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1609 Sep 12 |
English explorer Henry Hudson sailed his ship, the Half Moon, into the river that later took his name. Hudson sailed for the Dutch East India Company in search of the Northwest Passage, a water route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Links: Britain, Netherlands, NYC, Explorer 
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1741 |
A slave revolt in New York caused considerable property damage but left people unharmed. Rumors of a conspiracy among slaves and poor whites in New York City to seize control led to a panic that resulted in the conviction of 101 blacks, the hanging of 18 blacks and four whites, the burning alive of 13 blacks and the banishment from the city of 70. In 2005 Anne Farrow, Joel Lang and Jennifer Frank authored “Complicity: The North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery,” which included a chapter on the 1941 NYC slave revolt. Links: USA, NYC, Black History, Slavery
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1776 Sep 6 |
The Turtle, the 1st submarine invented by David Bushnell, attempted to secure a cask of gunpowder to the HMS Eagle, flagship of the British fleet, in the Bay of NY but got entangled with the Eagle’s rudder bar, lost ballast and surfaced before the charge was planted. Sergeant Ezra Lee released the bomb the next morning as a British barge approached. The British turned back and the bomb soon exploded. A month later the turtle was lost under British attack as it was being transported on a sailboat. Links: Britain, USA, NYC, Technology, Submarine, Inventor
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1776 Sep 11 |
An American delegation consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge met with British Admiral Richard Lord Howe to discuss terms upon which reconciliation between Britain and the colonies might be based. The talks were unsuccessful. In 2003 Barnet Schecter authored “The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution.” Links: Britain, USA, NYC
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1778 |
Benjamin Tallmadge, under orders from George Washington, organized a spy network in NYC, the heart of the British forces. The code name for the group was Samuel Culper and it became known as the Culper Gang. Links: USA, NYC, Espionage
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1787 |
Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith living in the Cherry Hill district of NYC, began minting gold doubloons, valued at $15, as currency for the new United States. In 1947 the film The Brasher Doubloon” was made based on a detective by novel Raymond Chandler. In 2011 a Brasher doubloon was sold for $7.4 million. Links: USA, NYC, Money
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1789 Mar 4 |
The Constitution of the United States, framed in 1787, went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York City. Lawmakers then adjourned for the lack of a quorum (9 senators, 13 representatives). In 2006 Robert V. Remini, historian of the US House of Representatives, authored “The House.” Links: USA, NYC
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1789 Apr 30 |
George Washington was inaugurated and took office in New York as the first president of the United States. He took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street and spoke the words “So help me God,” which all future US presidents have repeated. The oath as prescribed by the Constitution makes no mention of God of the Bible. Links: USA, NYC, God, Religion, WashingtonG
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1790 Mar 21 |
Thomas Jefferson (46) reported to President Washington in New York as the new US Secretary of state. Links: USA, NYC, WashingtonG, JeffersonT
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1792 May 17 |
Stock traders signed the Buttonwood Agreement in New York City at the Tontine Coffee House Company near a Buttonwood tree, where business had been transacted in the past. 24 merchants formed their exchange at Wall and Water Streets where they fixed rates on commissions on stocks and bonds. This later developed into the New York Stock Exchange. A market crash and almost total halt in credit, trading and liquidity prompted the Buttonwood Agreement under the influence of Alexander Hamilton. The organization drafted its constitution on March 8th, 1817, and named itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board." Links: USA, NYC, Coffee, NYSE
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1803 |
Dewitt Clinton (1769-1828) began serving his 1st term as Mayor of New York City and continued to 1807. His 2nd term as mayor was from 1808-1810 and again from 1811-1815. Links: USA, NYC
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1806 |
NYC Mayor DeWitt Clinton, having read the work of Englishman Joseph Lancaster, formed the New York Free School Society to found Lancastrian schools. Links: USA, NYC, Education
