Back in the early days of New York City, water was a scarcity, yes, even on an island. The bedrock of the island made well drilling nearly impossible and the places where wells could be drilled only reached as far as the rain water, which was heavily polluted causing breakouts of cholera and yellow fever. In order to try ... Read More »
Built in 1902, the Flatiron building has become an iconic symbol of New York, gracing postcards and the openings of both Friends and The David Letterman Show. It is one of the world’s first skyscrapers and at the time it was built, was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. Read More »
Hotel, farm, luxury apartment building and bathhouse could all at one point have been used to describe 2109 Broadway, otherwise known as The Ansonia. The Ansonia began as the dream of copper heir William Earle Dodge Stokes, who commission the architect Paul E. Duboy in 1899 to build his Utopian paradise- grand residential hotel with an array of tearooms, ... Read More »
Trinity Church has the oldest parish in New York City and with that comes lots of parishioners who when they die, are looking to stay close to the church for all eternity. In 1842, when the church ran out of room in their Wall St and Broadway cemetery, they had to look for space elsewhere. They found that space ... Read More »
In 1898, Andrew Carnegie hedged a plot to move further north than was fashionable at the time to 91st Street and 5th Avenue. He wanted room, more room than the land that the other mansions of the day occupied could afford him. He wanted room for a garden and when it became time to design his home, he told ... Read More »
Who is buried in Grant’s tomb is perhaps the lamest joke America has ever collectively created. The answer? No one is buried in Grant’s tomb because Grant wasn’t buried, he was entombed above ground along with his wife Julia. Told you it was lame. When President Ulysses S. Grant died in 1885, over 1 million people attended his 7 ... Read More »
The Brooklyn Bridge by Frank Sinatra The old joke, “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell ya” has been around nearly as long as the Brooklyn Bridge itself, when early 19th century con-men George C. Parker and William McCloundy allegedly, successfully perpetrated this scam on unwitting tourists. The jab is a reminder of the lasting ... Read More »
In the mid-1800s, the smallpox vaccine was readily available in New York but despite that, the city continued to suffer outbreaks of the often deadly disease. This continued plague on residents was due to the high amounts of immigrants arriving each day. To try and abate smallpox from spreading throughout the boroughs, a hospital was built on Blackwell’s Island in ... Read More »
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