1614 - Broadway - Broadway was originally called the Wickquasgeck trail by the Lenape Indians. It ran 14 miles, the entire length of Manhattan, following an original ridge of land. 

2002 - Canyon of Heroes - Some of the world's greatest triumphs have been celebrated right here in Lower Manhattan with spectacular ticker-tape parades up Broadway. From moon-walkers to sports stars, from politicians to performers, from war veterans to aviation aces, we have honored the nation's best with these tributes in our skyscraper canyons. As a result, Broadway has long been known as the Canyon of Heroes. The Downtown Alliance has commemorated all 204 of these ticker-tape parades by actually marking the Canyon of Heroes. As we repaved the sidewalks along the entire length of Broadway from the Battery to City Hall, we installed black granite strips at regular intervals in the sidewalks on either side of the roadway. Each strip will be marked in stainless-steel letters with the name and date of each historic parade, from the first ticker-tape parade in 1886 to celebrate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty to the fall 2009 parade to honor the World Series Champions, the New York Yankees. A number of blank strips have been included as place holders for the commemoration of heroics yet to come.

2014 - Fulton Street Transit Center - This is one of the capital improvement projects that came out of the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the 9/11.  The linchpin of all the multiple planning projects were the infrastructure improvements.  The Port Authority rebuilt the Path Terminal and the MTA began redoing their two large terminals at South Ferry and Fulton Street.  Fulton was the biggest challenge since a spider web of subway lines intersect at that point with dank corridors and staircases connecting them.  It was a huge challenge to incorporate new standards for accessibility and make the subterranean spaces feel more welcoming.  The solution was a huge skylight covering a 3 story atrium with upscale retail.

2014 - Sky Reflector-Net - James Carpenter won a competition with his design for the Fulton Street Center. Collaborating with architects, Grimshaw & Partners, New York, the plan for the MTA Downtown Transit Center links the Fulton Subway Station to the new World Trade Center Path Station by a cross-town underground pedestrian tunnel. However, the Fulton Street Transit Center brought light into the otherwise dark transit system; daylight now can be seen through the glass domed ceiling.

1766 - St. Paul's Chapel (Trinity) - Initially opened as an outreach chapel of Trinity Church to better serve its expanding congregation. A decade later, the Great Fire of 1776 destroyed the first Trinity Church, but St. Paul’s survived, thanks to a bucket brigade dousing the building with water.

1776 - Montgomery Monument - Leading the charge of the Battle of Quebec, Major General Richard Montgomery died under British fire in 1775.  In order to drum up public support for the revolutionary war effort, Benjamin Franklin convinced the Continental Congress to commission the monument, to build support for separation from Britain. Benjamin Franklin championed the monument from its design to its installation, in spite of the intervening war and paltry coffers.  

1836 - Astor Building - Built by John Jacob Astor, Astor House was constructed between 1832 and 1836 in order to provide comfortable living accommodations for New York’s elite. Designed by renowned architect Isaiah Rogers, the it consisted of an unprecedented 309 bedrooms and 17 “bathing rooms”. Servants rooms were upstairs under the cornice. It had gaslights. It was considered to be New York's finest lodging. 

1913 - Woolworth Building - F. W. Woolworth, an entrepreneur who had become successful because of his "Five-and-Dimes" (5- and 10-cent stores), began planning a new headquarters for the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1910. It was the tallest building in the world when it was completed at 792'. The title lasted 21 years.  The skyscraper was unusual because it was financed entirely in cash. The highlight of the opening ceremony featured United States President Woodrow Wilson throwing a switch to illuminate the building. Much of the original terra-cotta cladding has since been replaced with cast stone.

1628 - Middle Collegiate Church - The congregation was founded. It is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America. 

1869 - Mullett's Monstrosity - Since 1845, the city's main post office was located in the Middle Dutch Church on Nassau Street, a dark 18th-century building that by the 1860s was stretched past its capacity.  After a design competition Alfred P. Mullett was selected to design the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse.

1897 - Pneumatic Tube mail system in NYC - In 1897, the Post Office begins sending mail from the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green to the Old General Post Office on Park Row, a distance of 3750 ft through a leased. The trip took 1 min. Eventually it took 20 minutes to get a letter from Bowling Green to Harlem.

1842 - City Hall Park Fountain - The Croton Fountain was placed in the center of City Hall Park to celebrate the Croton Aqueduct, New York City’s first dependable supply of pure water. The aqueduct drew water from the Croton Dam more than 40 miles (64 km) north of the city and was considered one of the great engineering feats of the 19th century.

1842 - Barnum's American Museum - In 1842, PT Barnum opened a combination zoo, museum, and freak show; attractions included Tom Thumb and Siamese Twins Cheng and Eng.  At its peak, 15,000 visitors came daily, or 38 million total visitors.

1916 - Old AT&T Building (195 Broadway) - The site was formerly occupied by the Western Union Telegraph Building. The current 29-story, 422-foot-tall (129 m) building was commissioned after AT&T's 1909 acquisition of Western Union. It was constructed from 1912 to 1916 under the leadership of Theodore Newton Vail, to designs by William W. Bosworth.

1844 - Brady's National Gallery of Daguerreotypes - Every political figure of significance had their photo taken by Matthew Brady at Brady's National Gallery of Daguerreotypes

1834 - David Ruggles Bookstore - The first African American bookstore and printshop which became a temporary haven for Frederick Douglas and a stop on the Underground Railroad by anti-slavery activist. By the early 1830s, Ruggles became involved in the growing anti-slavery movement in New York. White radicals, disenchanted by reform measures, now joined blacks demanding the immediate end of slavery. His grocery shop at 1 Cortlandt Street was the nation’s first black bookstore until a mob destroyed it. 

1653 - The Commons - The Dutch initially used this area a communal pasture ground for livestock since it was midway between their settlement at the tip of the island and the fresh water source, Collect Pond.  The park’s western boundary was a Lenape trail that later became Broadway but has always been New York's main street. An almshouse for the City’s poor stood on this site from 1736 to 1797, at which point a second almshouse was built; archaeological evidence of the first structure was unearthed in 1989.  Next to it were prisons and soldier's barracks.  This is the site of the Liberty Poles, Stamp Act Protests, and where Washington had the Declaration of Independence read to his troops on July 9, 1776.

