New York’s first health department was created in 1793 with the hopes of preventing a yellow fever outbreak that was spreading throughout the city of Philadelphia. Ships sailing into New York’s harbor from Philadelphia were quarantined. These quarantine quarters were located on Governors Island. But by 1795, Yellow fever was making its way through New York City. Lack of knowledge about the way yellow fever spread was one reason that the disease was destined to hit New York City despite efforts to keep it away. Between July-October of 1795, 730 people died. This disease, which causes symptoms of fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, would plague New York City for almost a decade. Another common symptom—jaundice—turns the skin and eye whites of severe patients yellow due to obstruction of the bile duct or the inability to break down red blood cells.
It was not until 1798 that the disease spread in the city, killing more than 5000 in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia concurrently. At first, New York City papers were hesitant to publicize the outbreak, but Philadelphia papers would beat them to it, sparking fear in New Yorkers.
As the New York City breakouts occurred, efforts were made to build a quarantine hospital on Staten Island in 1799.
Many residents relocated to the outskirts of the city, which was then around Wall Street and Greenwich Village. Large amounts of the dead were buried is mass graves. One of these grave sites is now where Washington Square Park sits.
On September 1, 1858 a mob burned down this hospital in protest of its close vicinity to their homes. With patients infected with diseases such as smallpox, cholera, typhus and yellow fever, Staten Island residents feared catching these deadly ailments. In burning down the quarantine hospital, they felt they could close the operation completely. The night of the mob, only a mob member and yellow fever patient died. The next day, the mob returned to burn down the remaining buildings that survived.Although yellow fever continued to appear annually following this second epidemic sized outbreak, the final large yellow fever outbreak in New York City occurred in 1803. Following this year, the vengeful fever would fade away. However, in 1805, another 270 people died from the disease in New York. America’s last yellow fever epidemic occurred in New Orleans in 1905 and took 900 lives.
