This lecture will trace the story of Bellevue Hospital from its origin in 1736 in the city almshouse to its current status as a world-famous public medical facility. We will also explore how profoundly Bellevue’s story has been intertwined with the life of the surrounding city: the city’s epidemics, its social trends, its economic ups and downs, its politics, and its changing immigration patterns. One reporter put it this way: “If it’s happening in New York, it’s happening at Bellevue.” To study the history of Bellevue is, indeed, to gain a new perspective on the history of New York City.

Sandra Opdycke, Ph.D. is an historian. She recently published When Women Won the Vote, about the woman suffrage movement. She has also written books about the flu epidemic of 1918, the WPA of the 1930s, and Bellevue Hospital, as well as a biography of Jane Addams, an historical atlas of American women’s history, and several co-authored books and articles on social policy. She worked for a number of years at Hudson River Psychiatric Center, and later taught American History and Urban History at Bard, Vassar, and Marist Colleges. She serves as an occasional lecturer at the Center for Lifetime Studies in Poughkeepsie.