1653 - City Hall Park - Surrounded by centuries-old majestic government buildings that date back to 1812, this park provides a much-needed green spot in a bustling downtown area. Highlights include statues of revolutionary war heroes Horace Greeley and Nathan Hale, as well as several historically enriched government buildings.   Part of the southern tip of the park was sold to the Federal government in 1867 to build a post office.  The Rotunda building was demolished in 1870 and in 1871 the Croton Fountain was replaced by a new fountain designed by Jacob Wrey Mould, co-designer of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, which became the centerpiece of the smaller park.  Concerts were held at the park during the 1870s.  In 1903 the park’s original gas streetlights were replaced by electric lamps.  In 1939 the Post Office building was torn down, restoring the park to its original triangular shape, and reestablishing the open view of St. Paul’s Chapel from City Hall.  In 1966 the City Hall building was designated a city landmark as well as a national landmark.

1898 - The Consolidation of Greater New York - By the late 1880's New York was the commercial capital of the country.  It feared that it would be overtaken by Chicago's rapidly increasing population.  There was an issue about water supplies; wells near Brooklyn were turning brackish and which even brought down Mayor Chapin in 1892 but New York had built the Croton Aqueduct.  With the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, it was easy for people to live in Brooklyn and work in New York so many did.  The idea of consolidation of the two cities was proposed multiple times and voted down.  It was very contentious with people squabling about taxes.  On May 4, 1896 it finally passed and Governor Frank Black signed it into law.  The new city would consist of Brooklyn, New York, part of Queens County, Richmond, and what eventually became the Bronx.  It's 3,000,000 people would make it the largest city in the US and the second largest in the world after London.  

1768 - Bridewell Prison - The Bridewell was a municipal prison built in 1768 on the site now occupied by City Hall Park in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Theophilus Hardenbrook, the building was notorious for its harsh conditions; it had bars, but no windows.

1765 - Stamp Act Riots - Under the English, New Amsterdam was renamed New York, after the Duke of York, brother to King Charles II. Fort Amsterdam, located at the foot of Broadway, was renamed Fort James. The fort and environs became the center of political and social life in the new colony, and it is not surprising that the first meeting to protest the 1765 Stamp Act took place at Burn’s Coffee House on Broadway opposite Bowling Green.

1766 - Liberty Pole - Liberty poles were often erected in town squares in the years before and during the American Revolution. The poles were periodically destroyed by the royal authorities, only to be replaced by the Sons with new ones. During the imperial crisis with Britain in the 1760s, an often violent struggle over liberty poles erected by the Sons of Liberty (or "Liberty Boys") in New York City to symbolize their displeasure with British authorities raged for 10 years. 

1776 - First reading of the Declaration of Independence - On July 9th, 1776 after Washington had the Declaration of Independence read aloud, they marched down to Bowling Green, and the George III Statue was toppled, the ornaments at the tops of the fence were also cut off. Both were recast into musket balls. The William Pitt Statue was toppled by the British in retaliation in 1776, for the destruction of King George III's statue. In 1783, Evacuation Day officially ended the War.  As a departing gesture, the British greased the flagpole; John Van Arsdale went to a nearby hardware store and bought cleats so he could shimmy the pole, remove the British Flag and raise the new American one. The plaza near Bowling Green was renamed in 2016 to Evacuation Day Plaza.

1790 - First Sidewalk - 1st Sidewalk installed on Broadway from Murray to Vesey in 1790 

1823 - First Gas Line in NYC - Started in March 1823, the newly incorporated New York Gas Light Co. became the first company to get the deal to make and lay cast-iron pipes, as well as supply the gas for the lighting, down Broadway—from Grand Street to Battery. The project was completed in 1825, making Broadway the first street to be lit completely with gas. The Company was awarded a second deal in expanding the gas line system the year after the first project’s completion. This second project added 2,400 posts between the East and Hudson Rivers on the southern part of the Island. 7 years later the Manhattan Gas Light Company made the same improvements to the northern part of the Island.

1870 - Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway - Alfred Ely Beach, who bought Scientific American, proposed a Pneumatic postal system and an underground railway to relieve traffic congestion since Broadway was extremely busy.  Beach came up with the idea of using a 300 ft. long pneumatic tube instead of electricity to propel cars and made a proposal for the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway. This was vehemently opposed by A.T. Stewart and John Jacob Astor. 

1871 - Moving Elevated Sidewalk in NYC - Alfred Speer (who sold wine) proposed a moving elevated sidewalk that would have cost 5 cents to alleviate congestion at his store. The proposal for the first "endless-travelling sidewalk" was patented and published in the Scientific American in 1871. 

1837 - Tiffany & Young, First Tiffany store - In 1837 Lewis Tiffany and John F Young used $1000 from Tiffany's father to open a stationery and 'fancy goods' store with fixed prices marked on the items for sale as Tiffany & Young.  They only accepted cash payments.

1892 - Abercrombie & Fitch - David Abercrombie founded A&F in 1892 as an upscale sporting goods store. Forming a partnership with Ezra Fitch, the company continued to expand in the new 20th century. After Abercrombie left the company, Fitch became sole owner and ushered in the "Fitch Years" of continued success. Shortly after his retirement, the company continued to develop under a succession of other leaders until its financial fall and closing in 1977.

1846 - A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Store - AT Stewart opened his first dry goods store with a $10,000 inheritance from his Irish grandfather. Stewart turned out to be a natural salesman.  The store became known for good prices and customer service.  Stewart became a millionaire after the Panic of 1837 when he was able to buy the inventory of other merchants who had financial reverses.

1900 - Broadway-Chambers Building - This building has the distinction of being Cass Gilbert’s first completed design in New York.   It was the first of several that Gilbert designed in the city including the US Customs House and the Woolworth Building. 

1771 - Society of the New York Hospital - In 1771, the Society of the New York Hospital was chartered by King George III for the "reception of such patients as require medical treatment, chirurgical management, and maniacs" becoming the second oldest hospital in the City after Bellevue.

