Prospect Hospital | |
Coordinates: | 40.8166°N -73.8995°W |
Location: | The Bronx |
State: | New York |
Country: | US |
Funding: | Private |
Type: | General |
Beds: | 175 |
Opened: | 1963 |
Closed: | 1985 |
Other Links: | List of hospitals in the Bronx |
Prospect Hospital on Kelly Street was a small private hospital in existence prior to the 175-bed seven-story private hospital located in The Bronx that opened at 730 Kelly Street in 1963 and closed in 1985,[1] and is now a homeless shelter.
Prospect, which owned "15 brownstone buildings that are used for drug and alcohol rehabilitation and other social programs," was owned by a locally-born man, Dr. Jacob B. Freedman, who built it in 1963.[1] [2] The hospital was the linchpin of the now-landmarked South Bronx neighborhood, Longwood.[3]
An attempt was made by a group of doctors to reopen,[4] but it was not successful.[5] The 175-bed seven-story facility was purchased to become "family inns" rather than being termed "homeless shelters" or "welfare hotels." The latter were described as "rooms that are often cramped and squalid."[6] The building, located at 730 Kelly Street, was renamed Prospect Family Inn; one part of it is Prospect Family Nursery, a two-room "around the clock" setup "where parents in crisis can leave their children for up to 72 hours."[7] [8]
At another location, there was a predecessor medical facility "that traced its beginnings to 1919."[9]