Though several efforts have been made to install a permanent memorial to essential workers in New York City since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, nonprofit organization Friends of the Ruin’s proposal to stabilize and adaptively repurpose the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island may be the most promising yet. Intended to honor medical professionals and frontline workers fighting viral and infectious diseases, the envisioned memorial would lend new significance to a site of already considerable cultural importance.
Before it was dilapidated, the building that formerly stood on the site of the proposed memorial played an important role in the public health of the city. Situated north of Four Freedoms State Park on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, the structure was designed in the Gothic Revival style by James Renwick Jr., the well-known architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan. When it opened in 1856, the hospital served as the first dedicated to the smallpox epidemic. After three decades of use, the hospital closed, and two new wings were constructed before the building reopened as a nursing school.
In the 1950s, the school was abandoned. The structure has since been actively deteriorating; roofs, stairwells, and the entire north wall have collapsed, and vegetation has crept its way up and into the structure, further destabilizing it. Identifying elements of the building that have endured include the crenellation along the roofline and parapets, the cupola and stone porch, and the pointed arches framing apertures. The building was eventually granted landmark status at the city, state, and national level, becoming the country’s first “landmark ruin.”
Friends of the Ruin was established in 2018 with the objective of stabilizing the remaining structure and turning the grounds into a publicly accessible park, but the COVID-19 pandemic cast the landmark’s significance in a new light. Given its former function as a hospital and nursing school, the adaptation of the site into a memorial to healthcare professionals seemed particularly fitting. Now, the necessity for such a memorial has only acquired greater urgency; though a semblance of normalcy has returned to daily life in the city, New Yorkers have yet to experience a meaningful space in which to grieve the dead.
To date, Friends of the Ruin has raised an estimated $1.2 million through private and public support. The organization is also working with local firm Walter B. Melvin Architects to prepare stabilization drawings which detail, amongst other needs, where steel columns will be inserted and where walls will be reinforced. The preservation team intends to use the stones salvaged from the collapsed portions of the building in the reinforcement. The majority of the interior walls will be demolished, and the accumulated debris will be removed, leaving behind a stabilized building shell and a sunlit interior open to the sky above. Though still in the fundraising process, Friends of the Ruin intend to hold an international competition for the design of the memorial, which when complete will be free to the public and accessible year-round.
Throughout the decision-making process, the organization has sought to engage members of the community, elected officials, and advocacy organizations in the envisioning of the memorial. In March 2021, unanimous support was obtained from Manhattan’s Community Board 8. To better contextualize Friends of the Ruin’s approach, one need only recall the comparatively different one taken by former Governor Andrew Cuomo last summer, when plans were announced to build the “Circle of Heroes” monument to essential workers in Battery Park City. Within five days of having released the renderings, bulldozers were sent to Rockefeller Park, where the monument was slated for construction. Residents responded by protesting, decrying the lack of transparency in the decision-making process and the monument’s proposed design, which involved paving over valuable greenspace and installing 19 maple trees and an “eternal flame.” Following the pushback, plans to install the memorial in Battery Park City were halted indefinitely.
The northwest corner of the existing ruins (Courtesy Walter B. Melvin Architects)
Scattered, more successful past efforts to realize a COVID-19 memorial in New York City have largely been temporary or relatively smaller in scope, including a statue installed in Lower Manhattan in honor of sanitation workers, a commemorative painting in the Brooklyn office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s largest union, and a memorial service held on the one-year anniversary of the city’s first documented COVID-19 death, during which faces of New Yorkers who died of the virus were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
Friends of the Ruin’s proposed memorial, dedicated more broadly to all frontline scientists and medical professionals who have fought viral and infectious diseases, is both all-encompassing and unique to this moment, when the Covid-19 Pandemic appears to have reached a turning point. Given the scope of the ambition and the historical significance of the site, it seems the ultimate design for the memorial will have to negotiate a fine line between inclusivity and specificity, serving to both educate the public on medical advances across generations and provide a meaningful space for mourning and reflection, particularly for those visitors who have lived through this pandemic and have perhaps lost someone during it.
POST SCRIPT
For all the years I have been on the Island the question comes up frequently is what to do with the Smallpox Hospital. Perhaps this wonderful solution to the buildings future will come true.
RENDERING OF PROPOSED QUEENS PLAZAANDY SPARBERG, JAY JACOBSON, SUMIT KAUR AND ED LITCHER ALL GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
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Henry Ives Cobb Jr. (March 24, 1883 – August 1974) was an American artist and architect who lived and worked in New York, New York. He is known primarily for his paintings of scenes in and around Manhattan, especially Central Park. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Art Students League of New York, as well as the Society of Independent Artists and the Royal Academy.
38 Greenwich Street in 1914
That description gives us an idea of the feel of Gotham in the late 19th century, when steam-powered (later electric) elevated trains carried by trestles and steel tracks ran overhead on Ninth, Sixth, Third, and Second Avenues.
The upside to the elevated was obvious: For a nickel (or a dime during off hours), people could travel up and down Manhattan much more quickly than by horse-drawn streetcar of carriage. New tenements, row houses, and entertainment venues popped up uptown, slowly emptying the lower city and giving people more breathing room.
Bronx, undated
The downside? Dirt and din. The trains and tracks cast shadows along busy avenues, raining down dust and debris on pedestrians. (No wonder Gilded Age residents who could afford to changed their clothes multiple times a day!) And then there was the deafening noise every time a train chugged above your ears.
Now as unpleasant as the elevated trains could be in general, imagine having the tracks at eye level to your living quarters. Life with a train roaring by at all hours of the night was reality for thousands of New Yorkers, particularly downtown on slender streets designed for horsecars, not trestles
Allen Street north of Canal Street, 1931
“The effect of the elevated—the ‘L’ as New Yorkers generally call it—is to my mind anything but beautiful,” wrote an English traveler named Walter G. Marshall, who visited New York City 1878 and 1879.
“As you sit in a car on the ‘L’ and are being whirled along, you can put your head out of the window and salute a friend who is walking on the street pavement below. In some places, where the streets are narrow, the railway is built right over the ‘sidewalks’…close up against the walls of the houses.”
Maybe these unfortunate New Yorkers lived in a tenement before the trains came along, and they couldn’t find alternative housing after the elevated was built beside their building. Or perhaps in the crowded city teeming with newcomers at the time, a flat next to a train was the best they could find with what little they had to spend.
Wrote Marshall: “The 19 hours and more of incessant rumbling day and night from the passing trains; the blocking out of a sufficiency of light from the rooms of houses, close up to which the lines are built; the full, close view passengers on the cars can have into rooms on the second and third floors; the frequent squirting of oil from the engines, sometimes even finding its way into the private rooms of a dwelling-house, when the windows are left open—all these are objections that have been reasonably urged by unfortunate occupants of houses who comfort has been so unjustly molested….”
Allen Street, 1916
Eye-level elevated trains continued into the 20th century, with above ground subway tracks as well as older els making it more likely that New Yorkers could find themselves with a train rattling and shaking their windows.
And it’s still an issue today, of course, even with those original el lines long dismantled. Tenements and apartment buildings near bridge approaches, tunnel entrances, and above ground subway tracks are still at the mercy of mass transit in a city still of narrow streets, single pane windows, and rickety real estate.