1811 - New York City Hall - Aaron Burr promised Latrobe he would win the competition to design NY City Hall in 1802. But, Joseph Francois Magnin & John McComb Jr won the $350 prize, becoming the oldest continuously occupied City Hall in America since completed in 1811.

1815 - Governor's Room at City Hall - Since its completion in 1815-1816, the Governor's Room has served as a museum and reception hall celebrating the civic history of New York and the nation. Originally comprised of the central chamber only, the two side chambers were added in 1832 (west) and 1848-1849 (east). The Governor's Room houses one of the most important collections of late-18th- to mid-19th-Century American portraiture, including paintings by John Trumbull; historic furnishings, including pieces by Charles Christian and Honoré Lannuier; and other notable artifacts, such as the desk George Washington used as president while presiding in New York from 1789 to 1790.

1865 - Abraham Lincoln Lying in State in City Hall's Rotunda - The funeral cortege stopped in NY for 23 hours, long enough for 500,000 people to pass at the rate of 80 people per minute to view Abraham Lincoln Lying in State in City Hall's Rotunda.

1881 - Department of Street Cleaning - Sanitary Engineer George Waring who pioneered the separation of sewage and storm runoff waste forms the 1st sanitation department for NYC called the Department of Street Cleaning.

1894 - The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894 - The sanitation challenges caused by the 2.5 million lbs of manure daily and 60,000 gallons of urine from the City's more than 100,000 animals led to the First International Urban Planning Conference.

1898 - Municipal Art Commission - In response to the City Beautiful Movement, NY established a commission to regulate public art and architecture originally known as the Municipal Art Commission in 1898. The organization was renamed to the New York City Public Design Commission, legally known as the Art Commission. It is the agency of the New York City government that reviews permanent works of architecture, landscape architecture, and art proposed on or over city-owned property.

1934 - The New Deal - There were three major players in what was the most transformative periods in the shaping of New York City. Franklin Roosevelt in Washington who allocated what became $1.5 billion funding for municipal welfare and public works projects.  Fiorello La Guardia, NY's 99th Mayor who provided the reformist vision, and his commissioner, Robert Moses, who implemented the projects.

1872 - Tweed Courthouse - The Old New York County Courthouse, better known as Tweed Courthouse, is the legacy of Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed, who controlled the initial construction. Built over a period of twenty years, between 1861 and 1881, it is the product of two of New York’s most prominent nineteenth-century architects, John Kellum and Leopold Eidlitz. Grandly scaled and richly decorated, the courthouse retains its original spatial arrangement, including thirty monumental courtrooms and a five-story central rotunda. Under an accelerated time schedule, John G. Waite Associates, Architects (JGWA) restored a neglected, deteriorated 177,500 square foot courthouse for use by the New York City Department of Education. Recognizing the significance of the historic Tweed Courthouse, JGWA lobbied for its restoration and the responsible use of its interior spaces. JGWA worked with multiple civic entities throughout the restoration process to insure the project ran smoothly. An on-site office was created to expedite the design and construction process. As the first step in the restoration process, JGWA prepared a comprehensive feasibility study for the exterior and interior spaces, documenting existing conditions and recommending procedures for restoration. Utilizing recommendations from the study, the firm applied their profound knowledge of materials conservation and restoration and of nineteenth-century mechanical and structural systems, installing new lighting, security, HVAC, and fire system with only minimal intrusions on the historic spaces.

1852 - "Boss" Tweed elected - Tammany's control over the politics of New York City tightened considerably under Tweed. William Magear "Boss" Tweed's elevation to the head of the Tammany machine in 1852 and subsequent election to the US House of Representatives began one of the most extraordinary political careers of the 19th-century New York City and State. 

1894 - The Age of Bosses Ends at Tammany Hall - In 1894, Reverend Charles Parkhurst's City Vigilant League precipitated NY State to appoint State Senator Clarence Lexow to hold extensive hearings at what is now called the Lexow Committee, about corruption in the Police Department. This eventually led to the downfall of Tammany Hall.

1984 - Element #E from Five Brushstrokes - Roy Lichtenstein first began making scultural works in the early 60's just after his first exhibition of paintings at Leo Castelli Gallery. His first Pop sculptures were renderings of utilitarian objects and mannequin-style heads, both directly influenced by the representation of commercial techniques in his painting. As his career progressed. Lichtenstein's sculpture evolved with his painting. in the 1980's this convergence of media culminated in his monumental brushstroke sculptures. Evoking the movement and color of paint on canvas, these totem-like works suspend the artist's sweeping brushstrokes in midair, balancing one on top of the other in a dynamic sculptural spectacle. 'Element #E' - one of Lichetnstein's most ambitious brushstroke works, seen here for the first time - was fabricated by the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein for special loan to the City Hall Academy in the Dept of Education. More than 50 feet tall, this monumental sculpture is a painter's action ship, portraying the moment when a brush is drawn across the canvas in remarkable three-dimensional form.

1757 - New Gaol, turned Debtor's Prison, turned Provost Prison, turned Hall of Records - Construction began on the city's 1st jail in 1757.

1757 - Soldier's Barracks or The Upper Barracks - In October 1757, the New York Common Council authorized the construction of the Upper Barracks. It was to be a massive building: 420 feet long and 20 feet wide, consisting of two stories and enough space to sleep 800 men. Such a structure dwarfed anything else in the city; it was longer than a city block and twice as large as Trinity Church. The Committee for the Building of the New Barracks situated the barracks at what was then the northern edge of New York, placing them on the city common where Broadway split into roads leading to the suburbs of Greenwich Village and the Bowery. As carpenters set to work, the Upper Barracks claimed a privileged position in New York, placing the city under the watchful gaze of the British army.

1736 - 1st Lying In Hospital established - The Lying-In Hospital was established in 1799 as a ward at the first Almshouse by Dr. Valentine Seaman. The interest was so great that it was transferred to the NY Hospital.

1984 - Steve Flanders Square - Steve Flanders Square is named after Stephen C. “Steve” Flanders, an award-winning broadcast journalist who covered New York and national politics for more than four decades.

