An Elevator Storehouse once sat alongside the Queensboro Bridge. Much more than a place for storage, it was torn down in 1970, before Welfare Island became Roosevelt. But a significant, salvaged piece returns home tomorrow.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
All photos courtesy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society.
An Elevator Storehouse That Was Something Else
When the Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909, a trolley, following roughly route of the Roosevelt Island Tram, carried passengers to and from Manhattan and Queens. One of the original toll booths sits just across 2nd Avenue from the Tram Plaza.
Another, secured by the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, serves as a welcome center.
In 1918, though, the trolley system added something new. The mayoral administration of John Hylan built a structure housing five or six elevators that brought cars, trucks and pedestrians to Blackwell’s Island. The name change to Welfare Island was three years in the future.
Who knows why they called it an Elevator Storehouse? It was active, not static as the title suggests. And it brought the first direct access to the Island, other than by water. Four wheeled traffic expanded fast all over New York City, demanding the change.
Oddly enough, the Department of Public Charities got credit for the construction. At least partly, the reason was the same as that for the upcoming name change… because the Island housed so many of the city’s charitable institutions over the decades.
Some would say that the big island across the river dumped whatever it didn’t want on the little island. Not only were smallpox victims laid out along the shore when cemeteries became overwhelmed, but African American children burned out of an orphanage by white supremacists during the so-called Draft Riots were rescued here.
The Almshouse, Lunatic Asylum, two hospitals and a huge city penitentiary took up space between Blackwell’s Island’s shores.
The Elevator Storehouse gave them access.
Saved for 50 Years
In the mid-1950s, the Welfare Island Bridge brought traffic directly from Queens. No longer in high demand, the last trolley route across the Queensboro Bridge ended. In 1970, the Elevator Storehouse was torn down.
But someone saved the building’s identifying plaque, and RIHS president Judith Berdy negotiated is return to now Roosevelt Island. Late last week, she announced its arrival on Monday at 11:00 a.m.
She is, she says, “… thrilled to see it return to the island 103 years after its original installation.”
More from the Roosevelt Island Daily
- Thursday’s PSD blotter: two hospital runs, a trespass summons at 888 MainRIOC’s Nov. 12 PSD blotter lists 15 incidents: six medical calls, two alarms at 546 Main Street, and a late-night trespass at 888 Main Street that ended with a summons.
- Queens Home Prices and Rents Rise in October 2026 as Long Island City Condos Draw BuyersQueens home prices and rents rose in October 2026. See StreetEasy’s housing figures and Long Island City condo contract activity at Radiant and Vesta.
- Medicare Open Enrollment Ends Dec. 7: Get Answers on 2027 ChangesMedicare open enrollment ends Dec. 7. Sen. Krueger’s Nov. 16 virtual town hall covers 2027 premium, deductible and Part D changes, with a HIICAP expert’s Q&A.
- Wednesday’s PSD blotter: two medical calls, a water leak, a custody reportRIOC’s Nov. 11 PSD blotter lists 10 incidents, all on Main Street, including two medical calls at 555 Main Street, a water leak at 560 Main and a custody or visitation report.
- Six-Unit Apartment Building Planned for 10th Street in AstoriaPlans for a six-unit apartment building in Astoria call for four stories at 35-25 10th St. See proposed dimensions, apartment sizes and permit status.
At the Risk of Being Premature
On September 10, 2026, Roosevelt Island resident Melissa Bray stood before the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors and asked them to think fifty years ahead. She had come because RIOC President B.J. Jones invited residents into the conversation about redesigning Blackwell Park. Bray wanted its mature trees protected, including a northern red oak dedicated to the wife of my friend David Kraut, a former board director.
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