Convergence of the Sixth Avenue and Ninth Avenue Els, 1938
The railroad terminal contained five tracks and six platforms serving H&M trains to and from New Jersey; these trains traveled via the Downtown Hudson Tubes, under the Hudson River, to the west. The two 22-story office skyscrapers above the terminal, the Fulton Building to the north and the Cortlandt Building to the south, were designed by architect James Hollis Wells of the firm Clinton and Russell in the Romanesque Revival style. The basements contained facilities such as a shopping concourse, an electrical substation, and baggage areas. The complex could accommodate 687,000 people per day, more than Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan.
The buildings opened first, being the world’s largest office buildings upon their completion, and the terminal station opened afterward. The H&M was successful until the mid-20th century, when it went bankrupt. The railroad and Hudson Terminal were acquired in 1962 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which rebranded the railroad as Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). The Port Authority agreed to demolish Hudson Terminal to make way for the World Trade Center, and the railroad station closed in 1971, being replaced by PATH’s World Trade Center station. While the buildings were demolished in 1972, the last remnants of the station were removed in the 2000s as part of the development of the new World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
JOHN BACON, CLARA BELLA, LAURA HUSSEY, GLORIA HERMAN ALL GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
[Top photo: MCNY x2010.11.2127; second photo: New-York Historical Society; third photo: MCNYx2010.11.4; fourth photo: CUNY Graduate Center Collection; fifth photo: MCNY MNY38078; sixth photo: MCNY MN11786]
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Steel-framed construction and elevators changed the complexion of the Lower Manhattan as the 20th century dawned. A pioneer of the steel skeleton process was Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb who designed the 1889 Ownes building. In 1902 he moved to New York City, firmly making his mark with his 21-story No. 42 Broadway. Architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler commented about Cobb that he worked “in styles” and for this building he included “Jacobean” influences. In 1907 Francis Kimball outdid him with his 25-story No. 37 Wall Street–and the race was on. The following year the 47-story Singer Building was erected at Liberty Street and Broadway—the tallest building in the world. In 1908, like Cobb, Napoleon LeBrun returned to historic style in his design of the Metropolitan Life Tower which he based on the bell tower of Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica. Within only a few years the southern tip of Manhattan had begun sprouting the tall office buildings that would give the city its iconic mountain peaked skyline. As the Metropolitan Life Tower rose, Henry Ives Cobb would be back. On November 19, 1908 the New-York Tribune reported on the sale of two familiar nearby properties. The seven-story Bryant Building, on the corner of Liberty and Nassau Streets, stood on the site of the New York Evening Post building and had been named for its editor, William Cullen Bryant. Adjoining the Bryan Building on Nassau Street was David B. Freedman’s Freedman Building. The article said that the purchasers intended to erect “an office building to cost $2,500,000.” The group of purchasers, from St. Louis, commissioned Cobb to design their 33-story building. The New-York Tribune on January 31, 1909 reported “it is said [he] will produce one of the most attractive structures in the financial district.” Cobb had several factors to consider. The footprint of the plot was small and irregular with no sides parallel. The architect was understandably concerned about the great height of the proposed building and the wind resistance of the slender structure. Cobb, who was trained both as an architect and an engineer, overcompensated by driving pneumatic caissons 95 feet down into the bedrock. A century later the overcompensation would pay off. True to Montgomery Schuyler’s assessment, Henry Ives Cobb worked in styles and neo-Gothic was among his specialties. He would sheath the entire building, with the exception of a half-story granite base, in gleaming white Gothic-styled terra cotta.
Cobb’s published plans excited the building industry. Carpentry and Building said in May 1909 “One of the latest additions to the colony of towering skyscrapers which thickly dot the lower end of the Island of Manhattan, and which are such conspicuous features of the architecture of the metropolis at the present day, is an imposing 30-story office building just planned for the financial district.” (The magazine did not include in the floor count the three-story, copper-clad pyramidal roof where “tanks and machinery” were to be housed.)
“The ornamentation has been derived from the English Gothic style of architecture, while the color scheme is white throughout, with the roof of copper, which after exposure to the elements for a time will turn a dull green.”
Tongue-in-cheek Gothic ornaments, many essentially unseen from street level, covered the building — photo by Alice Lum
The magazine noted that “It will be known as the Bryant Building, taking its name it is said, from William Cullen Bryant, from whose estate the site was formerly purchased.” Adjoining the new building to the east was what the New-York Tribune called “the palatial home of the Chamber of Commerce,” built in 1902. There was little threat that the grand building would be razed so Cobb was able to treat his Bryant Building nearly as a free-standing structure with windows on three sides. Architecture and Building noted that “The design, English Gothic, is worked out to give all the light possible in the interior.“
The Chamber of Commerce building allowed Cobb to design his skyscraper as nearly free-standing — photo by Alice Lum
A year after the plans were filed the building was nearly completed and already the name had been changed. On February 27, 1910 the New-York Tribune reported that “The flagstaff was placed on the New Liberty Tower Building…marking the moment of the completion of the steel work on the building. The mason work is now so far completed that the building shows final form.”
Cobb released a sketch of the proposed building — Architecture and Building, May 1910 (copyright expired)
Already the tenant list was growing. The variety of firms included People’s Surety Company, Johnston & Collins, Standard Salt Company, C. L. Gray Construction Company and the George La Mont & Sons Company. The Liberty-Nassau Building Company restricted its tenants to “stockbrokers, financial institutions, large corporations, and layers,” and offered to divide the floors to the tenants’ needs.
photo by Alice Lum
Opened on May 1, 1910, Henry Ives Cobb’s building was striking. The terra cotta finials, gargoyles, tracery and Tudor-styled entrances foreshadowed the magnificent Woolworth Building which would soon steal the spotlight. Two large murals, depicting Autumn and Spring with William Cullen Bryant as the focal figure, flanked the lobby staircase.
High-end materials like marble and bronze were used inside — photo by Alice Lum
The St. Louis-based Liberty-Nassau Building Company had spared no expense and quickly the firm would regret it. Almost immediately after its completion the building was placed in the hands of a receiver and in March 1911 foreclosure was imminent. A loan of $1.6 million stalled the inevitable. The aggregate indebtedness at the time was over $8 million.
photo by Alice Lum
As war broke out in Europe, scandal visited the Liberty Tower Building in the form of German espionage. Andrew D. Meloy was a promoter of Mexican enterprises doing business from here in 1915. Among his achievements was the building of a short railroad line in Mexico. He was also ardently pro-German. That year Franz von Rintelen joined Meloy in his office, taking the pseudonym of E. V. Gates. The two were involved in an ambitious German scheme to prevent American arms and ammunition from reaching the Allies. The conspiracy vigorously aided a planned Mexican revolution lead by Victoriano Huerta by providing finances and arms. Aware of President Wilson’s deep opposition to General Huerta, the conspirators realized that the U.S. would be obligated to enter Mexico to squelch the rebellion—thereby directing all military efforts away from the war overseas. The plan unraveled, however, and von Rintelen was arrested in London, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and Meloy was placed under indictment for conspiracy to defraud the Government.
photo by Alice Lum
In September 1916 the Liberty-Nassau Building Company finally lost its building when it was sold in a foreclosure sale to the Garden City Company for $1.8 million. Despite the ownership problems, the tenant list remained strong. Not long afterward Doubleday, Page & Co. opened a book shop in the lobby. “The new shop is in charge of men who ‘know books,’” said The Sun, “and every means is offered to the men of the downtown business district to facilitate book buying. A feature of the shop is a special showing of war books.”