1890 - Nathan Hale (City Hall Park) - This graceful, 13-foot standing bronze figure, sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937), directly faces City Hall and honors the last moments of the 21-year-old American Revolution era spy, Nathan Hale (1755-1776).

1734 - John Peter Zenger's Sedition Trial - John Peter Zenger was a German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press.

1890 - Horace Greeley Statue (City Hall Park) - This statue commemorates Horace Greeley, longtime editor of the Tribune. The pedestal upon which the statue rests was designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Greeley established the New York Tribune in efforts to promote the Whig and Republican parties as well as opposition to slavery. In the 1872 presidential election, he was the candidate for the Liberal Republican party.

1954 - Joseph Pulitzer plaque - Joseph Pulitzer was a newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York. He crusaded against big business and corruption and helped keep the Statue of Liberty in New York.

1872 - Benjamin Franklin statue at Pace Plaza - This sculptural portrait of Franklin was commissioned as a gift to the City by Albert De Groot, a retired Hudson Valley steamboat captain. Park Row was for decades the center of New York’s publishing industry and newspaper businesses, and given Franklin’s activities as a printer of paper currency and publisher of newspapers and almanacs, the choice of location was particularly apt. DeGroot had earlier collaborated with Plassman on the creation of the Cornelius Vanderbilt statue (1869), which stands in the viaduct in front of Grand Central Terminal. This colossal bronze effigy depicts Franklin in 18th-century dress, holding a copy of the Philadelphia Gazette. A second casting may be viewed in the lobby of the High School of Graphic Communication Arts at 439 West 49th Street. On January 17, 1872, the 166th anniversary of Franklin’s birth, the statue was formally unveiled in a lavish ceremony in which artist and inventor Samuel F. Morse removed the shroud and newspaper publisher Horace Greeley delivered the keynote address. Charles C. Savage, speaking on behalf of the New York Typographical Society, commented: “It is appropriate that this statue should be erected in this centre of our trade, in the very midst of our craft-work, instead of in Central Park; for Franklin’s life was devoted to practical hard work, rather than to the ornamental and the recreative.” Today the sculpture stands in a small triangle, with Pace University as its backdrop. Having suffered from environmental corrosion, the statue was treated and restored by the Parks’ monuments crew on four occasions between the 1940s and the 1980s. In 1999 the City Parks Foundation Monuments Conservation Program, with funding from the Florence Gould Foundation, American Express Company, and Samuel H. Kress Foundation, conducted a complete conservation of the statue and its large granite pedestal. Today this portrait of an American icon, with renewed luster, maintains his watchful gaze over this crossroads of civic life.

1906 - Former New York Evening Post Building - Inspired by Vienna Secession, this 13-story limestone commercial building was built as a publishing house the the New York Evening Post. Estelle Rombold-Kohn and Gutzon Borglum sculpted the "Four Periods of Publicity" on the facade.

1833 - NY Sun started - Sold by newsboys hawking it on the street, the small format paper with stories devoted to local news, crime, scandal, and other topics of human interest, it soon had the largest circulation in the world

1897 - Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus - On Sept 21, an editorial in the NY Sun assures letter writer 8-year old Virginia O'Hanlon that there is a Santa Claus.

1860 - New York World Building - Potter erected a five-story Italianate stone building on the lot for $350,000 (equivalent to $10 million in 2020); it became the first headquarters of the New York World, which was established in 1860. Potter purchased the building outright in 1867.

1883 - The 'New Colossus' fundraising - As part of Joseph Pulitzer's fundraising campaign for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty; $100,000 was raised in 6 months - considered by many to be the 'first Kickstarter' campaign was a poem by Emma Lazarus The 'New Colossus' 

Nellie Bly's 72 day trip around the world - Reporter Nellie Bly became one of America's first investigative journalists, often working undercover.

1882 - Potter Building - The Potter Building was constructed with the most advanced fireproofing technologies available after the building previously on the site burned to the ground.

1875 - New York Tribune Building - Designed by Richard Morris Hunt who was the 1st American Architect to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts (and demolished in 1966), the tallest building in New York at 260 ft. is the New York Tribune Building   

1884 - Linotype Machine invented - New York Tribune used a new type of press for the 1st time to print its newspaper invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler 

1845 - Publication of Scientific American - Scientific American (informally abbreviated SciAm or sometimes SA) is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles to it. It is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States (though it only became monthly in 1921).

1877 - The Phonograph invented - Several inventors devised machines to record sound prior to Thomas Edison's phonograph, Edison being the first to invent a device that could both record and reproduce sound. 

1889 - Old New York Times Building (41 Park Row, Pace University) - The building is the oldest surviving structure of the former "Newspaper Row", and has been owned by and currently houses classrooms and offices of Pace University since 1951. 41 Park Row contains a facade of Maine granite at its lowest two stories, above which are rusticated blocks of Indiana Limestone. Vertical piers on the facade highlight the building's vertical axis. The facade also contains details such as reliefs, moldings, and colonettes. When completed, the building was 13 stories and contained a mansard roof; the roof was removed as part of a later expansion that brought the building to 16 stories.

1868 - The Revolution started - A Newspaper established by women's rights activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in NYC was titled The Revolution. 

1868 - The Working Women's Association founded - The Working Women's Association (WWA) was formed in New York City on September 17, 1868 in the offices of The Revolution, a women's rights newspaper established earlier that year by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Its stated purpose was to create "an association of working-women which might act for the interests of its members, in the same manner as the associations of workingmen now regulate the wages, etc., of those belonging to them." Shortly afterwards Anthony was seated as a delegate of the WWA at the annual congress of the National Labor Union (NLU), the first national labor federation in the U.S.

1869 - National women’s suffrage - The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement split over the proposed Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which would in effect extend voting rights to black men. One wing of the movement supported the amendment while the other, the wing that formed the NWSA, opposed it, insisting that voting rights be extended to all women and all African Americans at the same time.

1834 - New Yorker Staats-Zeitung founded - The New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, nicknamed "The Staats", claims to be the leading German-language weekly newspaper in the United States and is one of the oldest, having been published since the mid-1830s. In the late 19th century, it was one of New York City's major daily newspapers, exceeded in circulation only by the New York World and the New-York Tribune. Among other achievements, as of its sesquicentennial anniversary in 1984 it had never missed a publication date, thereby laying claim to the title of being continuously published longer than any other newspaper (of any language) in America.