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1812 |
Nicodemus Havens authored his “Wonderful Vision of the City of New York,” wherein he was presented with a view of the Situation of the World, after the dreadful Fourth of June, 1812, and showing what part of New York is to be destroyed. Links: USA, NYC, Books
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1828 Feb 11 |
Dewitt Clinton (b.1769), American politician and naturalist. He had served as a US Senator, 2-time governor of New York state and 3-time mayor of NYC. Links: USA, New York, NYC
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1829 |
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877), NYC-based entrepreneur, began his own line of steamboats and rapidly branched out to trans-oceanic shipping and railroad building. Links: USA, NYC
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1831 |
The New York City Marble Cemetery on Manhattan's Lower East Side was established. Links: USA, NYC
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1833 Sep 3 |
The first successful penny newspaper was published. Benjamin H. Day issued the first copy of "The New York Sun". By 1826, circulation was the largest in the country at 30,000. New York’s population was over 250,000, but its 11 daily newspapers had a combined circulation of only 26,500. Links: USA, NYC, Journalism
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1835 |
The New York Sun hired Richard Adams Locke, a Briton, as editor. He soon wrote an anonymous series about a new telescope and observations of the moon that included the mention of vast forests, fields of poppies and lunar animals. Circulation soared to 19,360. In 840 he admitted to writing the moon hoax series. In 2008 Matthew Goodman authored “the Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York.” Links: USA, NYC, Journalism, Moon
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1838 Apr 23 |
The British steamship "Great Western" arrived in NYC on its maiden voyage from Bristol, England, just hours after the retrofitted steamship Sirius, which had departed Cork on April 4. The Great Western crossed the Atlantic in a record 15 days and 12 hours. Links: Britain, USA, NYC, Ship
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1838 Oct 24 |
Joseph Lancaster (b.1778), English educator, was fatally injured by a runaway horsedrawn carriage in NYC. Links: Britain, USA, NYC, Education
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1841 1846 |
Capt. Robert E. Lee, Army engineer, worked on strengthening the defenses of New York Harbor and Fort Hamilton. Links: USA, NYC
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1842 |
Hugh Hardman established the Hardman Piano Co. in NYC. Leopold Peck joined the company in 1880. The company’s name changed to Hardman, Peck & Co. when Peck became a partner in 1890. Links: USA, NYC, Piano
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1846 |
NYC abandoned the Lancastrian school system in favor of direct teacher to student instruction in its tax supported schools. Links: USA, NYC, Education
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1846 |
New York newspapers collaborated to share costs for reporting on the Mexican war. This collaboration led to the formation of the Associated Press in 1848. Links: USA, NYC, Mexico, Journalism
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1847 |
City College, later known as City Univ. of New York (CUNY) was founded in Harlem. Links: USA, NYC, Education
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1848 May |
The Associated Press was formed in NYC. Links: USA, NYC, Journalism
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1848 |
A new rail line linked Greenwich, Connecticut, to Manhattan. Links: USA, NYC, Connecticut
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1849 May 10 |
A mob destroyed Astor Place opera house in NYC and 22 people were killed. Edward Z.C. Judson (Ned Buntline) was convicted of leading the riot and was sentenced to a year in prison. In 2007 Nigel Cliff authored “The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America.” Links: USA, NYC, Theater, Books, Mad Crowd
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1850 Jul 19 |
Margaret Fuller (b.1810), America’s first foreign correspondent, died aboard the Elizabeth, along with her husband and child, as the ship slammed into a sandbar less than 100 yards from Fire Island, NY. In 2012 John Matteson authored “The Lives of Margaret Fuller.” Links: USA, NYC, Women, Journalism
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1851 Aug 12 |
Isaac Merritt Singer was granted a patent on his lockstitch sewing machine. He formed I.M. Singer & Co. in New York and soon began selling machines for $100 each. In 4 years he expanded to Scotland becoming the first American int’l. company. Links: USA, NYC, Technology, Inventor
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1851 Aug 22 |