In May 1919 the flamboyant Harry F. Sinclair, President of the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation, announced the firm’s purchase of the Liberty Tower Building for around $2.5 million. It would be the first step towards yet another major scandal in the building. In 1922 Senator Thomas J. Walsh began an investigation of leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming. The sensational findings showed that Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased the oil production rights to Harry Sinclair without competitive bidding. Kick-backs from Sinclair made the Secretary wealthy. They also resulted in prison terms for both men.
The Teapot Dome Scandal was regarded as the most sensational in the history of American politics until Watergate.
While all of this was playing out, Fidelity and Surety Insurance had its New York headquarters here. In 1921 it named as its Vice President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was simultaneously running on the Democratic ticket as for U.S. Vice President. Roosevelt, who deemed himself “a hard boiled insurance man,” was guest of honor at a Fidelity dinner at Delmonico’s on January 7 of that year. The Insurance Press promised “Many prominent persons will attend.”
Things were less dramatic in what was now called the Sinclair Oil Building towards the second half of the century. When Harry F. Sinclair leased space in Rockefeller Center in 1935, the building became part of the Rockefeller interests. In 1945 Leonard J. Beck, a major player in 6th Avenue real estate purchased the building for $1.3 million; about half of what Sinclair had paid two decades earlier. A year later he turned a quick profit, selling it to the newly-formed Liberty-Nassau Corporation for $1.5 million.
By 1979 the downtown area had changed significantly. The 33-story Liberty Tower Building sat in the shadows of newer, higher structures. That year restoration architect Joseph Pell Lombardi purchased the old building, transforming it to one of the first residential conversions in the Financial District
Lombardi reserved the former Sinclair Oil boardrooms for his own apartment, setting up his personal office in Harry F. Sinclair’s old study. Henry Ives Cobb’s steel foundations, anchored five stories below ground, have been credited with the building’s withstanding the impact of the collapsing World Trade Towers just 220 yards away on September 11, 2001. The architect’s pioneering skyscraper still plays second-fiddle to the Woolworth Building; but its magnificent neo-Gothic design warrants a visit.
Warm golden light seeps through the stained glass of the Gothic styled entrance — photo by Alice Lum
AMERICAN COPPER BUILDING FDR DRIVE AND 35TH STREET CLARA BELLA, JUDY SCHNEIDER, JAY JACOBSON GOT IT!
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
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DAYTONIAN IN MANHATTAN
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Eight Kwasan cherry trees were planted along the East Road near the tennis courts and twelve trees were planted at the West promenade south end. The trees were donated to the Roosevelt Island Historical Society by Material for the Arts. Thanks to Matt Kibby and Eddie Perez from RIOC, Plant Specialists for the planting. A special thanks to Tara Sansone at MFTA for arranging this anonymous donation. Last June MFTA donated 25 trees to the island. (Photo: Eddie Perez)
MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022
628th Issue
THE QUEENS COUNTY
FARM
JUST MINUTES AWAY
The Queens County Farm Museum is a New York City Landmark, on the National Register of Historic Places and a member of the Historic House Trust of New York City.
Queens County Farm Museum dates back to 1697 and occupies New York City’s largest remaining tract of undisturbed farmland. The farm is one of the longest continuously farmed sites in New York State. The site includes historic farm buildings, a greenhouse complex, livestock, farm vehicles and implements, planting fields, an orchard, and an herb garden.
Queens Farm connects visitors to agriculture and the environment through the lens of its 47-acre historic site, providing learning opportunities and creating conversations about biodiversity, nutrition, health and wellness, climate change and preserving local history. It is a vital and rare resource in an ever-changing, continually developing city, and beyond.
The farm is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and is operated by the Colonial Farmhouse Restoration Society of Bellerose, Inc. Queens Farm’s programs are supported in part by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. Additional support is provided by New York City Council Queens Delegation, Council Member Barry S. Grodenchik, Council Member Robert Holden, Council Member Peter Koo, and Council Member Francisco Moya. NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, and New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
History of Queens County, New York, with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals
Queens Farm’s 47-acre tract of farmland exemplifies the 300-year history of agriculture and farming as a way of life in New York City. The restored Adriance Farmhouse, the centerpiece of the farm complex, was first built as a three-room Dutch farmhouse in 1772. The farmhouse and surrounding 7-acre historic area mirror the evolution of this unique tract of land from a colonial homestead to a truck farm that served the needs of a growing city in the early twentieth century. The historic outbuildings, orchard, planting fields, vineyard, herb garden, and farmyard animals bring history to life.
In 1975, the founders of the museum obtained landmark designation for the structures and the surrounding land and worked diligently to open the site to the public. The important task of restoring the Adriance Farmhouse was completed in 1986. In addition, a master plan was prepared in 1986 to chart the course for future restoration and development of the site. An interpretive planning study, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, was conducted in 1988. Both these initiatives were carried forward, using a team approach, with qualified outside professionals working closely with the farm’s staff and Board of Directors. To prepare for further expansion of the farm’s agricultural and educational programs, Quennell Rothchild & Partners were commissioned to develop a new master plan for the museum in 2009.
Queens County Farm Museum offers audiences a glimpse of how farm products travel from field to fork. Other important elements of the farm’s interpretation include the barns and outbuildings, livestock, orchard, apiary, herb garden and greenhouse complex.
Jacob and Catherine Adriance (1697 – 1808) The original landowner of what is now the Queens County Farm Museum was John Harrison. Harrison sold the farm to Elbert Adriance in 1697 beginning the Adriance family era which spanned over one hundred years and five generations. In 1704 Elbert died; his son Rem inherited the farm. Rem had two sons, Elbert and Jacob, upon Rem’s death in 1730 the farm was passed on to his older son, Elbert. In 1771 Elbert sold the portion of the land that is Queens County Farm Museum to his younger brother Jacob. Read More »
John Bennum, Sr. (1808 – 1822) John Bennum, Sr., purchased the farm from Albert Brinkerhoff in 1808 and farmed it until his death in 1822. His son ran the farm for a short time. The Bennums suffered various calamities; weather records indicate that severe droughts occurred on Long Island in 1819 and 1822. This was obviously devastating for farmers. Interestingly, weather may very well have altered the farm’s future as a defeated John Bennum, Jr., sold the farm’s mortgage to Daniel Lent in 1822.
Daniel Lent (1822 – 1833) Daniel Lent acquired the farm in 1822 and held it until 1833. During his ownership, the farm experienced two droughts and the floods of 1826. In June, 1826 Long Island recorded over 9 inches of rain in two days followed by record rainfalls in August of the same year. While Lent was trying to overcome these dramatic weather conditions, he had to contend with the rapid growth of new technology. Read More »
Peter Cox (1833 – 1892) Peter Cox purchased the farm at the very beginning of what would prove to be the most dynamic years of agricultural growth in our nation’s history. Cox had more than doubled the size of the modest three-room farmhouse by 1855. The farmhouse at the farm’s museum today includes both the original Adriance portion built in 1772 and the 1855 Cox expansion. Cox grew primarily wheat, corn, and, later, potatoes for local sale until his death in 1870. Read More »
Daniel Stattel (1892 – 1926) As it turns out, Daniel Stattel made a good investment when buying the farm; in 1900, only eight years after its purchase, the farm rated as the second largest in size in Queens County and the highest in dollar value. It was assessed at 32,000 dollars; 3,000 dollars more than the largest farm in Queens County. Stattel was a leader during the golden age of “truck farming,” or market gardening, sending record tonnage of crops to market by the wagon load. Read More »
Pauline Reisman (1926 – 1926) In 1926 the Stattels sold the farm to Pauline Reisman, a real-estate investor, and in less than six months she sold it to New York State for use by Creedmoor State Hospital. Though Ms. Reisman did not contribute any agricultural history of note, she was in fact the person who sold the farm to the state, probably sparing the site from the tidal wave of development that was taking place in Queens in the 1920s.