1899 - Park Row Building (15 Park Row) - First commercial skyscrapers - Park Row Building RH Robertson designed one of the city's first commercial skyscrapers at 391 ft tall, Park Row Building.

1882 - New York Journal founded and burned - William Randolph Hearst purchased the NY Journal which began publishing sensational crime and sex stories as he built his newspaper chain rivalling Pulitzers in 1895.

1834 - Currier and Ives founded - A successful American printmaking firm based in New York City from 1835 to 1907 headed first by Nathaniel Currier, and later jointly with his partner James Merritt Ives. The prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints" and advertised its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people". The firm adopted the name "Currier and Ives" in 1857.

Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts - The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts is the principal theatre of Pace University and is located at the New York City campus in Lower Manhattan. Facing City Hall near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and blocks from the World Trade Center, it provides art facilities to the university and the general public.

1860 - Standard & Poor's founded - Henry Poor's collection of financial data for his History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States of America,led to the formation of a company to that publish information on stocks and bonds which grows into Standard & Poor's.

1858 - Harper's Building - The company changed its name to "Harper & Brothers" in 1833. The headquarters of the publishing house were located at 331 Pearl Street, facing Franklin Square in Lower Manhattan (about where the Manhattan approach to the Brooklyn Bridge lies today). Harper & Brothers began publishing Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1850. The brothers also published Harper's Weekly (starting in 1857), Harper's Bazar (starting in 1867), and Harper's Young People (starting in 1879). George B. M. Harvey became president of Harper's on Nov. 16, 1899. Harper's New Monthly Magazine ultimately became Harper's Magazine, which is now published by the Harper's Magazine Foundation. Harper's Weekly was absorbed by The Independent (New York; later Boston) in 1916, which in turn merged with The Outlook in 1928. Harper's Bazar was sold to William Randolph Hearst in 1913 and is now Bazaar, published by the Hearst Corporation. In 1924, Cass Canfield joined Harper & Brothers and held a variety of executive positions until his death in 1986. In 1925, Eugene F. Saxton joined the company as an editor, and he was responsible for publishing many well-known authors, including Edna St. Vincent Millay and Thornton Wilder. In 1935, Edward Aswell moved to Harper & Brothers as an assistant editor of general books and eventually became editor-in-chief. Aswell persuaded Thomas Wolfe to leave Scribner's, and, after Wolfe's death, edited the posthumous novels The Web and the Rock, You Can't Go Home Again, and The Hills Beyond. n 1962 Harper & Brothers merged with Row, Peterson & Company to become Harper & Row. Marshall Pickering was bought by Harper and Row in 1988. Marshall Pickering itself was formed in 1981 from two long-established Christian publishers. Marshall Morgan and Scott, a London-based predominantly Baptist publishing house, which had acquired a number of publishing companies over the years, such as Bagsters (Bible publishers since 1794) and Oliphants. Pickering and Inglis was a long established Glasgow-based publisher, publishing largely for the non-conformist church in Scotland with many Brethren publications.. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired Harper & Row in 1987, and William Collins & Sons in 1990. The names of these two national publishing houses (Harper & Row in the United States and Collins in Britain) were combined (along with the Harper's torch icon and Collins' fountain icon) to create HarperCollins, which has since expanded its international reach with further acquisitions of formerly independent publishers. The Harper imprint began being used in place of HarperCollins in 2007. The tensile strength of cast iron ushered in a new style of building in New York, making possible numerous windows and narrow supporting elements. The façade became virtually permeable, with big, inviting display windows that seemed to dissolve the boundary between street and shop. In 1858 architect and inventor James Bogardus, whose name has become synonymous with cast-iron architecture, wrote that he wanted to emulate the “rich architectural designs of antiquity in modern times, by the aid of cast iron.” His best-known structure, the Harper & Brothers building at Franklin Square on Pearl Street, with its Italianate columns and arches, gives the impression of modernity while evoking the legitimacy of the past.

1850 - Harper's New Monthly Magazine founded - The first edition of 7500 is published by Harpers New Monthly Magazine. On November 2, 1867, Harper’s Bazaar became the first fashion magazine published in the United States. 

1867 - Harper's Bazaar founded - Harpers Bazaar Editor Mary Louise Booth launched America's first magazine to showcase European fashion to middle and upper-class women

1905 - Mark Twain's 70th Birthday Dinner - Hosted by George Harvey, Harpers Editor; the Magazine publishes a 32 page Christmas supplement covering the banquet.

1867 - Brooklyn Bridge - The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. At the time of its completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world spanning 1596 ft. and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1867. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

2006 - 350,000 stale crackers found under the Brooklyn Bridge - Workers found a stockpile of water drums, medical supplies, gauze bandages left over from the Cold War in a cavernous room under the Brooklyn Bridge's main entrance ramp, while performing a regular structural inspection including 350,000 stale crackers.

1817 - 1st Modern Fire Hydrant - The 1st Modern Fire Hydrant was placed in front of fireman George B Smith's house; due to design flaws, it didn't work very well

1850 - The Hole in the Wall Bar - A popular saloon and underworld hangout in what is now the South Street Seaport, Manhattan, New York City during the early to mid-19th century. It has been described as the "most notorious" saloon in New York City during the 19th century.

1906 - Pace University - A private university with its main campus in New York City. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school.

2002 - Setting the Pace - This is a sculpture of a police dog in brilliant blue with geometric motifs on his back.

2010 - 8 Spruce Street - A notable addition to the downtown skyline with its undulating curtain wall, 8 Spruce Street, previously known as the Beekman Tower and New York by Gehry, is a 76-story skyscraper rises to 867 feet in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. 8 Spruce Street is one of the tallest residential towers in the world, and it was the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere at the time of opening in February 2011. It contains a public elementary school owned by the Department of Education. Above that and grade-level retail, the tower contains over 900 apartments. The skyscraper's structural frame is made of reinforced concrete, and form-wise it falls within the architectural style of Deconstructivism along with Aqua, a skyscraper in Chicago begun after but completed before 8 Spruce.

