Sunday, March 25, 2012

Governor's Island - New York City

                                                        Castle William postcard 1907


Governors Island is a 172 acres (70 ha) island in Upper New York Harbor, approximately one-half mile (1 km) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The island was expanded by approximately 82 acres (33 ha) of landfill on its southern side when the Lexington Avenue subway was excavated in the early 1900s.

First named by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block (who Block Island, RI is named after), it was called Noten Eylant (and later in pidgin language Nutten Island) from 1611 to 1784. The island's current name—made official eight years after the 1776 Declaration of Independence stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.

Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, and fired upon British ships before falling into enemy hands. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard installation.

Fort Jay, started as a square four bastioned fort of earthworks and timber started in 1794 by the state of New York on the site of the earlier earthworks. The sandstone gate house topped with a sculpture of an eagle dates to that time and is the oldest structure on the island. From 1806 to 1809, Fort Jay, by then renamed Fort Columbus was reconstructed in more substantial brick and granite (giving the fort its current five pointed star appearance) to better protect the fort's north face facing Manhattan and to better direct cannon fire on to the East and Hudson Rivers.

The second fortification started in 1807 and completed in November 1811, was Castle Williams. Located on a rocky shoal at the northwest corner of the island, it was a circular fortification featuring a pioneering new design that could project a 220 degree circular arc of cannon fire from a three levels of casemates (bomb-proof rooms holding two cannons each) from 103 cannons on its three levels and roof.

During the American Civil War, , Castle Williams held Confederate prisoners of war and Fort Jay held captured Confederate officers and spies. After the war, Castle Williams was used as a military prison.

On January 19, 2001, Fort Jay and Castle Williams, two of the island's three historical fortifications were proclaimed a National Monument. On January 31, 2003, 150 acres of the island was transferred to the State of New York for a nominal fee of $1. The remaining (22 acres or 9 ha) was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior as the Governors Island National Monument, administered by the National Park Service.

The national historic landmark district, approximately 92 acres (37 ha) of the northern half of the island, is open to the public for several months in the summer and early fall. Additionally the circumferential drive around the island is also open to the public.
Wilber Wright 1909, took off from Governor's Island

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Lower East Side NYC

In 1888 a Russian immigrant family established a delicatessen in New York's Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, (often abbreviated as LES), is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street.

Originally, the "Lower East Side" referred to the area alongside the East River from about the Manhattan Bridge and Canal Street up to 14th Street, and roughly bounded on the west by Broadway.. It included areas known today as East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Bowery, Little Italy, and NoLita.

One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been a lower-class worker neighborhood and often a poor and ethnically diverse section of New York. As well as Irish, Italians, Polish, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups, it once had a sizeable German population and known as Little Germany (Kleindeutschland).

The Lower East Side is perhaps best known as having once been a center of Jewish culture. The Lower East Side is especially remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings in contemporary American Jewish culture. Vestiges of the area's Jewish heritage exist in shops on Hester Street and Essex Street and on Grand Street near Pike. There is still an Orthodox Jewish community with yeshiva day schools and a mikvah. A few Judaica shops can be found along Essex Street.

Sunday thru Thursday is the best time to tour this neighborhood due to the Sabbath.

Landmarks of the Jewish Lower East Side:
·         The Educational Alliance Settlement house – 175 East Broadway at Jefferson Street
·         Henry Street Settlement – 263–267 Henry Street and 466 Grand Street
·         University Settlement House 184 Eldridge Street
·         Katz's Deli – 205 E. Houston Street
·         Guss' Pickles – 87 Orchard Street
·         Kossar's Bialys – 367 Grand Street
·         Gertle's Bake Shop – 53 Hester Street- Moved to Brooklyn, opened as a Catering business
·         Knickerbocker Village – 10 Monroe Street
·         Streit Matzo Co. – 150 Rivington Street
·         Yonah Shimmel's Knish Bakery – 137 E. Houston Street
·         Russ & Daughters – 179 E. Houston Street
·         Schapiro's Kosher Wine – Essex Street Market

Synagogues:

Eldridge Street Synagogue

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Brooklyn Dodgers Brooklyn's Home Team before the Cyclones


Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. (October 29, 1859–April 18, 1925) was a sports executive who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1902 to 1925. Ebbets started with the Dodgers as a bookkeeper in 1883 and became a shareholder in 1890. He took an active role in marketing the sport to families and took over team operations in 1898. He also managed the Dodgers that year and the team finished tenth.

Ned Honlon, the owner and manager of the Baltimore Orioles, bought some of the remaining stock in the Dodgers after the 1898 season and took the best Baltimore players to the Brooklyn team. The Dodgers won pennants in both 1899 and 1900. In 1905, Hanlon wanted to move the team to Baltimore, but Ebbets bought out his shares.