Creedmoor State Hospital (1926 – 1975) New York State purchased the farm in 1926 for Creedmoor State Hospital to use for rehabilitation of patients, growing fruits and vegetables for the kitchen at the hospital, and for growing ornamental plants and shrubs for the Creedmoor campus. With the exception of the farmhouse, Creedmoor demolished all the buildings on the farm, replacing them with buildings that met their needs. Read More » 1975 –
Present Today, Queens County Farm Museum is a New York City Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. Museum founder and president, James A. Trent, and New York State Senator Frank Padavan spared the farm from development in 1975. Senator Padavan wrote the legislation that transferred ownership from the state to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and protected the site from development for future generations. With all the present buildings restored, the master plan for the museum is being steadily pursued. The museum provides a broad spectrum of educational programs, public events, and services. The farm welcomes over 400,000 people each year. It is the second largest cultural institution in Queens based on visitor data.
NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE AT 54TH STREET TO CLARA COFFEY PARK Jay Jacobson and Hara Reiser got it. from Laura Husse: Pedestrian crossing over the FDR drive in the mid fifties connecting to the section of the Manhattan Greenway currently under construction on the East Side. Photo Taken from Roosevelt Island.
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QUEENS COUNTY FARM
Edited by Deborah Dorff ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2022 (C) PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS
According to the “72-Year Rule,” the National Archives releases census records to the general public 72 years after Census Day. As a result, the 1950 census records will be released on April 1, 2022. The 1950 census will be the first released in a digital, searchable form (name and place) from the outset. Previous censuses required time consuming and error introducing transcriptions and indexing.
Since the first census in 1790, the U.S. Census Bureau has collected data using a census “schedule,” also formally called a “questionnaire” or popularly called a “form.” Between 1790 and 1820, U.S. Marshals conducting the census were responsible for supplying paper and writing-in headings related to the questions asked (i.e., name, age, sex, race, etc.). In 1830, Congress authorized the printing of uniform schedules for use throughout the United States. The first censuses were often quite incomplete. A complete list of all white peop
1950 Census Enumeration District Maps – New York (NY) – Westchester County – Bronxville – ED 60-34 to 46 – NARA – 24737299.jpg
The first censuses were often quite incomplete. A complete list of all white people was not even a goal until the 1850 Census and ever since many have been missed in the count, especially women, the poor, those without homes, immigrants, people of color, enslaved people, free blacks, and indigenous people.
Still, decennial censuses can be enormously valuable reach tools – especially when it comes to genealogy and local history.
The 1940 Census was the first to include separate questionnaires to count the population and collect housing data. The 1950 Census about to be released holds a wealth of information, and was the first to include Americans abroad. It also included survey information about residential financing. (The 1960 and later censuses combined population and housing questions onto a single questionnaire mailed to households or completed during a census taker’s visit.)
What’s New in the 1950 Census
The 1950 census encompassed the continental United States, the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and some of the smaller island territories.
Americans abroad were enumerated for the first time in 1950. Provisions were made to count members of the armed forces, crews of vessels, and employees of the United States government living in foreign countries, along with any members of their families also abroad. This enumeration was carried out through cooperative arrangements with the departments of Defense and State, the United States Maritime Administration and other federal agencies that took responsibility for distributing and collecting specially designed questionnaires.
Other persons living abroad were to be reported by their families or neighbors in the United States, but the quality of these data was considered to be poor and they were not included in the published statistics.
A new survey on residential financing was conducted as part of the 1950 census. In a separate operation, information was collected on a sample basis from owners of owner-occupied and rental properties and mortgage lenders.
Efforts to Improve Coverage and Completeness
Several procedures were used to improve the accuracy and completeness of the 1950 census, including: improved enumerator training, providing enumerators with detailed street maps of their assigned areas, publishing “Missed Person” forms in local newspapers, and setting a specific night to conduct a special enumeration of persons in hotels, tourist courts, and other places frequented by transients.
For the first time, a post-enumeration survey was instituted as a further check on the accuracy and completeness of the count. The Census Bureau recanvassed a sample of about 3,500 small areas and compared these to the original census listings to identify households that may have been omitted in the original enumeration. In addition, a sample of about 22,000 households was reinterviewed to determine the number of persons likely omitted in the initial count.
The Census Bureau began use of the first non-military computer shortly after completing the 1950 enumeration. UNIVAC I (for Universal Automatic Computer), the first of a series, was delivered in 1951, and helped tabulate some of the statistics for the 1954 economic censuses. It weighed 16,000 pounds and used 5,000 vacuum tubes.
Further Information Access the Census, get updates, and volunteer to transcribe at the National Archives’ webpage here. A detailed procedural history of the 1950 census is available in The 1950 Censuses – How They Were Taken [ZIP 37.3MB] A wide variety of historical statistics from this and other decades is available in Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. It is available as a PDF [74.4MB] or 2-part ZIP file: Part I [52.2MB] | Part II [66.1MB]. Reports and statistics from the 1950 census Photos, from above: a farmer supplies answers to the 232 questions on the Farm Schedule; and an 1950 Census Enumeration District Maps of New York, courtesy the National Archives.
SUNNYSIDE YARDS SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS ED LITCHER, ARON EISENPREISS, THOM HEYER, JAY JACOBSON, ANDY SPARBERG ALL GOT IT RIGHT!
From Andy Sparberg: Sunnyside Rail Yard in Long Island City, In foreground is a LIRR train headed for Penn Station; behind it is a bi-level NJ Transit train NJ Transit and Amtrak trains are stored and serviced at Sunnyside, after departing Penn Station..
It is not a LIRR facility. So you need to correct the entry in this morning’s article about the Montauk Cutoff connecting to Sunnyside Yard. Montauk Cutoff never did that – it was a LIRR route that connected the LIRR Main Line to the LIRR Montauk Branch which is still there, further south, running close to Newtown Creek.
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NEW YORK ALMANACK
Funding Provided by: Roosevelt Island Corporation Public Purpose Funds Council Member Ben Kallos City Council Discretionary Funds thru DYCD Text by Judith Berdy
Edited by Deborah Dorff ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2022 (C) PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS
Overlooking the East River on the extreme western tip of Queens is Long Island City, one of New York’s fastest-growing neighborhoods. On May 4, 1870, Long Island City was created through a merger between the Village of Astoria and the hamlets of Ravenswood, Hunters Point, Blissville, Sunnyside, Dutch Kills, Steinway, Bowery Bay, and Middletown in the Town of Newton. At the time, the city had between 12,000 and 15,000 residents and was split into five wards, each receiving two representatives to serve on the Board of Alderman along with an elected mayor. During the 1880s, Mayor De Bevoise was convicted of embezzlement, nearly bankrupting Long Island City’s government in the process. As a result, in 1884 many residents living in the former Astoria area petitioned the state legislature to allow it to secede from Long Island City and reincorporate again as an independent village, though the petition was eventually dropped. Long Island City remained an incorporated city until 1898, when Queens was annexed to New York City.
