New York Almanack

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Wall Street History: The Bank War & The Shift of Financial Power to New York

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Bank of North America original location at 307 Chestnut Street, PhiladelphiaAt the time construction of the Erie Canal was begun in 1817, Philadelphia (the second largest city in the United States) was the nation’s financial center. Although there were successful banks in New York, Philadelphia, one of America’s leading seaports, had been the capital during the American Revolution and of the nation (1790 to 1800), and so was considered the financial center of the country.

This is not to say there was not some rivalry between financial institutions located on Wall Street in New York and Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, but the latter was the site of the first bank established in the nation in 1781, the Bank of North America, and more importantly became the site of the First Bank of the United States, which Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton had promoted. [Read more…] about Wall Street History: The Bank War & The Shift of Financial Power to New York

Fulton’s Steamboat, The Black Ball Line & The Erie Canal

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England, a packet ship of the Black Ball LineFor thousands of years prior to the early 1800s maritime transportation was dependent on sailing ships. In the first few decades of the 19th century however, entrepreneurs in New York helped revolutionize the industry so that one hundred years later sailing ships were an anachronism that hardly existed, except for show.

In the latter part of the 1700s the development of the Boulton & Watt steam engine in England made it theoretically possible to power a boat. Before 1800 a number of inventors, including New Yorkers such as Nicholas Roosevelt, John Fitch, Robert R. Livingston, John Stevens III and others, experimented with boats that used such steam engines. Before Robert Fulton made his first run in the North River steamboat (later renamed Clermont) in 1807 more than a dozen steamboats had been constructed in the United States with varying degrees of success.   There were difficulties in making such craft commercially viable. [Read more…] about Fulton’s Steamboat, The Black Ball Line & The Erie Canal

Long Island Coast Guard Men of Color 1942 – 1944 (Virtual Program)

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Tianna Beach Life Saving StationDuring the Second World War crew of color who lived and worked at East Quogue’s Tiana Lookout Barracks Station on Long Island. Tiana Station was built in 1871 at a position “two miles southwest of Shinnecock light.”

In 1912 the station was rebuilt to replace decayed and antiquated buildings. The station was rendered inactive on June 9, 1937 and reactivated for service during the Second World War and was manned by an African-American crew and commanded by an African-American Chief Petty Officer, CBM Cecil R. Foster. [Read more…] about Long Island Coast Guard Men of Color 1942 – 1944 (Virtual Program)

Woodhull Dam Fish Passage Construction Underway

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river herring courtesy DECDEC, Suffolk County, town of Southampton, and Peconic Estuary Partnership (PEP) announced the start of construction on a nearly $1 million fish passage through Woodhull Dam on the Little River in Riverhead.

The fish passage is essential to restoring critical spawning and maturation habitat for river herring and American eel and will help produce sustainable populations of fish species that are valuable resources for a healthy and productive marine ecosystem. [Read more…] about Woodhull Dam Fish Passage Construction Underway

The Spirit of the Times: A 19th Century Chronicle of American Sports

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Title page of the September 1, 1894 issue of The Spirit of the Times, featuring an illustration by Henry Stull.In the early 1800s it was unusual for Americans to be interested in sporting matters on their own shores. News from Europe was the only sporting news of merit, and publishing an American sporting journal was considered a risky use of capital.

The first attempt along these lines may have been in 1829 Baltimore, where John S. Skinner published a monthly magazine which focused on race horse pedigrees called The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine. Another early attempt was published in New York by the recognized writer and horseman Cadwallader R. Colden, whose organ was called The New-York Sporting Magazine and Annals of the American and English Turf, first published in 1833.

Among the most notable of the sporting press arrived in 1831, when William T. Porter and James Haw published the first issue of The Spirit of the Times, focusing on horse literature and sporting subjects. They had chosen the name for their broadsheet from a quotation in Shakespeare’s King John, “The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” [Read more…] about The Spirit of the Times: A 19th Century Chronicle of American Sports

Remembering New York City’s Evacuation Day

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The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years. A print version of this story previously appeared in New York Almanack.

Evacuation Day was November 25th, 1783, the day British troops left New York City after the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Remembering New York City’s Evacuation Day

The Bowery: An Endangered Streetscape

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Windows on the BoweryDespite being among the city’s oldest thoroughfares, and what one historian referred to as “an incubator of American popular culture,” the Bowery is one of the city’s most endangered historic streetscapes.

The Historic Districts Council will host “Windows on the Bowery: 400 Years on NYC’s Oldest Street,” an illustrated talk on the street’s history and efforts to preserve and protect it, set for Wednesday, January 19th. [Read more…] about The Bowery: An Endangered Streetscape

Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

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In 1652, New Netherland Director General Peter Stuyvesant declared that Fort Orange and everything around it, including the village outside the fort, often called Oranje after the fort, was independent of the ownership of the Van Rensselaer family. He named the small mostly Dutch village “Beverwyck.”

Possibly at the urging of the Van Rensselaers, their earlier manager Arendt Van Curler (Corlear) began planning the construction of a new village. [Read more…] about Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

Preservation Grantees Announced; New Funding Available

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Preservation league of nys logoThe Preservation League of New York State and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts, Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, and Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area have announced the recipients of their 2021 Technical Assistance Grants. During this grant cycle, 17 projects representing 14 counties across the state have been selected by an independent panel of preservation professionals. A total of $62,953 was awarded. [Read more…] about Preservation Grantees Announced; New Funding Available