4. Bellevue Penitentiary

Bellevue in 1895. Photo in public domain from Wikimedia Commons. Originally from New York Times, now in Museum of the the City of New York collection.

Bellevue began as an almshouse and was noted on the 1807 Commissioner’s Grid, with construction beginning on the buildings in 1811. In 1814, plans were expanded to include a prison with a manufacturing component. The Bellevue prison had “the only known treadmill in the state for grinding grain,” with women supposedly having higher performance on the treadmill than the men. Read more about the history of Bellevue Hospital, where the first ebola patient in NYC was treated. Bellevue continues to have a city prison, housing males requiring psychiatric or medical treatment.