Once known for being an epicenter of the manufacturing industry, Long Island City was rezoned as a residential neighborhood in 2001 — causing the area to undergo significant gentrification as new developments such as Hunter’s Point South were erected. Today, Long Island City is known for its stunning waterfront and thriving arts community, with must-visit places like MOMA PS1, the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Museum, and Culture Lab LIC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the development of art in Western Queens.
The neighborhood houses the Hunters Point Historic District
On the south side of Long Island City along Newtown Creek is Hunters Point, a subsection of the neighborhood known today for its East River waterfront and stunning views of the Manhattan skyline. The area gained its name in 1825 from British sea captain George Hunter, whose family operated the site as a 210-acre farm. The area is also home to the Hunters Point Historic District, a national historic district created in 1968. The district is made of a row of 47 townhouses built between 1871 and 1890 in the Italianate, French Second Empire, and Neo-Grec styles along 45th Avenue between 21st and 23rd Streets.
Visitors can also stroll through Hunter’s Point South Park, an expansive green space featuring a waterside promenade, a 30-foot-tall cantilevered platform for viewing the skyline, and a 13,000 square-foot pavilion. The park was erected on a peninsula built from landfill extracted during the excavation of the city’s tunnels, resulting in steep piles of earth with a wildly curved perimeter. During the 1990s, the area was designated a park by Governor Mario Cuomo, with construction overseen by the engineering firm ARUP and design firms SWA/Balsley and Weiss/Manfredi. Hunter’s Point South Park’s design involved separating the peninsula from the mainland, ringing it with new marshes and riprap that fill with water twice a day during high tide — discretely returning the piece to the water. In addition, all the streets leading to the park have bioswales with landscaped tree beds and other plants designed to absorb stormwater before it reaches the park.
Before its burial, Sunswick Creek’s source was located close to 21st Street north of what is now the Queensboro Bridge and Queens Plaza. The creek’s name may have originated from the Algonquin word “Sunkisq,” which translated to “Woman Chief” or “Sachem’s Wife.” In 1664, the land on the northern shore of the creek was purchased by British settler William Hallet from two native chiefs named Shawestcont and Erramorhar, and the peninsula was renamed Hallets Cove. Due to increased industrialization, the lack of a proper sewage system, and the high population density of Long Island City and nearby Astoria, Sunswick Creek became heavily polluted by the 1860s and 1870s. After the outbreak of diseases in 1871 and 1875, the marshes surrounding the creek were drained in 1879. By 1893, the creek had been diverted into one of the new sewage system’s brick tunnels. In 1915, protest arose among the residents of Ravenswood over the infestation of the creek’s tide gates by mosquitos, arguing to the New York City Board of Health that the tide gates should be opened as they were actually making the water stagnant and trapping the mosquitoes inside the creek. One year later in April 1916, residents broke down the tide gates themselves using axes, which prompted the New York City health commissioner to remark that the residents preferred “to live like hogs.” By the end of 1916, New York City’s government proposed closing the creek and mandated households to divert their sewage elsewhere. Today, the creek exists underground as part of a sewage tunnel, with Socrates Sculpture Park occupying what was once the creek’s mouth.
The abandoned Montauk Cutoff has its very own community garden
While the High Line may no longer be abandoned, one major disused railroad lying fallow in New York City is the Montauk Cutoff. Likely built in 1908 among the construction of a wave of overpasses in industrial Queens, it is called a “cutoff” as it bypassed the city below it. Measuring only a third of a mile long, the railroad was primarily used to get trains in and out of Sunnyside Yard.
The Montauk Cutoff remained popular until the 1970s, when freight train traffic in Long Island City began to decrease. Abandoned completely in the 1990s, the site was used by the now-defunct Sextantworks (Wanderlust Projects) for a speakeasy and urban exploration mixed event. In 2011, Smiling Hogshead Ranch, an urban farm collective created by a group of Long Island City neighbors, formed a guerrilla garden on the abandoned tracks of Montauk Cutoff — later securing a lease from the MTA to become an official nonprofit organization. By day, Smiling Hogshead Ranch is an agricultural farm and community garden and by night a social club and cultural venue.
Socrates Sculpture Park is surrounded by boulders recycled from old grave markers
One of Long Island City’s most prominent art venues is Socrates Sculpture Park, named after the Greek philosopher Socrates. The park’s name also serves as a nod to the people of nearby Astoria, which holds New York City’s largest Greek community. The site where Socrates Sculpture Park resides today was once a port for offloading stone and sand, which eventually transformed into a dumping area and landfill. In 1985, local sculptor Mark di Suvero spearheaded the area’s restoration, opening the 4-acre park one year later. For 14 years, Socrates Sculpture Park operated as a temporary city park, only being granted official status by then-Mayor Rudolph Guiliani in 1998 after a developer attempted to build luxury hotels and a marina on the site after the park’s lease had expired.
Unknown to most, Socrates Sculpture Park is surrounded by stone fencing built in part from boulders recycled from old grave markers. Unfortunately, nobody knows which graveyard the stones were pulled from. Hidden within the park is a beach at Hallets Cove, whose sandy shore is often concealed from view during high tide. On select weekends in July and August, visitors can participate in free kayaking and canoeing sessions through the LIC Community Boathouse.
The Long Island City Courthouse served as a set piece for the hit Marvel series Jessica Jones
Constructed in 1874, the Long Island City Courthouse was designed by architect George Hathorne in the Beaux-Arts style. The decision for the courthouse’s location at 25-10 Court Street was decided as the Queens County seat was being moved from Jamaica to Long Island City. After a portion of the courthouse was destroyed by a fire in 1904, the building was remodeled and enlarged by Peter M. Coco. Though two jails were once part of the complex, they were replaced by a parking garage in 1988. Formerly housing Criminal Court, County Court, the District Attorney staff, and the county sheriff’s office, the courthouse is home to the Civil Term of the Supreme Court for Queens County, which also sits in Jamaica.
The Long Island City courthouse has also been featured on the screen. During season 2 of the hit Marvel series Jessica Jones, Trish and Griffin meet Jessica at the courthouse after her arraignment for the assault of Pryce. On Person of Interest, the courthouse is featured in the pilot episode and once more in season 4 during a meeting between Reese and Fusco as they investigate the murders of several Brotherhood members.
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In a new book, author David Oshinsky, PhD, uncovers the history and misconceptions of Bellevue, America’s first public hospital.
A group of doctors and nurses are ready for surgery at Bellevue.NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
The history of American medicine is inextricably linked with Bellevue Hospital in New York City. In the 2016 book, Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital, acclaimed author David Oshinsky, PhD, recounts the story of America’s first public hospital from its beginning as an almshouse in the 1730s to a modern center of medical innovation that has trained thousands of physicians.
Bellevue has been known for delivering high-quality care to the disadvantaged and homeless, to dignitaries and U.S. presidents. The hospital has been at the forefront of advancements in American medicine, including cardiac catheterization and the treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis patients. America’s first nursing school and the first ambulance service—a horse-drawn carriage—also originated at Bellevue.
Nearly 300 years later, one thing has remained constant: Bellevue treats every patient who walks through its doors.
Oshinsky is director of the Division of Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine. He received the Pulitzer Prize in history in 2006 and the Herbert Hoover Book Award in 2005 for his book Polio: An American Story.
What compelled you to write about the history of Bellevue?