The Schooner America, designed by George Steers, outraced the Aurora in the Solent, a stretch of sea separating the Isle of Wight from England proper, to win the Queen’s cup, a trophy that renamed as the America’s Cup. For 132 years the New York Yacht Club defeated all challengers to retain the prestigious America’s Cup, the record for the longest winning streak in sports history. The Liberty lost it to the Australia II in 1983. Links: Britain, USA, NYC, Ship
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1851 Sep 18 |
The first edition of The New York Times was published. The New-York Times was founded by Henry J. Raymond, Republican Speaker of the NY State Assembly, and banker George Jones as a conservative counterpoint to Horace Greeley's Tribune. Links: USA, NYC, Journalism
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1852 |
J.P. Morgan’s NYC residence was completed on the corner of 37th St. and Madison Ave. Links: NYC, Architect
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1852 |
Frank Leslie's Weekly, later often known in short as Leslie's Weekly, was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1852. It continued publication to 1922. Links: USA, NYC, Journalism
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1855 |
Jakob Hunzinger (1835-1898), German cabinet maker, moved to the US and opened a furniture manufacturing shop in NYC. Links: USA, Germany, NYC, Furniture
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1858 Mar 31 |
Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen launched the SS New York, a passenger cargo vessel. It was sold to Edward Bates of Liverpool in 1874 and later wrecked near Staten Island. In 1994 Edwin Drechsel (1914-2006) later authored a 2-volume history of the North German shipping line. Links: Germany, NYC, Ship
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1858 Apr 28 |
NYC commissioners approved the “Greensward” plan for Central Park. Frederick Law Olmstead (1822-1903), the recently selected park superintendant, and landscape architect Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. The park had first opened in 1857, on 770 acres of city owned land. Construction began in 1858 and was completed in 1873. The initial budget for the new park was $1.5 million. Links: USA, NYC
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1863 Jul 13 |
Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days. Antiabolitionist Irish longshoremen rampaged against blacks in the deadly Draft Riots in New York City in response to Pres. Lincoln’s announcement of military conscription. Mobs lynched a black man and torched the Colored Orphan Asylum. The 2003 film "Gangs of New York" focused on this event. In 2006 Barnet Schecter authored “The Devil’s Own Work,” an account of the riots. Links: USA, NYC, Black History, Mad Crowd
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1864 Jan 3 |
John Joseph Hughes (b.1797), Irish-born Archbishop of the Catholic diocese of NY, died. Links: USA, NYC
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1865 |
Benjamin Altman founded B. Altman & Co., a big department store at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in NYC. It expanded to a chain of stores but filed for bankruptcy in 1989. Links: USA, NYC, Retail
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1867 Mar 23 |
Charles Deas (b.1818), American painter, died in NYC. He was noted for his oil paintings of Native Americans and fur trappers of the mid-19th century. At age 29, he went insane and lived out the rest of his life in mental institutions. Links: Artist, USA, NYC
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1867 |
James McCreery (1826-1903) opened a silk retailing operation in NYC. Within 3 years he bought a large building on Broadway and expanded with more departments. McCreery’s close in 1953. Links: USA, NYC, Retail
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1868 Jul 15 |
William Thomas Morton (b.1819), dentist, died in NYC. He was responsible for the first successful public demonstration of ether as an inhalation anesthetic. Morton's accomplishment was the key factor to the medical and scientific pursuit that we now refer to as anesthesiology. Links: USA, NYC, Medical
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1869 Sep 24 |
Thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic, dubbed Black Friday, after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market. Links: USA, NYC, Economics, Big Money
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1869 Dec 14 |
Nathan Meeker, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, wrote a column appealing to readers of high moral character to join him in building a utopian community by the South Platte River near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. He selected 700 of some 3000 applicants and founded Greeley, Colo., named after his publisher Horace Greeley. Links: USA, NYC, Colorado
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1869 |