Spruce Street School, PS 397 - Swanke Hayden Connell Architects designed the new 100,000 gross s/f Spruce Street Educational Campus. Built for the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), this Primary/Intermediate School is built within the podium of a new Frank Gehry designed 76-story residential tower and accommodates 648 students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Challenges stem from composing the school within larger mixed-use iconic tower, balancing its needs and requirements within the tower. Swanke worked closely with FCRC & A/E tower team to meet the needs of the SCA, for the school. By incorporating curvilinear forms within the volume in both the vertical and horizontal planes, the design respects the tower's unusual form. The "Main Street" walls at the interior are subtly shaped in curvilinear forms to contrast with the smooth rectilinear walls of the classrooms, thus serves to activate the corridors. The stadium-style auditorium creates a dynamic form in section, which creates a striking double-height school lobby entry at the Ground Floor with a curvilinear sloped ceiling flowing into the cafeteria seating area.

1881 - Beekman Hotel and Residences - It is composed of the interconnected 10-story, 150-foot-tall (46 m) Temple Court Building and Annex (also known as Temple Court) and a 51-story, 687-foot-tall (209 m) condominium tower called the Beekman Residences, which contains 68 residential units. The 287-unit Beekman Hotel is split between all three structures.

2019 - One Beekman Place - One Beekman is rising at the intersection of Park Row and Beekman Street diagonally across from City Hall Park.

1971 - Former J&R - In 1971, 20-year-old newlyweds Joseph and Rachelle Friedman (emigrating separately from Israel as young children) started J&R as a small consumer electronics store selling stereos and television sets in a 500 square foot store front at 33 Park Row.

2019 - 25 Park Row - A 49-Story Art Deco-inspired tower with 110 residences. Dramatic façade features cascading loggias, Juliet balconies, oversized casement-style windows and fluted columns. Grand curvilinear 24-hour attended lobby features terrazzo flooring with metal trim detail and fluted paneling.

1857 - Toilet Paper Invented - Joseph C. Gayetty, sold flat sheets of commercially produced "Medicated Paper for the WC"  for the fairly expensive price of 1,000 sheets for a dollar out of his shop which becomes Toilet Paper.

1914 - Municipal Building - Home to thirteen of NYC’s municipal agencies, the Municipal Building is one of the city’s most imposing presences, with an influence on civic architecture that reached as far as Stalinist Russia. Its tower is topped by Adolph Weinman’s statue “Civic Fame” and its grandly proportioned arch frames a tunnel once traversed by Chambers Street traffic.

1913 - Civic Fame - As the largest statue in Manhattan, at 2,800 square feet and set on top of the forty-story Municipal Building, Civic Fame is supported by an interior skeleton of steel and copper branches meant to withstand wind and storm. The figure was assembled, similarly to the Statue of Liberty, in many separate sheets of copper and then fused together to create a smooth, seamless surface. Adolph Alexander Weinman's 25' tall gilded figure of Audrey Munson, who was an American artist's model and film actress, today considered "America's First Supermodel." In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Pacific Girl", the "Exposition Girl" and "American Venus." She was the model or inspiration for more than twelve statues in New York City, and many others elsewhere. Munson was also the first American actress to appear fully nude in the film, Inspiration (1915), the first of her four silent films. It was commissioned by New York City at a cost of $9,000 (equivalent to $233,000 in 2019). The crown also includes dolphins as a symbol of "New York's maritime setting".

1974 - Five in One (5 in 1) - As its name suggests, Rosenthal's "Five in One" contains five interlocking circles that represent the five Boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Although the artist intended for the work to be painted bright red, a lack of funds caused it to be originally created with the exposed cor-ten steel on the exterior. Throughout the decades, however, graffiti plagued the sculpture. Years later, money was raised to paint the work a brilliant red hue, which both protected the sculpture and completed Rosenthal's original vision.

1763 - Sugar House Prison Window - Originally built to store molasses, Sugar Houses in New York City were used as prisons by occupying British forces during the American Revolutionary War. Out of 2,600 prisoners of war captured during the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776, 1,900 would die in the following months at makeshift prisons throughout the city. At least 17,500 are estimated to have perished under substandard conditions of such sugar houses and British prison ships over the course of the war, more than double the number of killed from battle.

1924 - WNYC - Today, WNYC Radio, 93.9 FM and 820 AM, is the most listened-to public radio station in the United States. With extraordinary support from listeners, corporations and foundations WNYC Radio is now independent of city government having paid for its broadcast licenses. WNYC is a member station of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI). WNYC's history of providing innovative and award-winning news, educational, cultural and public affairs programming reflects the enormous diversity and cultural depth of the New York metropolitan area. With the launch of wnyc.org in 1998, the station extends its virtual community internationally.

1904 - IRT City Hall Station - In 1868 a new method for building subway tunnels used a retaining wall to allow construction without damaging roadways and buildings was called Shield Method. 

1913 - BMT Chambers Street Station - One of New York City's first BMT stations. At one time it was envisioned as the hub of the system, but now a lack of renovation is conspicuous enough to have made a negative impression on passengers.

1907 - Surrogate's Court - Hall of Records - Exemplifying the ideals of the “City Beautiful” movement, this opulent Parisian courthouse was originally built as a storage facility for the city’s records. Statues on the exterior, by Philip Martiny and Henry Kirk Bush-Brown, depict various allegorical figures such as Law and Philosophy, as well as prominent features of New York history.

Municipal Archives of the City of New York - The New York City Department of Records and Information Services, through its Municipal Archived and Municipal Reference and Research Center, both located at 31 Chambers Street, provides the public with extensive historical and contemporary information about the city. The mission of the Archives is to preserve and make available the historically valuable records created by the government of the City of New York. Established in 1950, its collections date back to 1647, and comprise approximately 100,000 cubic feet of manuscript material, office records, photographs, moving images, vital records, sound recordings, and architectural maps. The Municipal Reference and Research Center is New York City's official depository for all official reports and studies. Established in 1913, its resources include annual and special reports of city agencies, budgets and other financial materials, minutes and prceedings of City boards and legislative bodies, biographical files, clippings and pamphlets, biographies of city and state officials, neighborhood files, annotated street name index, rules and regulations of city agencies and materials related to civil service.