I am a baby boom–generation child from New York City. When I was growing up, Bellevue was a frightening and disturbing institution, but it was mainly known for one aspect—the psychiatric wards. It’s a dichotomy. On the one hand, Bellevue was seen by the public, certainly beyond New York City, as almost exclusively as a place for “crazy people.” It had a reputation in movies—in Miracle on 34th Street when I was growing up and later in The Godfather—as being almost a gothic, medieval, and scary place. When I was acting up, my mother would say, “Keep it up, David, and you’re on your way to Bellevue.” One of the largest misconceptions about Bellevue was certainly that it was a psychiatric hospital.
“From the beginning, you can chart the history of New York City and the medical history of the United States through this hospital.”
But for New Yorkers in the know, it was an extraordinary public hospital. There was a lot more to Bellevue than what was known in popular culture. It was the first public hospital in America and had terrific services, including the best trauma unit, probably in the world. When a cop was shot or a fire fighter was overcome by smoke, the person was taken to Bellevue. Foreign dignitaries, the president, or the pope would also go to Bellevue.
What other misunderstandings did you uncover about Bellevue?
Another misconception was that as a public hospital it was just overrun by filth, vermin, and bad doctoring. The belief was that those who went to Bellevue had no other options, and that was true to some extent. But it also was a dumping ground for other hospitals that didn’t want certain types of patients—particularly difficult patients and those who couldn’t pay for their medical care. For [nearly] 300 years, Bellevue’s ethos has been that it turns no one away.
Another thing I learned, which had always been quite obvious to the patients and the staff, is that the medical care was superb, and Bellevue attracted the best doctors in the country. When doctors came to Bellevue, they knew they would have an extraordinary learning experience and would see every imaginable medical condition and disease.
How has Bellevue evolved as clinical research and medical innovation advanced?
For generations, Bellevue was the biggest public hospital in the United States, and that meant there was a lot of medical innovation—everything from surgery, anesthesia, germ theory, and vaccine trials. Bellevue was a welcoming place for physicians who were on staff or who trained there—from William Gorgas who conquered yellow fever to Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin who developed the polio vaccines. Dickinson Richards won the Nobel Prize for cardiac catheterization [in 1956]. They all were trained extraordinarily well.
You suggest that the history of Bellevue is intertwined with the history of New York City.
The Bellevue Atrium, completed in 2005, links the old and new Bellevue buildings. NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
From the beginning, you can chart the history of New York City and the medical history of the United States through this hospital. Every immigrant group went through New York City, so every group also went through Bellevue, starting with the Irish [in the mid-1800s] and continuing with Jews, Italians, and Eastern Europeans [in the early 20th century]. Today, the patients are almost entirely immigrants, but they are from very different places: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Yet they are the same as the immigrants who came before in that they are poor, and Bellevue is still the place where they will go and get the best medical care.
Death bed of Lincoln (cropped).jpg
Print shows the interior of a room with Abraham Lincoln lying on a bed surrounded by cabinet members, generals, and family members, from left: William Dennison, Post Master General, Sec. John P. Usher, Sec. Gideon Welles, Sec. Hugh McCulloch, General Montgomery C. Meigs, General Christopher C. Augur, General Henry Halleck, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Surgeon General Joseph Barnes, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major John M. Hay, Captain Robert Todd Lincoln, surgeon Charles Leale, Senator Charles Sumner, Sec. Edwin M. Stanton, and Attorney General James Speed.
You use the stories of physicians who passed through Bellevue to illustrate the history of the institution. How were some of these physicians significant in shaping the institution?
The first real doctor at Bellevue was Alexander Anderson. He was a young doctor when he took a job at Bellevue in the 1790s, at the height of the great yellow fever epidemics. No one knew what caused yellow fever. There were endless deaths, and it was dangerous work. His wife, his child, both parents, and his brother all died of yellow fever. But he stayed the course taking care of these patients because he believed it was God’s work. His legacy of extraordinarily compassionate patient care has continued through the centuries.
Oshinsky devoted years of research to tell Bellevue’s 300-year history of American medicine, social responsibility, scientific research and advancement, and public health crises. As Oshinsky communicates throughout the book, “Bellevue has borne witness to every imaginable disease and public health scare, every economic swing and population surge, every medical breakthrough and controversy going back more than two centuries.”
In the 19th century, Stephen Smith was the father of modern public health. He understood that there were two classes of citizens in New York—those who lived in dismal conditions and others who were wealthy—and that the medical care each side had was so different that there were basically two cities in New York. He made it his creed to bring the notion of public health to New York City and the United States.
Another was Charles Augustus Leale, who was a young Bellevue physician in the 1860s. When President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre, Leale was the first physician who reached him, and he did everything he could to save him. He held Lincoln in his arms and stayed with him for 18 hours. When he was asked why he stayed so long he said, “I wanted the president to know in his blindness that he had a friend.” To me, that represents the Bellevue credo.
The AIDS crisis was a significant event in Bellevue’s history. How did the early days of the epidemic reinforce Bellevue’s role as a safety net hospital?
In the early 1980s, Bellevue began receiving patients with opportunistic infections that had rarely, if ever, been seen before. At this time, the patients were almost all young gay men, and they started coming in by the dozens and then by the hundreds. But within a short period of time a majority of the AIDS patients at Bellevue were intravenous drug users.
“[The] legacy of extraordinarily compassionate patient care has continued through the centuries.”
At the time, the medical community was frightened to death by a disease that had no cure and was 100% fatal. You couldn’t find a single dentist in Manhattan who would treat an AIDS patient. But as AIDS patients came to Bellevue, the doctors realized that they would have to learn to deal with this. There were staff who would refuse to clean the rooms of AIDS patients, deliver food, or give them CPR. All this had to be overcome, and Bellevue was absolutely amazing at training the entire staff.
More AIDS patients died at Bellevue than at any other hospital in America, but the staff performed heroically. The response reflected the original example of Alexander Anderson: you stayed, and you took care of patients. In the end, the three-drug cocktail that transformed AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable condition was tested at Bellevue. The hospital’s role in treating patients, dealing with the disease, and overcoming the fears is one of its finer chapters.
POST SCRIPT
For many years I have served on the Community Advisory Board at Coler. I have gotten to know Bellevue and the care offered and received. Without glory (and lots of press Bellevue) has served thousands thru every disease from Ebola to Covid -19. Our municipal system is here for every person, rich or poor with never a question on ability to pay. The building though massive throbs with the comings and goings of the city it serves.
CHASE BANK AT THE CORNER OF 23rd STREET AND FIRST AVENUE LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT!
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
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The smokestacks and storage tanks of the East River waterfront of the 1930s or 1940s should be an unappealing place to meet friends. But painter Joseph Lambert Cain has captured a group of teenagers gathered on a pier here to sunbathe, talk, and pair off.
For these teens, perhaps from the Lower East Side or the Gas House District in the East 20s, the waterfront is an idyllic location—away from the critical eyes of adults and into the warm embrace of the working class city they likely grew up in.
Cain titled his painting “New York Harbor.” I’m not sure of the date, but my guess is about 1940. The riverfront industry surrounds them, but the modern city of skyscrapers is within sight and reach.
The East Side’s long-gone Gas House District
The gas-house district is not a pleasant place in the daytime, much less at night,” explained a 1907 article in Outlook magazine.
That’s partly because the neighborhood, centered in the teens and 20s on the far east side of Manhattan, looked pretty grim: dominated by giant gas storage tanks lining the East River.
