January 10: John Wolfe Ambrose, who mapped New York Harbor, and for whom the Ambrose Lightship, long-stationed at the mouth of New York Harbor, was named, was born on this date in 1838. That ship survives at South Street Seaport.
January 9: On this date in 1855, Sarah W. Kairns, mother of 22 who had died two months earlier, finally is placed in her final resting place at Green-Wood. Sarah, who died at the age of 117 years, 3 months, and 16 days, is the oldest of the more than 500,000 individuals who are interred at Green-Wood.
January 8: Realist painter George Bellows, only 42 years old, dies of a ruptured appendix. An exhibit of his work, “George Bellows,” is now running at The Met.
January 7: Anna Case, lyric soprano with the Metropolitan Opera, who married Clarence Hungerford Mackay (one of the wealthiest men in America) in 1931, died on this date in 1984.
I went up to Columbia University a few weeks ago to do some research on William F. Mangels. We are working on an exhibition in Green-Wood’s Historic Chapel, “William F. Mangels: Amusement Park King.” It was Mangels who invented many rides, including The Whip and The Tickler, and also pioneered the wave pool. He made … Read more
January 6: In the culmination of a lovers’ quarrel over the affections of Josie Mansfield, Edward Stokes guns down Colonel Jim Fisk on the steps of Broadway’s Grand Central Hotel on this date in 1872.
January 5: Peter F. Dailey, burlesque comedian whose epitaph reads, “He Laughed And The World Laughed With Him” (what more could any comedian want?), was born on this date in 1861.
January 4: Co-founder with his brothers of what would become one of the largest private banks in America, now Brown Brothers Harriman, James Brown was born on this date in 1794.
January 3: James Merritt Ives, partner in the famous print-making firm of Currier and Ives, died on this date in 1894.
January 2: Elected to Congress and the developer of the Potter Building at 38 Park Row in Manhattan 1882-1886, the latest in fireproof construction (and now a New York City Landmark), Orlando Bronson Potter also co-founded the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company to build other fireproof buildings. He died on this date in 1894.