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Michael Green

Michael Aaron Green is the founder of the Fullerton Cultural Center in Newburgh, New York. Since 2009, he has been restoring the 1868 Fullerton Mansion, as well as researching and writing about the 19th century occupants of the home. His articles have appeared in New York Archive Magazine and the Orange County Historical Society Journal. Mr. Green covers historical material related to his Newburgh home at www.scandal-house.com.

The Odd Couple Who Paved the Way for Modern Broadway

November 16, 2020 by Michael Green 3 Comments

Casino1The early history of the city of New York’s vaunted theater district provides yet another illustration of how oft-repeated narratives become accepted truths. On the website of the New York Preservation Archive Project, we find the following:

“The Broadway Theater District originated in the early 1900s as theaters began to move from Union Square and Madison Square Garden further uptown to the Times Square area because of its cheaper real estate.” [Read more…] about The Odd Couple Who Paved the Way for Modern Broadway

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: art, New York City, Performing Arts, Theatre

19th Century Women of Newburgh Bay

February 27, 2020 by Michael Green 4 Comments

Map showing location of Downing house and grounds and Monell houseIn the 2018 film On the Basis of Sex, young firebrand Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes dramatic use of Abigail Adams’ 1776 admonition to “remember the ladies.” Sadly, Abigail’s husband, future President John Adams, spurned her request to consider property rights and other protections for women in drafting a legal framework for the rebellious colonies. [Read more…] about 19th Century Women of Newburgh Bay

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Cultural History, Newburgh, Suffrage Movement, Women's History Month, womens history

Newburgh’s Downing Park, A Short History

December 20, 2018 by Michael Green 5 Comments

Shelter House and HeronThe Shelter House Café in Newburgh‘s Downing Park, brings together several strands of the city’s long and complex history. The brainchild and labor-of-love of restaurateur Stephen Sinnott, it builds on decades of effort by the non-profit Downing Park Preservation Committee to restore the historic park to its former prominence in the life of the city. [Read more…] about Newburgh’s Downing Park, A Short History

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Newburgh, Ulster County

Newburgh: The Lazell-Cathcart Moment

February 19, 2018 by Michael Green 4 Comments

Lazell, Ladies Home Journal, 1917Sometimes, I think there would be less interest in fiction, if we only knew more local history. Perhaps I have just been spoiled by the stories that keep bubbling up — as if emanating from the floorboards — in one 1868 house in Newburgh, New York.

Prior owners called it The Fullerton Mansion, although it’s somewhat undersized for a mansion and the original owner, the once-famous trial lawyer Judge Fullerton, is long forgotten. (The same goes for his composer son; see “Lost Newburgh Composer Willie Fullerton”, New York History Blog, June 20, 2017.)

Even less known are the Cathcarts, who owned the house from the first decade of the 20th Century until the depths of the Great Depression. [Read more…] about Newburgh: The Lazell-Cathcart Moment

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Medical History, Newburgh

Lost Newburgh Composer Willie Fullerton

June 20, 2017 by Michael Green 4 Comments

Fullerton MansionJudge Fullerton’s brick, Italianate home has quietly presided over the northern end of Grand Street in Newburgh, New York, since 1868, but the once-famous trial lawyer has long since been forgotten. Visitors sometimes inquire about ghosts or secret passageways or buried caches of coins. I tell them all the same thing: the real treasure is in the history. In this respect, I have been richly rewarded.

Hidden away beneath the visible architecture was a cornucopia of stories. Some took place on the historical stage; others on theatrical stages; some were once known to the world at large, at a time when telegraph wires strung along railroad lines turned locally-printed newspapers into “mass media”; others are deeply personal, private stories of success, failure and loss.

But above all, I found Willie. [Read more…] about Lost Newburgh Composer Willie Fullerton

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Art History, Music, Musical History, Newburgh

Idealist-on-the Hudson: Martha Gruening’s ‘Libertarian’ School

April 3, 2017 by Michael Green 14 Comments

gomez mill houseThe three-century-long ownership chain of the Gomez Mill House in Marlboro is a many-tiered, richly-textured layer cake of personal stories.

Specific historic periods lend unique flavoring to each personal history.

But in the case of the recently-rediscovered activist Martha Gruening (1889-1937), her early-20th dreams of a better, more just world have a distinctly modern resonance. [Read more…] about Idealist-on-the Hudson: Martha Gruening’s ‘Libertarian’ School

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Black History, Education, Gomez Mill House, womens history

NYC Community Center Archiving the LGBTQ Revolution

January 10, 2017 by Michael Green 2 Comments

lgbt achives and libraryTucked away on the 4th floor of a much-repurposed 1850s school building in Greenwich Village, the LGBT Community Center’s National History Archive is a cultural and historical refuge-within-a-sanctuary.

The Community Center has been operating at 208 W. 13th Street since 1983. The entire building is intended to be a safe and welcoming place “where everyone is celebrated for who they are.” Today, the Center is an effervescent hub, and sponsors a broad-range of activities and programs for the lesbian, gay and transgender community, including health and wellness, arts and entertainment, and counseling. [Read more…] about NYC Community Center Archiving the LGBTQ Revolution

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Archives, Gender, Greenwich Village, LGBTQ, NYC, PolHist

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