The streets didn’t smell so great either, considering that the tanks sprang leaks occasionally.
The grittiness of the Gas House District kept tenement rents low and made it a magnet for poor immigrant Irish in the mid-19th century, then Germans, Italians, Eastern Europeans, and Armenians by the 1920s.
But it also attracted a bad element. Crime was high, and it was home base of the Gas House Gang, which committed a reported 30 holdups every night on East 18th Street alone around the turn of the century.
Change was coming though. By the 1930s, most of the storage tanks were gone, and the development of the then-East River Drive opened up the ugly streets to development.
Soon, it was deemed the perfect place to put Met Life’s new middle-class housing developments, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.
WILLIAM, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM HIPPO HARA REISER, CLARA BELLA, GLORIA HERMAN & LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT.
FROM ED LITCHER:
Hippopotamus (“William”), ca. 1961–1878 B.C. From Egypt, Meir, Tomb B3. Faience. L. 7 7/8 x W. 3 x H. 4 1/2 in. (20 x 7.5 x 11.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1917 (17.9.1). The ancient Egyptian hippo was placed in a tomb. It was thought to magically transfer all its positive powers of life and rejuvenation to the tomb owner, helping him to be reborn. Today this blue hippo is nicknamed William and he is the unofficial mascot of the Museum.
The color blue was very special for the ancient Egyptians. Real hippos are of course not blue, but mainly grey or brown. Blue was the color of the Nile River, where hippos lived. The Nile was a main source of life for the Egyptians, so among other things this bright blue symbolized life. William is made of faience (fay-AHNCE), a ceramic material that was often produced in a blue or blue green color. Egyptians used a brilliant blue for this hippo and for many other burial objects. Such objects were placed in tombs to magically give life to the deceased.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
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Fernando Botero Angulo (born 19 April 1932) is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor. Born in Medellín, his signature style, also known as “Boterismo”, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece. He is considered the most recognized and quoted living artist from Latin America, and his art can be found in highly visible places around the world, such as Park Avenue in New York City and the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Self-titled “the most Colombian of Colombian artists” early on, he came to national prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1958. Working most of the year in Paris, in the last three decades he has achieved international recognition for his paintings, drawings and sculpture, with exhibitions across the world. His art is collected by many major international museums, corporations, and private collectors. In 2012, he received the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
Fernando Botero was born as the second of three sons to David Botero (1895–1936) and Flora Angulo (1898–1972) in 1932. David Botero, a salesman who traveled by horseback, died of a heart attack when Fernando was four. His mother worked as a seamstress. An uncle took a major role in his life. Although isolated from art as presented in museums and other cultural institutes, Botero was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches and the city life of Medellín while growing up.
He received his primary education in Antioquia Ateneo and, thanks to a scholarship, he continued his secondary education at the Jesuit School of Bolívar. In 1944, Botero’s uncle sent him to a school for matadors for two years. In 1948, Botero at age 16 had his first illustrations published in the Sunday supplement of the El Colombiano, one of the most important newspapers in Medellín. He used the money he was paid to attend high school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia.
Botero’s work was first exhibited in 1948, in a group show along with other artists from the region.
From 1949 to 1950, Botero worked as a set designer, before moving to Bogotá in 1951. His first one-man show was held at the Galería Leo Matiz in Bogotá, a few months after his arrival. In 1952, Botero travelled with a group of artists to Barcelona, where he stayed briefly before moving on to Madrid.
In Madrid, Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando. In 1952, he traveled to Bogotá, where he had a solo exhibit at the Leo Matiz gallery.
In 1953, Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time in the Louvre, studying the works there. He lived in Florence, Italy from 1953 to 1954, studying the works of Renaissance masters. In recent decades, he has lived most of the time in Paris, but spends one month a year in his native city of Medellín. He has had more than 50 exhibits in major cities worldwide, and his work commands selling prices in the millions of dollars. In 1958, he won the ninth edition of the Salón de Artistas Colombianos.
Fernando Botero ‘Guerrilla de Eliseo Velásquez’.jpg
This painting by Fernando Botero depicts guerrillas led by Eliseo Velásquez in the early stages of “La Violencia”, a ten year period of violence/civil war that plagued Colombia. 1988
SCULPTURES
Barcelona. Raval cat. By Fernando Botero..jpg
This piece used to be on Park Avenue and 79th Street.
A famous ‘Sphinx’ sculpture is now on display in NYC
The piece is by iconic artist Fernando Botero. This one’s worth a trip to the Meatpacking District: renowned artist Fernando Botero’s visually-striking, eight-foot-tall Sphinx statue is now on display at 14th Street Square through April 19.
The outdoor installation is part of “Fernando Botero,” a new exhibit presented by David Benrimon Fine Art in celebration of the artist’s upcoming 90th birthday on—you guessed it—April 19. The showing of Sphinx is presented by the gallery in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program and the Meatpacking Business Improvement District (BID).
“With characteristic wit and joyous play of volumes, Botero interprets the classical creature with a head of a human, body of a lion and wings of a falcon, common to Egyptian, Greek, and Central Asian traditions,” reads an official press release. “In his ‘Boterismo’ exaggerated form, the astonishing eight-foot tall Sphinx looks down at the viewer below.” The artist re-imagines the classical creature with a head of a human, the body of a lion and the wings of a falcon in an exaggerated—and remarkable—form. The sculpture has traveled the world. It has been on display in Medellin, Berlin, the Netherlands and more. Botero’s life story is just as enthralling as his work has been throughout the years. He was born in Medellín in 1932 and actually initially went to school to become a matador until discovering his passion for art. In 1952, he moved to Spain, then relocated to France and eventually settled down in Italy (Florence, to be precise) where he was really able to nurture his talent. New Yorkers who wish to learn even more about Botero should head to the Museum of Modern Art, where more of his work resides.
ED LITCHER, ANDY SPARBERG, LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
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Southeast Florida grew slowly. In 1830, after Florida became a US territory, Richard Fitzpatrick established a slave plantation. But the bloody Second Seminole War drove off Fitzpatrick and other settlers. A small army force replaced civilians with the establishment of Fort Dallas on the north bank of the River. Population grew slowly, and even at the turn of the century, what would become today’s Dade County contained fewer than 1,000 persons.
But, as we saw in the first part of this article, Florida had begun to attract the attention of wealthy Northerners, and new railroads grew a tourist industry. Southeast Florida would follow, driven by several remarkable individuals – names which anyone who visits Miami will recognize.
Julia Tuttle’s parents had come to Florida where her father became a state senator. When he died, Julia, widowed, purchased land where the city of Miami is now located. She converted the house built by Fitzpatrick’s slaves into her home, with sweeping views of the river and Biscayne Bay. William and Mary Brickell arrived in Miami at the outset of the 1870s and were successful Indian traders as well as shrewd real estate investors. They lived across the river from Julia Tuttle.
Tuttle knew that transportation was necessary to attract development. She persuaded Henry Flagler to extend his railway to Miami in exchange for hundreds of acres of prime Tuttle and the Brickell real estate. He agreed to build a magnificent hotel near the confluence of the river and Biscayne Bay. On April 22, 1896, the Florida East Coast Railway arrived. On July 28, 344 registered voters, many of whom were black laborers, voted to incorporate a new city, Miami.