Marcus Goldman, son of a German peasant, began to broker credit to diamond and leather merchants near Wall Street. He later offered a partnership to his son-in-law Sam Sachs. In 1999 Lisa Endlich published "Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success." In 2008 Charles D. Ellis authored ”The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs.” Links: USA, NYC
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1869 |
An elevator was installed in the Equitable Life Assurance Building, under construction in NYC. Links: USA, NYC
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1870 Jan 3 |
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began. Links: USA, NYC
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1870 |
The Equitable Life Assurance Building was completed at 120 Broadway in New York City, NY. At 130 feet (40 m), it is considered by some the world's first skyscraper and was the first office building to feature passenger elevators. Links: USA, NYC, Architect
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1872 Nov 29 |
Horace Greeley (b.1811), founder of the New York Tribune, died. The daily paper reflected much of the morality of his New England upbringing and he partnered a high standard of news gathering with printed arguments and urges against drinking, gambling, capital punishment and—increasingly in the 1850s—slavery. The slavery issue and his lifelong desire for high political office led him away from his political party, the Whigs, and to the newly emerging Republican Party. He usually sided with the radical wing of the Republicans, advocating early emancipation of slaves. Still unsuccessful in state and national bids, he eventually joined a group of Republican dissenters who formed the Liberal Republican Party to oppose Grant. While he received almost 44% of the popular vote, he received only 18% of the electoral vote, which were cast for other candidates due to his death. In 2006 Robert C. Williams authored “Horace Greeley. Links: USA, NYC, Journalism
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1872 |
The Butter and Cheese Exchange opened in NYC. It later became known as the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). Links: NYC, Food
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1873 Sep 20 |
A financial panic hit the NY Stock Exchange when the high-flying bond dealer, Jay Cooke, granted too many loans to the railroads. Panic spread to Europe as London and Paris markets crashed and the New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time for 10 days. The economy went into a 6 year depression. Philadelphia banker and newspaperman Anthony Drexel teamed up with J.P. Morgan to depose a rival bank run by Jay Cooke. They published allegations to undermine confidence and cause a run that led to a panic. Links: USA, NYC, Pennsylvania, NYSE, Banking
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1873 |
In NYC a long brick building, 9½ feet by 42 feet, was built on Bedford Street in Greenwich Village on land used as an alley. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay later lived there, as did anthropologist Margaret Mead. It was dubbed NYC’s skinniest house and in 2010 sold for $2.1 million. Links: USA, NYC
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1875 |
In NYC the Butter and Cheese Exchange, later known as the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), was renamed to the American Exchange of New York. Links: NYC, Food
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1875 |
Jacob Bulova opened a jewelry shop in the financial district of NYC. It grew to become the Bulova Watch Co. In 1979 it was purchased by the Loews Corp. and taken private. Links: USA, NYC, Time
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1878 |
Joseph P. McHugh (1854-1916) opened his furnishings business, the Popular Shop, in NYC. In 1884 it moved to 42nd Street. Links: USA, NYC, Retail
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1880 |
In NYC the American Exchange of New York, later known as the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), was renamed as the Butter, Cheese and Egg Exchange of New York. Links: NYC, Food
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1882 Dec 11 |
Fiorella H. La Guardia (d.1947), mayor of New York City, 1934-1945, was born. Links: USA, NYC
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1882 |
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English philosopher, culminated his visit to the US with a dinner a Delmonico’s in NYC, at which mostly Republican men of science, religion, business and government participated. In 2008 Barry Werth authored “Banquet at Delmonico’s: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America.” Links: Britain, USA, NYC, Biology
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1883 |
Oscar Wilde’s first play, “Vera,” flopped in NYC. It was inspired by the 1878 shooting of a repressive general of the Russian Czar by revolutionary Vera Zasulich. Links: Russia, USA, NYC, Theater
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