Lazaretto: How Philadelphia Used an Unpopular Quarantine Based on Disputed Science to Accommodate Immigrants and Prevent Epidemics

by David S. Barnes

How the controversial practice of quarantine saved nineteenth-century Philadelphia after a series of deadly epidemics.

Winnter of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Award by The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

In the 1790s, four devastating yellow fever epidemics threatened the survival of Philadelphia, the nation's capital and largest city. In response, the city built a new quarantine station called the Lazaretto downriver from its port. From 1801 to 1895, a strict quarantine was enforced there to protect the city against yellow fever, cholera, typhus, and other diseases. At the time, the science behind quarantine was hotly contested, and the Board of Health in Philadelphia was plagued by internal conflicts and political resistance. In Lazaretto, David Barnes tells the story of how a blend of pragmatism, improvisation, and humane care succeeded in treating seemingly incurable diseases and preventing further outbreaks.

Barnes shares the lessons of the Lazaretto through a series of tragic and inspiring true stories of people caught up in the painful ordeal of quarantine. They include a nine-year-old girl enslaved in West Africa and freed upon arrival in Philadelphia, an eleven-year-old orphan boy who survived yellow fever only to be scapegoated for starting an epidemic, and a grieving widow who saved the Lazaretto in the midst of catastrophe. Spanning a turbulent century of immigration, urban growth, and social transformation, Lazaretto takes readers inside the life-and-death debates and ordinary heroism that saved Philadelphia when its survival as a city was at stake. Amid the controversy and tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic, this surprising reappraisal of America's historic struggle against deadly epidemics reminds us not to neglect old knowledge and skills in our rush to embrace the new.

Genres: History

308 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2023

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barnes wrote this book on the history of the Lazaretto, the effort at quarantining incoming ships and their crew coming into the port of Philadelphia. In response to the Yellow Fever epidemics of the 1790s that killed thousands of Philadelphians, and left real questions about Philadelphia's viability as a city, this effort was ahead of its time in many ways and helped quell the and control the outbreaks of disease until the normalization of germ theory in the latter 19th century. It's a fascinating look at the surprisingly low death rates at this hospital and quarantine station, as sick crew members and passengers were given quality care, rest, and good food to aid in recovery. It also details the ongoing debates over how disease broke out, arguing whether it was local conditions that needed sanitation or disease brought in from abroad and needed isolation. Turns out both sides had elements of true on their side.

The Lazaretto site, in Tinicum outside Philadelphia near the airport, is worth visiting as well.