to the public. NY1's Erin Clarke filed the following report.
Vacant buildings with broken windows and overgrown brush dot a hauntingly beautiful Bronx island called North Brother Island, part of New York that's long forgotten.
"The island is famously known for its treatment of tuberculosis patients, and the one who is most famous that everyone tends to hear about is Typhoid Mary," said John Krawchuk, historic preservation director with the Parks Department.
These buildings were part of a hospital that opened in 1885 to treat and quarantine people with contagious diseases. The complex then became veterans housing, and later a drug treatment facility, before closing in 1961.
"I never heard that there was an island here in the Bronx," said one local resident.
The island is surrounded by Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. It is 20 acres taken over by nature. It's now a sanctuary for endangered herons, and the city Parks Department is restoring native plant life.
The public is not allowed on it, but the head of the City Council's Parks Committee wants to change that. Councilman Mark Levine secured funding for researchers from the University of Pennsylvania to study the island and make recommendations to the city.
"Some of us are looking at the historic buildings and assessing their condition, and others are looking at the landscape and the vegetation and the seawall," said Madeline Helmer, a design student at the University of Pennsylvania.
"How do we have, conserve the whole place as an historical entity, as well an ecological place," said Randy Mason, a historic preservation professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The goal is to strike a balance where these buildings, the plants and wildlife here can be preserved while still allowing people to visit and learn about North Brother Island.
"This is not the next Governor's Island. We don't expect to have hot dog carts and bicycle rentals. But we think that a very limited controlled access for school groups of kids," Levine said.
That's already happening. A community organization, The Point, brought Bronx high school students to the island Friday for a photography program.
"It's important for young people, people in the community to know this is still part of 10474," said Maria Torres, president and CEO of The Point Community Development Corporation.