Bloomingdale Hospital was a hospital dedicated to treating patients with psychiatric ailments in White Plains, New York that evolved from the Lunatic Asylum (1808-1821) and Bloomingdale Asylum (1821-1894) and of the New York Hospital.

The Society of the New York Hospital was incorporated in 1771 to construct and administer the New York Hospital, and provisions were made for the care of patients with psychiatric ailments as early as 1774 despite the hospital not having a physical location at the time. When the hospital opened in Manhattan on Broadway between what is now Duane and Worth Streets in 1791, patients with psychiatric ailments were a part of the hospital’s general patient population. In 1808, the Board of Governors of the Society of New York Hospital opened what was then referred to as the Lunatic Asylum, a new building on the hospital grounds dedicated to the treatment of patients with psychiatric ailments separately from the hospital’s other patients.

The Lunatic Asylum was overseen by the Asylum Committee appointed by the Board of Governors. In 1815, Thomas Eddy, a member of the Board of Governors and Asylum Committee, proposed purchasing a lot of land for the construction of a building where patients could have grounds conducive to walks, gardens, and exercise. To purchase the land, the Board of Governors appointed a committee which selected 38 acres in Bloomingdale, a rural neighborhood in the upper west side of Manhattan. In February 1818, Eddy, Thomas C. Taylor, and Thomas Buckley formed another committee to oversee the construction of the new facility. Taylor was the active superintendent of the project, managing not just the construction of the new asylum but also aspects of its design. On June 1, 1821, the new facility opened and all patients from the Lunatic Asylum were transferred to the Bloomingdale Asylum.

The Committee appointed a resident physician, who lived at the hospital and directed its medical affairs, and a superintendent, who was not a medical professional but oversaw other employees including the nurses. The superintendent was also responsible for the general administrative matters including purchasing supplies and maintaining the facilities. The Asylum Committee made regular visits to oversee Bloomingdale Asylum and to provide feedback concerning its administration and maintenance. In 1833, the position of superintendent was changed to warden and reported to the physician, who oversaw the whole institution. These roles changed again in 1877 when the position of resident physician was upgraded to medical superintendent, establishing a stronger medical leadership of Bloomingdale Asylum and diminishing the position of warden to steward.

Bloomingdale Asylum kept its accounts separately from the New York Hospital. Its income derived from the rates paid for by patients and deficits were made up by the treasurer of the Society of the New York Hospital. The costs of a large proportion of the patients who were unable to pay, designated “paupers,” were charged to the counties and towns from which they had been admitted. The rise of public psychiatric facilities throughout the mid-19th century, such as the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island), led to fewer “paupers” among the patients at Bloomingdale Asylum and increased its dependence on private funding. James Macdonald, MD, physician of the asylum from 1825 to 1837, opened his own private institution for patients with psychiatric ailments in 1841 and began to draw away some of the wealthier patients. Bloomingdale Asylum was left with a large number of private patients who were paying a lower rate for care, frequently more than the institution could afford to accommodate causing financial strain.

By 1826, Bloomingdale Asylum had already started to outgrow its original building. Over the next six decades numerous additions and extensions were made, the last being Macy Villa in 1885, which had been donated for the use of wealthy male patients. Mounting financial pressures and the growth of the city northwards finally prompted Bloomingdale Asylum to move outside of New York City to White Plains, New York, where it opened as simply Bloomingdale, White Plains in 1894. Accordingly, the Asylum Committee was thereafter known as the Bloomingdale Committee. The bulk of the old property was sold to Columbia University, which took legal possession on January 1, 1895, and the proceeds were invested as an endowment fund to pay for the New York Hospital’s annual expenses. The only building still standing from Bloomingdale Asylum in the early 21st century is Macy Villa, which changed its name to Buell Hall.

In 1910, Bloomingdale, White Plains was officially renamed Bloomingdale Hospital, and then in 1936, Bloomingdale Hospital was renamed the New York Hospital—Westchester Division.

Bibliography

Dolkart, Andrew S. Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.

Earle, Pliny. History, Description and Statistics of the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane. New York: Egbert, Hovey and King, 1848.

Larrabee, Eric. The Benevolent and Necessary Institution: The New York Hospital, 1771–1971. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971.

“NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Division Celebrates 125 Years of Care and New Name: NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center.” NewYork-Presbyterian. Accessed January 5, 2024. https://www.nyp.org/news/nyp-westchester-division-celebrates-125-years-and-new-name.

A Psychiatric Milestone: Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821–1921. New York: Society of the New York Hospital, 1921.

Russell, William Logie. The New York Hospital: A History of the Psychiatric Service 1771 – 1936. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945.