New York and Its Institutions, 1609

Perhaps no enterprise for the amelioration of the condition of the suffering poor of the city of New York has been more widely patronized, or accomplished more for the physical relief of the last three generations, than the dispensary system.

On the fourteenth day of October, 1790, at a meeting of the "Medical Society of the city of New York," it was resolved, "That a Committee be appointed to digest and publish a plan of a Dispensary for the medical relief of the sick poor of this city, and to make an offer of the professional services of the members of this society to carry it into effect." Urgent and eloquent appeals were soon made to the public through the several daily papers, and on the 4th of January, 1791, a meeting of benevolent citizens convened in the City Hall in Wall street, where a constitution and the necessary by-laws were adopted. Hon. Isaac Roosevelt was chosen President, and Drs. Bayley and Bard senior physicians. The New York Dispensary was first established in Tryon street, now Tryon row, where it continued in a single room thirty-eight years. The first annual report declared that 310 patients had been treated during the year, contrasting strangely with the report of 1871, which announces that 38,770 had received treatment during the last year and about 79,000 prescriptions made. It is also worthy of note that the first was made when but one dispensary existed on the island, the last when over twenty of various kinds are engaged in a similar work. The act incorporating the New York Dispensary passed the Legislature April 8th, 1795, and in 1805 a union was effected between the Dispensary and the Kine-pock Institution, which had been established three years previously in the rear of the brick church opposite the Park. The number of patients annually increased, amounting in 1828 to 10,000.

Efforts were then made to secure better accommodations, the authorities contributed a lot of land on the corner of Centre and White streets, a three-story brick edifice was erected and made ready for occupation on the 28th of December, 1829. The building and furniture cost a trifle more than eight thousand dollars. During the last four years the old edifice has been removed and a new and beautiful building erected in its place, covering the entire site and costing $72,488. The lower floor is divided into stores and rented; the second is the Dispensary, with very commodious apartments; the two upper floors are also rented for business uses. This large outlay has been partially met with generous donations from the trustees and friends of the enterprise; a mortgage of $20,000, however, still remains on the property. The last Legislature granted the Institution $10,000. This Dispensary grants medicine and the attention of its physicians to the suffering poor of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Wards without charge. It occupies that section of the city where the most of its business is transacted, where large fortunes are made, but where few besides the poor tarry over night. These, however, are herded together in vast numbers, affording an abundant harvest for cholera, small-pox, ship-fever, yellow-fever, etc. Without the New York Dispensary this crowded section would often be turned into a carnival of suffering, endangering the lives of the whole population. Since its organization in 1790 it has treated 1,463,747 patients.

The Northern Dispensary was the second on the island, organized in 1827. It is situated on the corner of Christopher street and Waverley place.