In 1912, construction began, and a year later, Pigtown had been transformed into Ebbets Field, where some of the game's greatest drama would take place. Following an inter-league exhibition game against the New York Yankees on April 5, 1913, the park formally opened on April 9 against the Philadelphia Phillies When the park was opened, it was discovered that the flag, keys to the bleachers, and a press box had all been forgotten. The press box was not added until 1929. Initially the seating area was a double deck from past third base, around home plate, and all the way down the right side. There was an open, concrete bleacher extending the rest of the way down the left side to the outer wall. There was no seating in left or center. The right field wall was fairly high due to the short foul line (around 300 feet) but had no screen or scoreboard at first. The ballpark was built on a sloping piece of ground. The right field wall made up the difference, as the right field corner was above street level. The left field corner was below street level, and there was an incline or "terrace" running along the left field wall. As was the case of Boston's Fenway park and Detroit's Tiger Stadium (two ballparks that opened one year earlier, in 1912), the intimate configuration prompted some baseball writers to refer to Ebbets Field as a "cigar box" or a "bandbox." They won the 1955 World Series (the only world title in Brooklyn Dodgers history),

Ebbets died of heart failure at age 65 in New York City and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Timeline of Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. with the Brooklyn Dodgers

  • 1883 Bookkeeper
  • 1898 President and manager
  • 1899 Won pennant
  • 1900 Won pennant
  • 1912 Ebbets Field built
  • 1916 Won pennant
  • 1920 Won pennant

Friday, March 9, 2012

Titanic and the International Mercantile Marine Company


The debris map of the Titanic was finally released showing the areas around the bow and stern sections. White Star Line claimed that God Himself could not sink the great luxury liner when she foundered on  April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg. The famous writer William T.  Stead published two pieces that gained greater significance in light of his fate on the Titanic. On 22 March 1886, he published an article named "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor", where a steamer collides with another ship, with high loss of life due to lack of lifeboats. Stead had added "This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats". In 1892, Stead published a story called From the Old World to the New, in which a vessel, the Majestic, rescues survivors of another ship that collided with an iceberg. The largest of the first class cabins aboard the ship was which John Jacob Astor occupied was originally reserved by J.P. Morgan owner of the International Mercantile Marine Company which was the trust that owned the RMS Titanic.
The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade. The end result was heavy losses for Morgan.
IMM was founded by shipping magnates J. Bruce Ismay of the White Star Line, Clement Griscom of the American Line and Red Star Line, Bernard N. Baker of the Atlantic Transport Line, and John Ellerman of the Leyland Line. The Dominion Line was also amalgamated. The project was bankrolled by J.P. Morgan & Company, led by financier J.P. Morgan. The trust caused great concern in the British shipping industry and led directly to the British government's subsidy of the Cunard Line's new ships RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania in an effort to compete. However, IMM dramatically overpaid to acquire some of the amalgamated companies, due to overestimation of potential profits.
IMM was a holding company that controlled subsidiary corporations that had their own subsidiaries. Morgan hoped to dominate transatlantic shipping through interlocking directorates and contractual arrangements with the railroads, but that proved impossible because of the nature of sea transport,  American antitrust legislation, and an agreement with the British government. One of IMM's subsidiaries was the White Star Line, which owned the RMS Titanic.
The early 1910s marked a turning point for the IMM. Indeed, on April 15, 1912, the Titanic, flagship of its fleet, sank during her maiden voyage. Besides the financial and human losses, the sinking had repercussions on the organization of the trust. Through the American commission of inquiry devoted to the sinking, Senator William Alden Smith openly attacked the very principle of the company and J.P. Morgan. As had been arranged before Titanic sank, J. Bruce Ismay retired as president of IMM in 1913. In 1934 the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish the Queen Mary and to build a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth, on the condition that Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star Line to form Cunard White-Star Ltd. Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947; the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

NYC's Maritime Community - South Street Seaport



Coming a Merchant Marine family, I have always had a personal and spiritual connection to the South Street Seaport. As a youth, to the present day I have felt more at home in this section of New York City than any other. A visit to the South Street Seaport is to step back in time and see what made New York City the business center of the world.
The Titanic memorial tower that once sat on top of the Seaman's Church Institute and marked noon to the ships in New York Harbor marks the entrance to the South Street Seaport Historic District. This 19th century waterfront survives almost intact, looking as it did when the great sailing ships had their massive bow spreads hanging over South Street and commerce took place in the streets and trading houses. These buildings share in the legacy of the sailing traditions of NYC and what made it one of the wealthiest cities in the country. A sense of the district’s gritty and boisterous past as New York City’s wholesale fish market also lingers in some of the area’s oldest commercial buildings. These brick and stone structures also have historic ties to the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the piers.