Going was tough. Miami suffered from a devastating fire in 1896 and a yellow fever epidemic a few years later. Miami survived largely because of Flagler’s magnificent Royal Palm Hotel. Five stories tall (its rotunda in the center added another story), the yellow frame building was topped by a red mansard roof and counted among many prominent features a 578-foot-long verandah. The hotel had 350 guest rooms and accommodated 400 – 600 guests. The hotel had electric lights, two electric elevators and 200 bathrooms and an additional 100 rooms were available for maids and servants.
In the years before WWI, The Royal Palm became a popular winter resort for America’s Gilded Age princes. John Jacob Astor was the first of many distinguished guests arriving for the opening. Others included Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Cyrus H. K. Curtis, JP Morgan, Edward F. Hutton, Charlie Schwab, and Gerard Lambert. The Royal Palm was the center of Miami social life.
The hotel’s season ran from January to March, but some visitors decided to make Miami a home or second home. Mansions were raised along Brickell Avenue, known as “Millionaire’s Row.” The most prominent was the Villa Serena, built by William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democrat presidential candidate. Bryan taught Sunday Bible classes at the Royal Palm hotel attracting, it is said, as many as 5,000 people.
Miami was booming when the Roaring Twenties began. The city’s population had climbed to nearly 30,000, a 440 percent increase over the figure for 1910. It represented the largest per capita increase of any municipality in the nation. Everglades Reclamation (or drainage) further stimulated a feverish real estate industry as speculators purchased millions of acres of reclaimed land from the State of Florida, then marketed it aggressively. The tactics of promoters who sold unwitting investors land that was underwater earned for Miami the reputation for marketing “land by the gallon.” When the property boom went bust, thousands of homes were destroyed, unfinished subdivisions were leveled, and the entire region was plunged into a severe economic depression three years before the rest of the nation.
Still, Miami fared better than many other communities. The advent of commercial aviation helped: Pan Am and Eastern put headquarters in the Magic City—and tourism resumed in the second half of the decade.
World War II in 1941 helped even more as the region became a huge training base for hundreds of thousands of members of the military. Many veterans who had trained here during the war had “sand in their shoes,” and returned as permanent residents. The post-WWII years saw a dramatic boom in population and commerce. Downtown Miami had become a world-famous destination, with shopping, entertainment, and a gorgeous waterfront. But the glow would face. Miami deteriorated as the Beach and growing suburbs offered more spacious living, as well as malls and shopping centers. Businesses closed and moved on to more lucrative neighborhoods, leaving the city core to mostly poor communities. Tourists avoided Miami City. But soon, that would change, and a new, more Latin city would emerge.
Miami Beach
What became Miami Beach was an uninhabited, 1600-acre, jungle-matted sand bar three miles out in the Atlantic, cut off from Miami by Biscayne Bay. The first structure on the oceanfront was the Biscayne House of Refuge, constructed in 1876 to provide aid for shipwreck survivors. When a plan to create ae a coconut plantation there failed, John Collins (soon linked with Julia Tuttle and Henry Flagler) bought out his partners.
Collins saw the potential in developing the beach as a winter resort and with several others, particularly entrepreneur Carl Fisher, began to promote the town. Until then, only day-trippers took a ferry from Miami, across the bay. The first hotel, Brown’s Hotel, was built in 1915 and, remarkably still exists at 112 Ocean Drive.
Miami Beach had grown to 2,800 acres when dredging and filling operations were completed. To connect Miami Beach to the mainland, Collins started work on a 2½-mile-long wooden bridge, the world’s longest wooden bridge at the time. When funds ran dry, Fisher provided financing to complete the Collins Bridge in return for land. That kicked off the island’s first real estate boom.
Opening of the Collins Bridge, 1913, then the longest wooden bridge in the world
Fisher promoted Miami Beach as an Atlantic City-style playground and winter retreat for the wealthy. By 1915, Collins and Fisher were living in mansions on the beach; three hotels had opened, an aquarium built, and an 18-hole golf course landscaped. Soon, grand hotels were built – the Flamingo Hotel, The Fleetwood Hotel, The Floridian, The Nautilus, and the Roney Plaza Hotel.
The Beach struggled through the bust and Great Depression, prospered during the War, and by the 1950s was enjoying rapid growth in summertime tourism, thanks to air conditioning and economy flights from northern cities. I remember well, each summer, a new top hotel opened – and finally, the last of the old Collins Avenue mansions, the Firestone Estate, was torn down to make way for the Fontainebleau. Air conditioning was ramped up so that summertime visitors could wear their fur collared sweaters comfortably.
Miami was a southern town and deeply driven by race. After incorporation, property deeds prohibited sale to Blacks everywhere except in one quarter, although Black Floridians comprised as much as a third of Miami’s population. From the late 19th century to the 1960s, segregation was the rule. In Miami Beach’s early days, the only Blacks allowed were hotels staff or servants. In 1936, Miami Beach required more than 5,000 seasonal workers at hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs, as well as domestic servants, to register with police and to be photographed and fingerprinted. Once registered, those workers, many Black, had to carry ID cards in the city.
Nonetheless, the Black community grew – but would decline sharply in the 1960s for various reasons, not least the construction of an extensive expressway system that ripped through the heart of the quarter and led to the displacement of 20,000 residents (about one-half of its population).
Early Miami and the Beach was also profoundly antisemitic. Carl Fisher, who developed the beach, prohibited Jews and blacks from staying in hotels or leasing apartments. Brochures advertised hotels and luxury apartments “Gentiles Only,” or “Always a View, Never a Jew,” or “Located near Protestant and Catholic Churches.” Jewish doctors were prohibited from working in hospitals. In 1947, religious discrimination was legally ended, but as late as 1953, on one of our drives from Pittsburgh to Miami, we were turned away from a hotel in Hollywood – “you would not be comfortable here.”
In fact, as Miami Beach became a summer resort, waves of Jews flowed in, many seeing it as perfect for retirement. Jews had been permitted to own land south of Fifth Street, which became the home of shabby-grand Art Deco apartment buildings and hotels, and then older Jewish retirees from the North and finally, one of the hottest resort centers in the US – South Beach. In 1980, more than 60 percent of Miami Beach’s population was Jewish, many in South Beach. During the 1980s, as Miami and South Beach underwent a profound transformation, many moved to newer Florida communities. In 1999, there were only 10,000 Jewish people living in Miami Beach. My mother complained that overnight the language in South Beach went from Yiddish to Spanish.
So much more to talk about. But the old clock on the wall says it’s time to go. Thanks for reading.
ARON EISENPREISS, GLORIA HERMAN, M. FRANK, ANDY SPARBERG, KIM BRUCE, LAURA HUSSEY & HARA REISER ALL GOT IT! ED LITCHER SENT US THIS: North East view of Madison Square Park that was taken in between 1909 and 1925, with: A statue of U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward in the foreground, which was dedicated in 1876, said to be the first New Yorker to be honored with a monument in the city.
Madison Square Garden II (1890 – 1925) The MetLife building that was built in 1909 on the right side of the image.
FROM A READER Thanks for the wonderful article on 186 Fifth Avenue. Stephen & I lived near there on 28th St. for 24 years & I always wondered the history of that building. I always found it very beautiful in an understated way–especially considering the many flashier buildings in the area. SO many mom & pop places have disappeared….. Have a great weekend– Best: Thom
Funding Provided by: Roosevelt Island Corporation Public Purpose Funds Council Member Ben Kallos City Council Discretionary Funds thru DYCD Text by Judith Berdy
Edited by Deborah Dorff ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2022 (C) PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS
