page_title: Theodore Roosevelt Sr.
section_title: Orthopedic Hospital
hierarchical_section_title: Theodore Roosevelt Sr. / Orthopedic Hospital
caption_attribution_description: English: Union Square This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 97001678
context_page_description: Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist from the Roosevelt family. Roosevelt was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He served as a member of the plate-glass importing business Roosevelt & Son.
  Roosevelt helped found the New York City Children's Aid Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Children's Orthopedic Hospital. A participant in New York society life, he was described by one historian as a man of both "good works and good times." In December 1877, Roosevelt was nominated to be Collector of the Port of New York but was rejected by the U.S. Senate.
context_section_description: Roosevelt founded the New York Orthopedic Hospital. His younger daughter Corinne wrote this account of its origins: Bamie, was born with a curved spine, and Roosevelt found a young doctor, Charles Fayette Taylor, who had developed groundbreaking methods of treating physical defects in children, including braces and other equipment, Roosevelt organized what appeared to be a social party for the upper crust of New York City. When the would-be revelers arrived, however, what they saw to their great surprise, were small children in new braces specially constructed for them. Moved to tears by the sight, one of the wealthiest socialites, Charlotte Augusta Gibbes (wife of financier/philanthropist John Jacob Astor III) said, "Theodore, you are right; these children must be restored and made into active citizens again, and I for one will help you in your work." That same day enough money was collected to start the hospital. Friends of Roosevelt used to see him coming and note the look in his eyes only to say to him, "How much is it, this time, Theodore?"
caption: Union Square Park Drinking Fountain (1881). Donated by Daniel Willis James and Theodore Sr.[5]
exif: {}