1908 - Surrogate Court Roof and Facade Sculptures - Notable sculptors, Philip Martiny and Henry Kirk Bush-Brown, created the 54 sculptures on the facade which gives it the distinction of having the most sculptures adorning it than any other in the city. 

1911 - New York in Infancy and New York in Revolution - The New York of Infancy wears a crown; this alludes to colonial rule and control of the British. A Native American and a Dutchman stand to her left and right. The New York in Revolution wears a liberty cap, which signifies the struggle for freedom. She is flanked by a Military man and a female settler.

Four Seasons - Henry Kirke Bush-Brown and Philip Martiny produced the 54 sculptures on the exterior of the Surrogate Court Building. The sculptures represent allegorical subjects such as Philosophy, Law, and the Four Seasons.

1908 - Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank - The building was the largest bank building in the US a when it was completed.  It was also the first Beaux-Arts skyscraper to be designed in an H-shape, giving light to almost all the offices.

1741 - New York Conspiracy of 1741 - In a panicked response to a series of fires at the Governor's Mansion, Chapel and army barracks, officials executed 30 slaves and 4 whites.

1799 - An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed - New York laws of 1799, an act for the gradual abolition of slavery, specifying that children born to a slave mother after July 4, 1799 were declared legally free--but not until male children had turned 28, and females 25. 

2007 - African Burial Ground National Monument - An African Burial Ground was established in 1690, eventually containing 15000 graves of free and enslaved Africans; it was rediscovered in 1991 when construction was beginning on the Federal Building.

2006 - Circle of the Diaspora - In 1991, a burial ground was discovered during the course of excavation to build a new federal courthouse. Most of the remains were exhumed, but more than 400 were ceremoniously reinterred in October 2003. This memorial commemorates the lives of 20,000 enslaved Africans who were laid to rest in the Civic Center area in the 17th and 18th centuries. It reads, "For all those who were lost / For all those who were stolen / For all those who were left behind / For all those who are not forgotten."

1994 - Foley Square Federal Office Building - Designed by Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, was designed to be among the most energy-efficient buildings in its class.

1963 - GSA Arts in Architecture - The GSA Art in Architecture Program oversees the commissioning of artworks for new federal buildings nationwide. These artworks enhance the civic meaning of federal architecture and showcase the vibrancy of American visual arts.

2003 - Unearthed - This piece, made of finished bronze with patina, is made by Frank Bender, a sculptor renowned for his work on forensic facial identifications. Bender used human remains discovered in an African Burial Ground in 1991 and selected three skulls to work with. Said Bender, "I held the eldest woman's skull in my hands and felt that she had endured the most. The younger woman with the bandana had been shot in the back. The young man in the background, the youngest and tallest of the three, is rising for a hope-filled future. The three hands joined together in the earth convey the idea that "we are all one in death."

1998 - Africa Rising - Commissioned by the US General Services Administration's Art in Architecture Program.

1994 - New Ring Shout - This public art installation commemorates the 18th century African Burial Ground, partially excavated in 1992. In the tradition of world ceremonial markings, it features a forty foot diameter illuminated terrazzo and polished brass "dance" floor and is designed as a tribute to the thousands of Africans, Indians and Europeans buried there. Commissioned by the US General Services Administration's Art in Architecture Program

1995 - American Song - Commissioned by the US General Service Administration's Art in Architecture Program.

1994 - Roger Brown 'Untitled' Mosaic - This work is a mosaic that depict hexagonal skulls that merge into heads toward the top of the scene. The work is sited near a historic site: New York's African Burial Ground. In the 18th century, this space was the burial site for 10 to 20 thousand enslaved African Americans and working class citizens. It was discovered centuries later. Along with paying homage to those who were laid to rest on this site, Brown also remembers those who lost their lives to AIDS in his iconography.

1999 - Triumph of the Human Spirit - The monument Triumph of the Human Spirit is one of the world's largest site-specific installations, venerating the experience of African American enslavement. Towering at over fifty feet and weighing more than 300 tons, the massive black granite sculpture was built on a rediscovered African burial ground. The sculpture depicts an abstract female antelope form, mounted on a boat shaped base. According to the artist, the piece is inspired by "Chi Wara" an antelope effigy from Mali, West Africa that symbolizes a responsibility for continuing the next generation and for celebrating a successful harvest. Triumph of the Human Spirit serves as a monument to honor all Africans brought to America but is also dedicated to all ancestors as well as the future generations to come.

2000 - History of Foley Square - Within the Thomas Paine Park in lower Manhattan rests the historic Foley Square. Renovated and redesigned in the 1990s, architect R.G. Roesch laid five large bronze medallions (each seven feet in diameter) into the ground throughout the park, designed by Rebecca Darr and fabricated by Gregg Lefevre. The Foley Medallions were dedicated in 2000.

1933 - Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse - One of the last buildings by the elder Cass Gilbert, this courthouse combines a monumental portico with a tower topped by terra cotta and gold leaf, recalling the designs of Gilbert’s nearby Woolworth and New York Life buildings.

1994 - Foley Square Courthouse - This 27-story Federal courthouse is adjacent to Guy Lowell's Municipal Courthouse and across from Cass Gilbert's U.S. Courthouse tower. The building matches the height of Lowell Courthouse, houses two lobbies, a jury selection room, support space, cafeteria, auditorium, and a ceremonial court under a vaulted roof. The tower, which aligns with Gilbert's courthouse, contains 42 courtrooms and judge’s chambers. A public plaza was created adjacent to the Lowell Courthouse. The modern design takes cues from the rhythm of the surrounding, classically-styled civic structures and keeping the same datum lines, material palettes and points of reference for the new structure.

1951 - Trial of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg - American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple was accused of providing top-secret information about radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs; at that time the United States was the only country in the world with nuclear weapons. Convicted of espionage in 1951, they were executed by the federal government of the United States in 1953 in the Sing Sing correctional facility in Ossining, New York.

