ROOSEVELT ISLAND — Mugs and dog bowls depicting New York City's "infamous" insane asylum on Roosevelt Island have been all the craze at the island's Visitor Center Kiosk.
The mugs, which were designed by the Roosevelt Island Historical Society to look like tin cups, and the dog bowls read "Asylum for the Insane" and "Blackwell's Island" — the island's name before 1921.
The souvenirs, which rolled out within the last few months, are not the historical society's first attempt at creating kitschy merchandise, but they have been a hit.
"We sold workhouse mugs, which were not successful, but the insane asylum seemed to hit a funny bone," said Judy Berdy, the president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. "Most people seem to think it's a cute idea to give to co-workers, a boss, a husband or a wife."
The mugs go for $12 and the bowls, which come in small and large, are $20 and $24 respectively. They can also be personalized for an additional $15.
Photos of the dog bowls, which recently came in, were posted on the Roosevelt Islander blog this week.
The souvenirs are a "politically incorrect" way to memorialize the island's dark past as what seemed to be a dumping ground for people with incurable and contagious diseases, according to Berdy.
The island, which also went by Welfare Island after 1921, served as the home for the city's penitentiary, workhouse, almshouses and hospitals, including a smallpox hospital and a hospital for the victims of polio and other chronic diseases.
The New York City Lunatic Asylum, which was designed as a U-shaped facility with an octagonal center, opened in 1839 for both men and women with mental illnesses in desperate need of proper accommodation, according to the Roosevelt Island Historical Society.
But toward the latter part of the 19th century, epidemics afflicted the hospital and its conditions worsened, so much so that reporter Nellie Bly did an undercover exposé on the asylum for The New York World.
“The insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island is a human rat-trap," she wrote. "It is easy to get in, but once there, it is impossible to get out.”
After Bly's report was published in 1887, the state took over and improved conditions there until it ultimately closed in 1895, Berdy said.
The asylum today, at 888 Main St., is an apartment complex overlooking the East River and a Costco on the Queens side. Its two wings were demolished in the 20th century but its Octagon remains.
"The funny thing is, people say this community appeared 40 years ago, but there are hundreds of years of history underneath it," Berdy said.
The Visitor Center Kiosk, located across from the tram station, is open Wednesdays through Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m.
