An Abandoned Mansion In NYC Raises Questions

The End Of An Era

North Brother Island began to fall into disuse in the 1950’s. The residents felt that it was impractical to live on the island and work in New York, which required an irregular ferry service to shuttle them back and forth.

The city, on the other hand, was more concerned about the costs of maintaining North Brother Island. There was plenty of cheap real estate on the mainland back then and the city was subsidizing the ferry service. It was decided to relocate the remaining families and heroin rehab patients back to New York proper and to abandon the island to nature.