Moving From the Battlefield to Disasters
Created to serve the United States in peace and war, during times of disaster and national calamity, Clara Barton's organization took its service beyond that of the International Red Cross movement by adding disaster relief to battlefield assistance. In the decade after its founding, the new organization gave aid to sufferers from fires, floods, famines, cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes and yellow fever in various parts of the United States and Europe.

New York Lends Support
Clara Barton spent considerable time in New York, seeking voluntary financial support for Red Cross endeavors. A New York State Association was established, and in the 1890s the New York Red Cross Society was formed to cooperate with the national organization. Its work would go considerably beyond what Clara Barton had in mind for the Red Cross. The New York Red Cross Society envisioned a corps of doctors and nurses that would aid the wounded and sick in both wartime and peacetime.

The New York Red Cross Hospital with its nurses' school opened in 1894, and marked the beginning of Red Cross hospital work in the U.S. In 1898 the American Red Cross Relief Committee—the forerunner of the New York Chapter—was formed in New York to raise support for assistance during the Spanish-American War. The Red Cross Hospital was the central organization to provide medical and nursing aid to the war effort, and nurses from New York were sent to Cuba to aid refugees during the war. The efforts earned the respect of the military and established a relationship with the Red Cross that continues today.

Reorganized to Serve
Relief committee members helped to organize the Red Cross into a businesslike organization with accountability to the public and a centralized governing organization. Prominent New Yorkers involved included Bishop Henry C. Potter, Spencer Trask, Cleveland H. Dodge, Robert C. Ogden, Jacob H. Schiff and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid. A new congressional charter was issued to the American Red Cross in 1905. State branches and local subdivisions, later called chapters, were created. The New York State branch, headquartered in Manhattan, was formed in May 1905. The first subdivision organized in New York City was in Brooklyn on December 2, 1905. The New York County sub-division of the Red Cross was chartered in March 1906.

New Services Added
Based on its relief work following the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, the Red Cross became more aggressive, both in New York and nationally. Moving beyond disaster relief, the Red Cross became teacher and rescuer, fundraiser and benefactor, organizer and social conscience.

First aid training had become an important service in 1903, but the national organization soon dropped it as beyond the scope of its charter. But New York Red Crossers felt so strongly about the value of this service that they operated 24 first aid stations in Washington during President Taft's inauguration parade in 1909. The nursing service was started in 1909 under Jane Delano, a nurse from New York, to spearhead an attack on communicable diseases. Christmas seals were sold starting in 1907 to help fund the battle on tuberculosis. Water safety training started in 1913.

Young People Join the Ranks
The first Red Cross Helpers Society for children was organized in at the First Presbyterian Church in Stapleton, Staten Island in 1909. Ten years later the Junior Red Cross was formed through the work of Dr. Henry Noble McCracken, president of Vassar College, and Henry P. Davison, a partner at J.P. Morgan and prominent Red Cross supporter. The idea was that children would raise funds, make useful items for children overseas, and do things that adult members had no time to do.

Terrible Disasters Keep Red Cross Busy
This was a busy period for disaster relief and fund-raising efforts in New York. Support and financial assistance was provided through an Emergency Relief Committee to survivors and families of victims of several major disasters. In 1911, a terrible fire destroyed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan, killing 145 - mostly young women. It was the first large-scale local disaster relief effort by the New York Red Cross. The following year the ocean liner Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean, with 1,513 of the 2,224 aboard lost. New York Red Crossers met and assisted many of the survivors when the rescue ship Carpethia docked in lower Manhattan. Eighteen months later, the 348 survivors of the Volturno, which burned at sea, also received care from New York Red Cross volunteers.

In 1916 the first Red Cross teaching centers were opened in New York and Brooklyn. They taught hygiene, home care of the sick, dietetics, surgical dressings and first aid.

The Red Cross Enters World War I
Henry P. Davison of New York was appointed head of the Red Cross War Council to take charge of wartime operations of the Red Cross. Millions of dollars were raised to support Red Cross efforts. In 1917 25,000 Red Cross volunteers marched in a parade on Fifth Avenue to promote the Red Cross War Fund drive.