It is adjacent to Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, a specialized facility for patients with criminal convictions.

The hospital's roots date to 1848 when Wards Island was designated the reception area for immigrants.

Some additional structures were originally part of Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum, which opened around 1863.

[3] At the time, it was one of two psychiatric hospitals for residents of Manhattan that had been taken over by the state.

[5] The facility is run and operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health, and the site is surrounded by Wards Island Park, which is administered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.