Lila Acheson Wallace

Lila Acheson Wallace was part of a fleet of vessels that cruised New York Harbor and other waterways, giving indigent children and their caregivers healthcare services to children, and health and nutrition education to their caregivers.

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The Floating Hospital is a non-profit organization that provides healthcare services to medically underserved communities in New York City, New York. It operated several vessels that cruised New York Harbor and other waterways, giving indigent children and their caregivers healthcare services to children, and health and nutrition education to their caregivers.

The Floating Hospital traces its origins to October 1866 as a series of charitable excursions by steamboat tycoon John Starin for the poor, newsboys, and war veterans. ¹ During the summer of 1872, George F. Williams, a managing editor of the New York Times, witnessed a policeman forcing a group of newsboys in City Hall Park off the grass and onto hot concrete walkways which burned their feet. Appalled, Williams wrote an appeal to the Times’ readership for money to charter a boat trip for the city’s newsboys and bootblacks so they could be turned loose on grassy shores of nearby waterways. ^{2 3} Per a request from Williams, the St. John’s Guild, a charitable affiliate of St. John’s Chapel of the Episcopal parish of Trinity Church, took over the organization of trips in 1873, which became a regular affair.

The Guild acquired its first vessel, the Emma Abbott, in 1875. It was replaced in 1899 with the Helen C. Juillard I and then the Helen C. Jullard II in 1916. ⁴ The Lloyd I. Seaman was christened in 1935 followed by the Lila Acheson Wallace in 1973.

By the 1970s, the Floating Hospital described itself as a “diseased prevention and referral agency” that focused on education while providing outpatient services on the vessel, both during outings in summer months and while moored at the South Street Seaport during the winter. ⁵ After using a Hudson River pier near 44th Street in the 1980s, it then bounced between Pier 11 at the foot of Wall Street and Pier 17 at the foot of Fulton Street. Later, Pier 11 was needed for expanded ferry service to Lower Manhattan and the management of Pier 17 was hostile to the presence of the vessel and its clients amid their promotion of the pier as an upscale retail venue. The vessel was then moved to Brooklyn in 2002. ⁶

In 2003, the Floating Hospital sold its last vessel, the Lila Acheson Wallace, and became a land-based facility in Chinatown ⁷ before moving to Long Island City in Queens. ⁸

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Sources

1. Cardwell, Diane. “Long-Lived Floating Hospital Is Still Going, Just Not Floating.” New York Times, 1 Sept. 2003.
2. “1,601,933 Cared For On Hospital Ships.” New York Times, 11 Jun. 1916.
3. Palmer, Sarah Bessie. “The Floating Hospital of St. John’s Guild, New York City.” The American Journal of Nursing, Oct. 1903, pp. 4-8.
4. “St. John’s Guild Work.” New York Times, 7 Jul. 1899.
5. Floating Hospital Providing Medical Haven for the Poor.” New York Times, 16 Jul. 1979.
6. Newman, Andy. “Marooned in Brooklyn, Floating Hospital Seeks Manhattan Pier.” New York Times, 18 Dec. 2002.
7. Cardwell, Diane. “Long-Lived Floating Hospital Is Still Going, Just Not Floating.” New York Times, 1 Sept. 2003.
8. “History.” The Floating Hospital.