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Tammany Hall

Wall Street History: The Politics of New York’s First Banks

January 10, 2022 by James S. Kaplan 1 Comment

Colonial currency from the Province of New York (1775)Prior to the American Revolution, there were virtually no banks in the United States. However, Alexander Hamilton, who was George Washington’s key advisor on financial matters, was familiar with the central banks of England and the Netherlands which had been key factors in the growth of the economy of those countries.

Unlike some agrarian Virginian politicians such as Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton believed that banking and credit was the key to the nation’s future. In 1781 he encouraged Robert Morris, the recently appointed Superintendent of Finance for the Continental government, to form the Bank of North America in Philadelphia. For a time up, until the British surrender of New York, this was the only Bank in the colonies. [Read more…] about Wall Street History: The Politics of New York’s First Banks

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, American Revolution, Economic History, Financial History, George Washington, New York City, Political History, Tammany Hall, Wall Street, Wall Street History Series

New Book Sheds Light on Jazz Age Disappearance of a NY Judge

December 6, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Finding Judge CraterBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

The new book Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age New York (Syracuse University Press, 2021) by Stephen J. Riegel is a fascinating chronicle of the life, times, and notorious disappearance of Judge Joseph F. Crater in Jazz Age Manhattan. [Read more…] about New Book Sheds Light on Jazz Age Disappearance of a NY Judge

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Legal History, Manhattan, New York City, NYPD, Tammany Hall

Marinus Willet, Tammany Hall & The Treaty of New York

November 28, 2021 by James S. Kaplan 5 Comments

Marinus Willett painted by Ralph Earl, oil on canvas, ca 1791 Metropolitan Museum of ArtEvery year in October the Lower Manhattan Historical Society holds its Saratoga/Yorktown celebration in Trinity Churchyard to celebrate the American victories at the Battles of Saratoga and Yorktown.

At that ceremony wreaths are lain on the graves of Revolutionary War figures associated with those battles — Horatio Gates, Alexander Hamilton and Marinus Willett. [Read more…] about Marinus Willet, Tammany Hall & The Treaty of New York

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Battle of Johnstown, Battle of Monmouth, Fort Ontario, Fort Plain, Fort Stanwix, George Washington, Indigenous History, Johnstown, Marinus Willett, Military History, New York City, Political History, Schoharie Valley, Sharon Springs, Siege of Fort Stanwix, Sullivan_Clinton Expedition, Tammany Hall

Saving the Broadway Theater Business (Podcast)

November 26, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, New York City attorney and walking tour guide Jim Kaplan explains the role played by Democratic Party district leader Jimmy McManus in reviving the Broadway theater industry and the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan.

An online version of Kaplan’s story was published in New York Almanack.
[Read more…] about Saving the Broadway Theater Business (Podcast)

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Jimmy McManus, Performing Arts, Podcasts, Tammany Hall, Theatre, Urban History

NYC Politico Jimmy McManus and Tammany History (Series Conclusion)

November 11, 2021 by James S. Kaplan Leave a Comment

1844 Election Banner James K Polk and Henry ClayJimmy McManus was interested in promoting the political history of Hell’s Kitchen and Tammany Hall. He occasionally would co-lead walking tours about the political history of Hell’s Kitchen for the 92nd Street Y or Culture Now.

One of McManus’s earlier activities in this regard was as a member and later President of the National Democratic Club of New York, which dated from 1834 and was credited with swinging the 1844 Presidential election to Democratic candidate James K. Polk, when as the Empire Club it helped carry New York State to James K. Polk over his opponent Henry Clay. [Read more…] about NYC Politico Jimmy McManus and Tammany History (Series Conclusion)

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: 1844 Election, Historic Preservation, Jimmy McManus, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Manhattan, NYC, Political History, Tammany Hall

Tammany’s McManus Club: The Final Decades

November 7, 2021 by James S. Kaplan 1 Comment

James McManus shortly before his death in 2019(1)In 1984, longtime Tammany politician and leader of McManus Democratic Club James R. McManus was challenged for his position as Hell’s Kitchen’s District Leader by a reform politician named Hamed Houssain. Houssain argued that it was time for the district’s voters to retire the last vestige of Tammany Hall and throw out the organization affiliated with the corrupt disgraced Camine DeSapio.

