The historic practice of isolating the diseased dates back to ancient times. Venetians established the first institutionalized system of isolation during the Black Death, detaining ships for 40 days (introducing the word quarantine from the Italian quaranta giorni, "forty days" ). In 1403, the world's first maritime quarantine station, or lazaretto, named for Saint Lazarus, was built on an island approaching Venice.
The Philadelphia Lazaretto was the first quarantine hospital in the United States, built in 1799. The facility predates (by almost a century) similar national landmarks such as Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital and Angel Island (in S.F. Bay) and is considered the last surviving example of its type in the United States.
The Lazaretto was established in response to the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793. The complex included a 500-bed hospital and administration building, several outbuildings, and a burial ground. Much of this site still remains today. Philadelphia-bound ships stopped here for cargo to be inspected and passengers to be screened. Infested cargoes were fumigated or destroyed. Ill passengers were brought ashore to the hospital of the Lazaretto for quarantine to await recovery or death.
After it stopped operations as a quarantine facility in 1895, it changed hands numerous times, serving as a seaplane base in the years leading up to World War I. It was finally abandoned and left to decay. The Lazaretto was restored in 2019 and sits just south of Philadelphia Airport. Several buildings are now used as local government offices, and its grounds were opened to tours.
It has been estimated that 1 in 4 Americans has an ancestor who was cleared for entry at the Lazaretto.
1895 drawing 1936 2005
2019 after renovation
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