Floating Hospital

History

St. John's Guild was founded on October 19, 1866, by the Rev. Alvah Wiswall of St. John's Chapel on Varick Street, along with 12 volunteers, as a parish-based winter charity serving the fifth and eighth wards. Their mission was to help the poor of the parish 'without regard to nationality, creed or color.' By 1872, membership had grown to 125 volunteers, providing free healthcare, food, clothing, and coal, along with sewing classes and free daycare for mothers taking them, and employment help for men.

In the summer of 1872, New York Times managing editor George F. Williams saw a policeman force newsboys off the grass in City Hall Park onto concrete walkways that burned their feet. The next day, he wrote an appeal titled 'Pity the Poor Children' in the Times, urging readers to contact mission schools, the Five Points Mission, the Children’s Aid Society, or doctors in poor districts. Instead, donations came to the newspaper itself, with donors suggesting excursions for fresh air.

The Times divided the city into four sections with superintendents: downtown (Charles O’Connor, Newsboys’ Lodging House), east-side (George Calder, Rivington Street Lodging House), west-side (Rev. Alvah Wiswall, St. John’s Guild), and uptown (Rev. Stephen Tyng, Jr., everything north of 14th Street). That year, the Times ran 18 excursions, with St. John's Guild heavily involved in August trips. Wiswall as president, organizing two trial excursions on August 13 and 28 with a thousand mothers and children.

Wiswall saw that a few doctors on a boat could efficiently examine hundreds of children, unlike visiting individual homes. In 1874, St. John's Guild left Trinity Church and focused on the Floating Hospital idea, organizing 18 excursions on two hired barges. The first mention of 'The Floating Hospital of St. John’s Guild' in print was August 4, 1874, announcing an excursion two days later on the barge 'Harvest Home' up Long Island Sound. In 1875, the Guild bought and outfitted its first vessel, the rebuilt 'River Belle' (renamed the 'Emma Abbott' in 1899).

This was followed by the 'Helen C. Juilliard' in 1899, a second 'Helen C. Juilliard' in 1916, the 'Lloyd I. Seaman' in 1935, and the 'Lila Acheson Wallace' from 1973 to 2001. At its peak, the Floating Hospital took 1,500 children aged 6 and under, plus their mothers, six days a week all summer. St. John's Guild was dissolved in 1980, and the hospital reincorporated as an independent entity.

Vessels

Over 130 years of marine service, the Floating Hospital owned five vessels, all engineless barges towed by tugboats to reduce vibrations for sick children, lower fire risk, and free up space for passengers, dining rooms, and salt-water baths. The first was the River Belle (renamed the Emma Abbott in 1899), a barge in service from 1875 to 1903. The second was the Helen C. Juilliard I, a barge used from 1899 to 1916. The third was the Helen C. Juilliard II, a barge launched in 1916.

The fourth was the Lloyd I. Seaman, a barge launched in 1935. The fifth and final vessel was the Lila Acheson Wallace, a barge in service from 1973 to 2001. The hospital also ran the Seaside Hospital in New Dorp, Staten Island, founded in 1881 and expanded in 1899, where the sickest children were transferred from the Floating Hospital for care alongside their mothers. Seaside Hospital was converted to a military hospital during World War II and demolished in the 1960s.

Did You Know?

• The Floating Hospital's first vessel, the River Belle, was renamed the Emma Abbott in 1899 after the famous singer and benefactor.
• The Floating Hospital's last vessel, the Lila Acheson Wallace, was named after the Reader's Digest philanthropist and served from 1973 to 2001.