McManus however, was overwhelmingly reelected and Mayor Ed Koch attended his victory party. For the next 33 years, until his retirement in 2017, there would be no other challenges to Jimmy McManus for the position of District Leader in Hell’s Kitchen. [Read more…] about Tammany’s McManus Club: The Final Decades

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Jimmy McManus, NYC, Political History, Tammany Hall, Urban History

Tammany’s Last Stand: The McManus Club & The McGovern Campaign

October 28, 2021 by James S. Kaplan 1 Comment

Jimmy McManus in 1972James R. McManus was born in Hell’s Kitchen in 1936 and recently died in 2019. For 54 years (from 1962 to 2016) he was the Democratic Party District Leader from the Hell’s Kitchen area. This was a position that his father Eugene E. McManus had held for 20 years before him.

Previously Eugene McManus’s great grand uncle, Thomas J. McManus, had held the position, since the formation of the McManus Democratic Club in 1892, when he defeated the prior District Leader George Washington Plunkitt, author of Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics (1905). [Read more…] about Tammany’s Last Stand: The McManus Club & The McGovern Campaign

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Al Smith, FDR, Frances Perkins, Greenwich Village, Jimmy McManus, Labor History, Manhattan, New York City, Political History, Tammany Hall, Urban History, womens history

Albany’s John McBain Davidson: Safes, Steamboats & Horse Racing

July 21, 2021 by Bill Orzell 2 Comments

Saratoga Dreams B&B The Saratoga Dreams B&B at 203 Union Avenue gives a modern day traveler, the opportunity to step back into the marvelous past of Saratoga Springs. Climbing the stairs starts the adventure, where you first see the statue of Seabiscuit at the National Museum of Racing next door, and across the street you may catch a glimpse of runners being “tacked-up” in the paddock at Saratoga Race Course.

The large covered porch, typical of so many of Saratoga Springs’ Queen Anne style homes, allows an elevated view of “Tex” Hughlette Wheeler’s fabulous sculpture. Charles S. Howard, Seabiscuit’s owner, commissioned cowboy sculptor Wheeler (who’s unique given name of Hughlette was the surname of the doctor who delivered him during his mother’s difficult pregnancy), to “capture the horse from life,” and had two castings made. Howard’s heirs graciously donated this casting, originally at the Howard’s Ridgewood Farm, to the National Museum of Racing. The other bronze which Howard had cast has always stood in the Santa Anita paddock. [Read more…] about Albany’s John McBain Davidson: Safes, Steamboats & Horse Racing

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Erastus Corning, Gambling, Horses, Hudson River, Political History, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, sports, Sports History, Steamboating, Tammany Hall, Troy, Vice

John Morrissey: Toward Setting The Record Straight

February 12, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

Young John Morrissey detail from a painting held by the Saratoa History MuseumJohn Morrissey was born in Ireland on February 12th, in 1831.

As a result of bigoted attacks by his political enemies being carried forward by later writers like Herbert Asbury in Gangs of New York (1928), he’s been falsely accused of being in criminal league with Tammany Hall, for leading “the dead rabbits gang,” and for being involved in the killing of the nativist William “Bill the Butcher” Poole. [Read more…] about John Morrissey: Toward Setting The Record Straight

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: 1876 Election, Boss Tweed, boxing, Cultural History, Fernando Wood, Gambling, Irish Immigrants, John Morrissey, Nativism, New York City, Political History, Rensselaer County, Samuel Tilden, Saratoga County, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Sports History, Tammany Hall, Troy, Vice

Anti-Irish Sentiment In New York Before The 1830s

January 4, 2021 by John Warren 11 Comments

Know Nothing Cartoon ca 1850sAlthough there had always been Irish immigrants to the colonies of the Americas, in the 1830s the pace of immigration of unskilled Irish quickened in the United States. (In 1820, only 21 percent had been unskilled laborers; by 1836 nearly 60 percent were.)

These newcomers were mostly Catholic. [Read more…] about Anti-Irish Sentiment In New York Before The 1830s

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Catholicism, Immigration, Irish History, Irish Immigrants, Nativism, Political History, Religious History, Tammany Hall

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