WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES DECEMBER 2, 2021 29
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
This Woodhaven hospital tripled
NYC’s ability to treat tuberculosis
St. Anthony’s hospital in Woodhaven was founded by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1914 with a mission to treat patients suff ering from
tuberculosis. In later years, it served as a training facility for nursing.
BY WOODHAVEN CULTURAL AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Just over a century ago, the Franciscan
Sisters of the Poor founded
St. Anthony’s Hospital with the
purpose of treating patients suff ering
from tuberculosis (TB). Collection
boxes were placed in hospitals around
the city, many fundraisers were held
and in 1914 the building opened on
Woodhaven Boulevard (between 89th
and 91st avenues).
In the few years prior to St. Anthony’s
offi cial opening, almost 10,000
New Yorkers died from TB and treatment
had been very hard to come by.
By the end of World War 1, New York
found itself also treating many soldiers
who came home carrying the
infectious disease.
At one point, it was estimated that
there were over 3,000 people in desperate
need of treatment, many of them
children, but there were little over 500
available hospital beds citywide.
St. Anthony’s tripled our city’s ability
to handle TB cases. But they were
not only providing badly needed care;
they also made several breakthroughs
in treating tuberculosis that helped a
great many people here in New York
City and beyond.
With all of the good work that they
did, it is important to note that residents
at the time were less than happy with
the idea of a TB hospital in their midst.
First, there were rumors that a
crematorium on-site was going to be
used on deceased and infected patients.
Second, because the hospital catered
to the indigent (they were run by the
Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, aft er all)
residents were worried that it would
have an adverse impact on the community.
A century later and similar fears
are voiced by people in neighborhoods
around the city, concerned about
homeless shelters and drop-in centers.
When St. Anthony’s Hospital fi rst
opened, it had a big front yard with
a large circular driveway. But that
was eliminated with the widening of
Woodhaven Boulevard. It had a school
for sick children, a small theater for
shows and a beautiful chapel.
There was also a large fi eld behind
the building which was used as a farm.
The Sisters would sell produce to the
locals to raise money for the patients.
As a result of medical advances in
treating TB (many of these advances
developed at St. Anthony’s), the Sisters
became victims of their own success.
Better medicines and treatments led to
less patients and a loss of income. And
so, the Sisters expanded their mission
to include other chest and pulmonary
diseases, and achieved similar success.
In later years, it served as a training
facility for nursing. But the building
was old and diffi cult to maintain (and
started to look a little run down). In
1999, the decision was made to close
the facility and sell the land.
Residents from Woodhaven fought
against the closing and demolition of
the old historic hospital. Several alternate
uses were proposed (aff ordable
living for seniors among them) and
many letters written meaning that
over the course of just over 80 years,
Woodhaven went from fi ghting against
the building to fi ghting to save it.
Ultimately, it was a losing battle both
times as the building was demolished
and replaced with housing and a public
school.
Today, the only remnant of St.
Anthony’s is a large portion of the
metal gate that surrounded the entire
property. Local kids were all too familiar
with that gate as they used to climb
over it to play in the fi elds behind the
hospital. And just steps away from
where the front entrance used to be
sits a historical marker, placed there
by the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical
Society.
Many residents today have no idea
that such a place even existed in their
community; they might be shocked to
fi nd out that many unfortunate souls
entered St. Anthony’s only to succumb
to tuberculosis.
But thanks to the Franciscan Sisters
of the Poor, a great many more people
were saved and benefi ted greatly from
the work performed at St. Anthony’s
Hospital and that’s what people should
remember.
***
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would like to
share with our readers, please write to
the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-
15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com. Any print photographs mailed to
us will be carefully returned to you upon
request.
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