2004 - Martha Stewart Convicted - According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Stewart avoided a loss of $45,673 by selling all 3,928 shares of her ImClone Systems stock on December 27, 2001, after receiving material, nonpublic information from Peter Bacanovic, who was Stewart's broker at Merrill Lynch. The day following her sale, the stock value fell 16%.

2011 - Raj Rajaratnam Convicted - Convicted on all counts of fraud and conspiracy making it the biggest insider trading trial in Wall Street's history is hedge fund founder

2009 - Bernie Madoff Convicted - The trial begins for the perpetrator of the largest financial fraud in US History totalling over $65 billion, 

1913 - New York State Supreme Court - Originally built as the New York County Court, which moved from the Tweed Courthouse in 1927. It was replaced by the New York State Supreme Court. The classical Roman hexagonal courthouse is fronted by a massive Corinthian colonnade supporting an elaborately decorated pediment.

1932 - Benjamin Cardoza appointed - In 1932, President Herbert Hoover appointed appointed Cardozo to the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.  Cardozo was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate on February 24. The New York Times said of Cardozo's appointment that "seldom, if ever, in the history of the Court has an appointment been so universally commended."

1924 - New York County Courthouse Pedimental Sculpture - Frederick Warren Allen was the winner of the competition to sculpt the pediment for the New York County Courthouse. Because pediment sculpting was challenging due to the triangular shape of the space, Allen was chosen for his ability to sculpt full-sized figures in the cramped corners. Allen's classical, yet contemporary depiction of the figures mirror the inscription written on the building below: "The true administration of justice is the finest pillar of good government."

1911 - Authority and Justice - These larger-than-life statues are carved from granite and are located near the rear entrance to the New York County Courthouse. The figures personify Authority and Justice.

1969 - Jacob K. Javits Federal Building - The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan houses many federal government agencies.

1981 - Tilted Arc - Removed after a lengthy and very public battle and court case pitting Richard Serra against the GSA over artists rights to their installed 'site-specific' works.  

1969 - Jacob Javits Plaza - Located in the heart of New York City's civic center, the Jacob Javits Plaza (a.k.a. Federal Plaza) is at the intersection of several diverse communities. The one acre plaza of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building at Foley Square serves both as an open-air entryway to the building and as a public park drawing users from the nearby residential neighborhoods of Tribeca, Chinatown, and Battery Park City.

Manhattan Detention Complex - Manhattan House of Detention was closed by Federal Judge Morris E Lasker  in 1974 because of its poor conditions and replaced by the Manhattan Detention Complex. Also known as the Tombs.

1873 - William Sharkey's Escape - Convicted murderer and politician escaped from the Tombs dressed as a woman and fled to Cuba.

1848 - James Bogardus Factory - The first complete cast-iron building in America. In 1848 he began work on his own cast-iron-fronted factory, at Centre and Duane Streets (which is no longer standing). Even before it was finished, he began getting commissions. 

1811 - Collect Pond - The Collect Pond or Fresh Water Pond was a body of fresh water in what is now Chinatown, lower Manhattan in New York City. For the first two centuries of European settlement in Manhattan, it was the main water supply for the growing city. The former pond became the site of a jail and is now a city park, Collect Pond Park.

Tea Water Pump - New York’s love of tea began in the 17th century, when the Dutch imported it to the colony.

1776 - First Reservoir in Manhattan - First Reservoir built when the population reached 22,000; water was pumped from Collect Pond through pipes made of hollow logs in the main streets.

1977 - Thomas Paine Park in Foley Square - In 1977, through the initiative of City Council President Paul O'Dwyer, the Council renamed the parcel at New York's center of law and justice Thomas Paine Park. 

1896 - Abraham De Peyster Statue - Commissioned in the late 1800s by one of De Peyster’s great-great-great-grandsons, the seated solemn figure was created by the sculptor George Edwin Bissell. But no sooner had work begun on a foundation for the statue in Battery Park than it became the target of criticism and the city had to look for a new location.

Five Points - Five Points named for the intersection of the five streets over landfill that was old Collect Pond; houses built on the top of the site began sinking almost immediately due to decomposition and methane gas buildup.

Mulberry Bend - Mulberry Bend was one of the worst parts of the Five Points, with multiple back alleyways such as Bandit's Roost, Bottle Alley and Ragpickers Row. In 1897, due in part to the efforts of Danish photojournalist Jacob Riis, Mulberry Bend was demolished and turned into Mulberry Bend Park. The urban green space was designed by Calvert Vaux. In 1911 it was renamed Columbus Park.

The Women at Five Points - Multiple criminal gangs have come and gone from New York City. These gangs also had female members, some of whom were notorius fighters.

1842 - Charles Dickens publishes American Notes - Five Points was located in the “Bloody Ould Sixth” ward, where, reputedly, a murder per night was perpetrated. Drenched in “poverty, wretchedness and vice,” the home to America’s first urban underclass, the squalid warrens and streets of Five Points were “loathsome, drooping and decayed,” and its “hideous tenements . . . take their name from robbery and murder.” When Dickens—in the company of two policemen—climbed to the attic of one of the “leprous houses,” debauched, half-awakened creatures crawled from their corners “as if the judgment hour were at hand and every obscene grave giving up its dead.” Dickens mordantly noted that “where dogs would howl to lie, women, men, and boys slink off to sleep, forcing the dislodged rats to move away in quest of better lodgings.” Dickens found Five Points “in respect of filth and wretchedness” the peer of St. Giles and its Seven Dials, among the vilest rookeries of his native London.

1840 - Tap Dancing invented - Master Juba often performed at the Almacks a new dance step merging the step dancing from the Irish Indentured Servants (step dancing) and African Americans from the West Indies (Juba dancing). His real name was believed to be Willian Henry Lane. He was also known as "Boz's Juba" following Dickens's graphic description of him in American Notes.

1891 - Electric Tattooing Machine Invented - Samuel F O'Reilly adapted Thomas Edison's electric engraving pen to draw designs in skin at his barbershop.

2002 - Gangs of New York Movie - Martin Scorsese's film depiction of the Five Points gangs starring Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo Di Caprio opens.