FRONT Street in Clifton, Staten Island runs along Upper New York Bay and past the now nearly abandoned Bayley-Seton Hospital. Here we see it with the Staten Island Railway in the foreground. The hospital was named for Richard Bayley, the head of the former Tompkinsville Quarantine Hospital (located where the Lighthouse Museum is now) and his daughter, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), the founder of the order and the first canonized American-born saint (in 1975). Born into the Anglican Church, Elizabeth was a convert to Catholicism after the death of her husband William Seton. Her grandfather, Rev. Richard Charleton, was a rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Richmondtown and is buried in its churchyard.
After 2000 Bayley Seton Hospital fell on hard times after the Sisters of Charity turned over operations to the Vincentians, who faced financial troubles. Subsequently in 2009 the Salvation Army acquired the hospital, closing 8 of its 12 campus buildings; the eight stand abandoned and subject to predation by the elements, similar to Seaview Hospital and the Farm Colony in mid-island.
Much of the campus is now abandoned, though there are still some services and offices open. I was tricked by a very small “no trespassing” sign on Tompkins Avenue a couple of years ago and started firing away with the camera until I was thrown out by a security guard making rounds in a truck (I’ve told you I often get that treatment). He was gruff, but I did get him to take my card and I told him I wouldn’t use any of my photos from that day. I am a man of my word.
More from Staten Island’s east shore on this FNY page.
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8/7/23