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Vice

Hell’s Acres in the Taconic Mountains

February 1, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

a new york minute in history podcastIn this episode of A New York Minute In History Podcast, State Historian Devin Lander and Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts tell the story of Boston Corners, also known as Hell’s Acres, which once belonged to Massachusetts, but was ceded to New York State by an act of Congress in 1855. [Read more…] about Hell’s Acres in the Taconic Mountains

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Ancram, boxing, Columbia County, John Morrissey, Massachusetts, Podcasts, railroads, surveying, Taconic Mountains, Vice

Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

February 1, 2023 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

New York Herald, March 24, 1858Around 1800, Philip and Catharine Brotherson arrived in Blue Corners on the western edge of Charlton in Saratoga County. Over the next 40 years, their five children grew to maturity, the last being Benjamin Kissam Brotherson, born in 1819.

At the age of sixteen, Benjamin was hired as a clerk for the dry goods merchant James Winne in Albany, New York. During his time in Albany, he was known as an upstanding young man of good moral character. Three years later, in 1838, he moved to the city of New York and took a job at Union Bank, where he would work for the next twenty years. [Read more…] about Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Charlton, Crime and Justice, Financial History, Gambling, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Vice, Wall Street

An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

January 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Professor Mike Donovan (on right) helping his son train in boxing, ca1910sThe following essay was published in the “The World Of Sport” column in The [Troy] Daily Times on December 15, 1896.

Pugilistic champions of other days and of the present time passed in rapid review before a crowd of 2,500 sports in the Broadway Athletic Club last night. There was a rare galaxy of them. [Read more…] about An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

Filed Under: History, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: boxing, Gambling, Manhattan, New York City, Social History, Sports History, Vice

Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

January 19, 2023 by John Warren 6 Comments

A recreated chase of bootleggers in Chestertown, NY in 2013 (photo by John Warren)Dennis Warren left his job as a coal shoveler on the New York Central Railroad in Albany to ship out to the First World War. His transport ship had a close call with a German submarine on the way over, but got there in time to take part in what one of the bloodiest military campaigns in American history.

For Americans after the war, the Argonne would mean what Normandy meant just 25 years later – sacrifice. Sadly, that sacrifice in the Argonne Forest was never repaid to Dennis Warren, who met the death of a smuggler – running from an officious and invasive law on a treacherous mountain road near Port Henry on Lake Champlain.

According to the newsman who reported his death at the age of 29, “Canadian Ale was spread across the road.” [Read more…] about Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Al Smith, beer, Canada, Clinton County, Crime and Justice, DeWitt, Essex County, Franklin County, Genealogy, Journalism, Lafayette, Lake Champlain, Legal History, liquor, Manlius, Newspapers, Onondaga, Onondaga County, Oral History, Plattsburgh, Political History, Pompey, Port Henry, Prohibition, Quebec, Rouses Point, Route 9, St Lawrence County, State Police, SUNY Plattsburgh, Vice, World War One

Racing Steamboats On The Hudson River

January 18, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

American Steamboats on the Hudson - Passing the Highlands (Library of Congress)The following texts are excerpts from various descriptions of racing steamboats on the Hudson River in 1830s, during the heyday of such speed trials.

“Racing On The Hudson,” Cortland Standard, September 25, 1909: “When steamboating was successfully established on the Hudson River it was natural that the owners and skippers of the various crafts that plied between New York and Albany should turn their attention to speed. Racing between boats of rival lines soon became a matter of almost daily occurrence. [Read more…] about Racing Steamboats On The Hudson River

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Albany, Engineering History, Gambling, Hudson River, Maritime History, New York City, Steamboating, Transportation History, Vice

Pirates, Prostitution & The Livingston Family

January 15, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Robert R Livingston by Gilbert StuartFrom their early days on the North American continent, the Livingston family were a prominent sex-trade family. In a nutshell, they were landlords to brothel-operators from at least as early as the 1810s.

New York State Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, who reluctantly joined the patriot side of the American Revolution in 1776. Chancellor Robert was one of many Livingstons who profited from the sex trade in the aftermath of the unrest. [Read more…] about Pirates, Prostitution & The Livingston Family

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abolition, American Revolution, Haudenosaunee, Iroquois, Livingston Manor, piracy, prostitution, Robert Livingston, Slavery, Vice, William Kidd

The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

November 24, 2022 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

Island Park racing notice published in the Troy Daily TimesThe Hudson River in New York’s Capital Region has always been a vital transportation link, and it also provides a conduit to undertakings of the past. The area presently occupied by Interstate-787 and its connectors to NY-378 were constructed on what had been a cluster of islands in the Hudson River, near Menands, between Albany and Watervliet.

Even in the 1820s, the road here became noted for unofficial, and illegal, horse racing. [Read more…] about The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Erastus Corning, Gambling, Historic Racetracks Series, Horses, Hudson River, Menands, Sports History, Vice, Watervliet

Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

September 12, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

nineteenth century English print of A Dutch Gin MerchantFor the first decade of its existence, New Amsterdam was a rough place. Located on the tip of Manhattan Island, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers. Many of the earliest rules and regulations were an attempt to control the unruly citizens of a backwater outpost, but officials proved unable to lay down the law. Intemperate drinking was one of the problems.

In 1640 permission was granted by Willem Kieft, Director of the New Netherland Colony, for liquor to be distilled on Staten Island – in contemporary Dutch: Staaten Eylandt – where what is believed to have been the first commercial distillery in North America was built (today Staten Island is home to the Booze History Museum). [Read more…] about Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Culinary History, Dutch History, liquor, London, Medical History, Netherlands, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Prohibition, Spain, Staten Island, Vice

Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

September 7, 2022 by John Warren 2 Comments

Retired NYPD officer Thomas Webster, dubbed the 'eye gouger,' attacks a DC police officer in a still from January 6th videoLast week Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, was sentenced to the stiffest sentence so far – 10 years – for his actions while attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an effort to keep Donald Trump in power. In the effort to identify the insurrectionists, Webster was given the name “eye-gouger” for his attempt to gouge the eyes of a Washington D.C. police officer.

It’s a long American tradition. Eye gouging, not insurrection. [Read more…] about Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: boxing, Crime and Justice, Cultural History, Lansingburgh, Medical History, New York City, Poughkeepsie, Social History, Vice, Virginia

New Book Explores NYC Sex, Sex Workers and Sex Spaces

July 12, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the soft city bookThere is no rawer human experience than sex, and in a city as diverse as New York, sexual experiences come in many forms. Before the mid-1990s temptation flooded Times Square on theater marquees and neon signs. Behind unmarked doors downtown, more adventurous experiences awaited for those in the know.

The Soft City: Sex for Business and Pleasure in New York City (Columbia University Press, 2022) by Terry Williams ventures deep into the underground world of sex in New York. [Read more…] about New Book Explores NYC Sex, Sex Workers and Sex Spaces

Filed Under: History, Books, New York City Tagged With: Labor History, Manhattan, New York City, Social History, Vice

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