PlanNYC: North Brother Island News

Forgetting and remembering the Slocum

2004-10-25 00:00:00

The centennial of the General Slocum disaster provides an opportunity to ask a probing question: how did a disaster which claimed the lives of 1,021 people in the nation's largest metropolis become an all-but-forgotten footnote to history?

Dinner With Typhoid Mary

2004-10-01 00:00:00

Like millions before and since, Mary Mallon came to this country from Ireland, seeking a better life. Instead, she was forced by public health officials to live for a total of 26 years on a tiny island in the East River, isolated from and shunned by her fellow humans. And while she was not the only one of her kind, her name became synonymous with disease and death.

She was Typhoid Mary, and her story really begins on Long Island.

The General Slocum disaster

2004-10-01 00:00:00

As she waited on deck for the excursion steamer General Slocum to leave lower Manhattan for a Long Island picnic grove, Mrs. Philip Straub had a premonition of disaster. Just before the gangway was removed, she rushed ashore. A man she confided her fears to grabbed his wife and five children and followed. It was a wise decision.

This spot's for the birds

2002-10-17 00:00:00

Situated on the East River between the Bronx and Queens, North and South Brother Islands have been growing in popularity since the Seventies with no end in sight. These two islands are regularly filled with diverse crowds from far and wide who arrive in large groups in search of food, conversation, and that special "someone." Did I mention all these visitors are birds?