Last updated: April 11, 2024
Article
Island Histories that Inspired "Shutter Island"
Inspired by the history of the Boston Harbor Islands, Bostonian Dennis Lehane published his book Shutter Island in 2003. In this thriller, Lehane created a fictitious hospital island with nefarious happenings. Though the later film used Peddocks Island as the backdrop, Lehane’s true inspiration likely comes from other islands that have long histories in institutions and social services, such as Rainsford Island and Long Island.[1]
Boston Public Library
Rainsford Island, called "Hospital Island"
For over 150 years, Rainsford Island was known as "Hospital Island," being home to hospitals and institutions for those of poor health or in need of social services.
Early Hospitals
The Town of Boston first opened quarantine stations on Rainsford around 1737. In 1852, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts purchased Rainsford Island. It converted the existing quarantine facilities into almshouses that served both men and women. Men lived in buildings located on the west bluff, while women occupied the east bluff of the island. After an 1858 visit by "Alien Commissioners," they gave a likely exaggerated report of conditions on the islands:
a greater perversion of charitable appropriations was never witnessed. Thieves, strumpets and drunkards were living by the seaside almost in luxurious ease on the bounty of the State.
In 1863, when the Board of Charities visited the island, they found that the hospital appeared eager to "swell" its numbers and actively sought out potential patients. The Board of Charities requested no more members of the poor be sent to Rainsford Island without the consent of the Executive Committee. However, "patients" continued to be illegally brought to the island.[2] Another 1860s report revealed all state-run houses had been poorly run and maintained. The Commonwealth transferred the almshouse from Rainsford Island to Long Island in 1866, and the City of Boston began to use the island as a poorhouse.
Home for Veterans
Conditions continued to decline on Rainsford. A veteran’s home that served mostly Black and Irish veterans opened in 1872. Veterans faced overcrowded conditions and inadequate, outdated, treatment. Around 79 veterans died on Rainsford during this era. A new veteran’s home opened in Chelsea in 1882, leading to the closure of the facility on Rainsford. Surviving veterans moved to the new Chelsea facility.[3]
Men’s Almshouse
The "men’s era," lasted from 1872-1889, with some overlap with the veteran’s home. Overcrowding became a major problem on the island. It lacked the facilities to accommodate up to 282 inmates. The city council set aside $16,000 dollars for efforts to build an extension on the southern wing of the facility. However, accessing simple essentials continued to prove difficult. For example, easy access to drinking water did not occur until the city installed pipes in 1877.
In 1878, stone cutting began on Rainsford Island. All men capable of working spent their days breaking rocks. In 1879, the city profited $10,755.20 from their efforts. Death rates on the island increased after the introduction of stone cutting, and by the 1880s the administration faced overcrowding once again. Filled to capacity in 1889 with 537 men, the City of Boston made the decision to transfer the men from Rainsford Island to Long Island.[4] It’s estimated that 1,777 were interred on the island over the years.
Hospital for Women
In their place, a hospital for women opened. The State Board of Lunacy and Charity of Massachusetts reported following the change:
The bath rooms and closets in almshouse are in much better condition than has been case previously.[5]
Despite the perceived cleanliness, the women on Rainsford continued to face poor treatment and unsanitary conditions until its eventual closure in 1895.
Boston Public Library
Long Island Hospital
Sometime in the 1880s, the city of Boston acquired what was a hotel on Long Island and converted it into an Almshouse. First called the Boston Almshouse, the city transferred female members of the poor to Long Island from Austin Farm in South Boston in 1887. The institution remained operational under varying names until the 1920s.
During that time, the island served as almshouse, hospital, home for unwed mothers, homeless shelter, and treatment center for people suffering from alcohol addiction. Similar to Rainsford Island, those sent to Long Island faced inadequate treatment and suffered immensely.
Conditions on Long Island varied. The hospital faced accusations of poisoning patients with strychnine, neglecting patients in need of medical assistance, and providing insufficient or otherwise unacceptable food for the patients.[6]
In 1926, the facilities on Long Island officially became known as Long Island Hospital. These included a homeless shelter and a resource center for recovering alcoholics. Journalist Steve Brown has fond memories of traveling to Long Island for his parents to visit his grandparents on weekends in the 1960s, though notes he could not see his grandmother, the patient.[7] Long Island remained operational until 2015, when the bridge that connected the island to the mainland had to be taken down due to safety concerns.
Library of Congress
Advocating for the Institutionalized
Activist Alice North Towne Lincoln first became involved in the islands in the 1880s as a result of her work with immigrant tenants. In 1887, one tenant named Margaret Mulhearn could no longer afford to pay her rent. Lincoln offered to bring her to Austin Farm, where they learned that the facility had been closed. An attendant took Mulhearn to Long Island, and Lincoln later remembered Margaret Mulhearn
was poor, the life miserable, and worst of all, she was thrown with depraved and degraded companions, with whom, naturally, she had nothing in common. She said the life was killing her, and it soon did.
With these horrific conditions on Rainsford and Long Islands, Lincoln decided that something needed to be done. Her lawyer, Louis D. Brandeis, took on the case after walking through the island’s facilities and described it as "the most depressing & distressful experience."
After prompting from Alice North Towne Lincoln, hearings began in 1894. The former superintendent of the Long Island facility spoke to the issues that ran rampant on the island, such as employee drunkenness, self-dealing, and corruption. Lincoln did not simply attack the conditions, she fought to prove the whole system problematic and called for improvements. The City of Boston closed Rainsford Island and removed all women on the island to Long Island.[8]
While the true stories of the island social service institutions might not be quite as dramatic as the Shutter Island, they are in company with countless other urban islands, where people labeled "undesired" or sick were sent away from the rest of society. The echos of their stories span generations.
Footnotes
[1] Eammon Jacobs, "Is Shutter Island Based On A True Story?" Looper, last updated October 21, 2022, accessed April 24, 2023; Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Cultural Landscape Report: Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park, Volume 1: Historical Overview, (Boston: National Park Service, 2017), 140- 141.
[2] William McEvoy and Robin Hazard Ray, Rainsford Island: A Boston Case Study in Public Neglect and Private Activism (Independently Published, 2019), 16-30.
[3] McEvoy and Ray, Rainsford Island: A Boston Case Study in Public Neglect and Private Activism, 35-45.
[4] McEvoy and Ray, 33-47, 95.
[5] McEvoy and Ray, 47-53.
[6] Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Cultural Landscape Report: Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park, Volume 1: Historical Overview, 144.
[7] "Mrs. Lincoln Defends Trustees. Eloquent Summing Up of the Testimony of Hearings. No Claim That Long Island is a Perfect Institution," The Boston Globe, September 2, 1903.
[8] Steve Brown, "Long Island Viaduct, Long Ago," WBUR, October 14, 2014, accessed April 24, 2023.