The Seaport district has long been a laboratory in which historic preservation has taken place alongside development. The South Street Seaport Museum was founded in the 1960's; an exacting restoration of Schermerhorn Row took place in the 1970's. The heart of the seaport community built in 1811-1812 is the only serving block of Georgian-Federal style and Greek Revival commercial structures in New York City; Pier 17 was developed in the 1980's by The Rouse Company; and mixed-use preservation and development has been underway along Front Street in recent years. Each project has explored new designs while drawing on the visual richness of the Seaport’s historic and natural environments.

The historic buildings west of the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Drive have stood for more than a century. East of the FDR, stands the historic Tin Building. The 1907 structure was once a thriving marketplace where the city’s fish was imported and processed. It originally stood at water’s edge, prior to the construction of the current Pier 17 building. A fire in 1995 all but destroyed the 55,000-square-foot building, leaving it vacant today, and awaiting for restoration.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher - "He thinketh no evil"


Thousands of worshipers flocked to Beecher's enormous Plymouth Church which still stands today in Brooklyn Heights. Abraham Lincoln, said of Beecher that no one in history had "so productive a mind". Mark Twain went to see Beecher in the pulpit and described the pastor sawing his arms in the air, howling sarcasms this way and that, discharging rockets of poetry and exploding mines of eloquence, halting now and then to stamp his foot three times in succession to emphasize a point."

Beecher himself had this to say of his preaching style: "From the beginning, I educated myself to speak along the line and in the current of my moral convictions; and though, in later days, it has carried me through places where there were some batterings and bruisings, yet I have been supremely grateful that I was led to adopt this course. I would rather speak the truth to ten men than blandishments and lying to a million.

Beecher obtained the chains with which John Brown had been bound, trampling them in the pulpit, and he also held mock 'auctions' at which the congregation purchased the freedom of real slaves," according to the Web site of the still-existing Plymouth Church. The most famous of these former slaves was a young girl named Pinky, auctioned during a regular Sunday worship service at Plymouth on February 5, 1860. A collection taken up that day raised $900 to buy Pinky from her owner. A gold ring was also placed in the collection plate, and Beecher presented it to the girl to commemorate her day of liberation. Pinky returned to Plymouth in 1927 at the time of the Church's 80th Anniversary to give the ring back to the Church with her thanks. Today, Pinky's ring and bill of sale can still be viewed at Plymouth."

His career took place during what one scholar has called the Protestant Century," according to Kazin, "when an eloquent preacher could be a celebrity, the leader of one or more reform movements and a popular philosopher — all at the same time."

Muscular and long-haired, the preacher was close to a series of attractive young women, but his wife, Eunice, the mother of his 10 children, was "unloved."

In the highly publicized scandal known as the Beecher-Tilton Affair he was tried on charges that he had committed adultery with a friend's wife, Elizabeth Tilton. On July 4, 1870, Elizabeth had confessed to her husband, Theodore Tilton, that she had had a relationship with Henry Ward Beecher. Tilton was then fired from his job at the Independent  (a leading religious newspaper) because of his editor's fears of adverse publicity. Theodore and Henry both pressured Elizabeth to recant her story, which she did, in writing.

The charges became public when Theodore Tilton told Elizabeth Cady Stanton of his wife's confession. Stanton repeated the story to fellow women's rights leaders Victoria Woodhull and Isabella Beecher Hooker.

Henry Ward Beecher had publicly denounced Woodhull's advocacy of free love. She published a story in her paper the Revolution (Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly) on November 2, 1872, claiming that America's most renowned clergyman was secretly practicing the free-love doctrines which he denounced from the pulpit. The story created a national sensation. As a result, Woodhull was arrested in New York City and imprisoned for sending obscene material through the mail. The Plymouth Church held a board of inquiry and exonerated Beecher, but excommunicated Mr. Tilton in 1873.

Tilton then sued Beecher: the trial began in January 1875, and ended in July, after 112 days captivating the City of Brooklyn and the nation in the newspapers. When the jurors deliberated for six days they were unable to reach a verdict. Eunice loyally supported Beecher throughout the ordeal.

A second board of enquiry was held at Plymouth Church and this body also exonerated Beecher. Two years later, Elizabeth Tilton once again confessed to the affair and the church excommunicated her. Despite this Beecher continued to be a popular national figure. However, the debacle split his family. While most of his siblings supported him, Isabella Beecher Hooker openly supported one of his accusers.

Elizabeth Tilton was ostracized by everyone except her daughter and a group known as the Christian Friends. She died in daughters Brooklyn home in 1897 lonely and blind. She is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery - Brooklyn, on Battle Hill in a grave marked "grandmother" and nothing else. Henry Ward Beecher's stone on another hill in Green-Wood Cemetery simply says "He thinketh no evil".