October 21: David Bates Douglass
October 21: In 1849, on this date, David Bates Douglass, who designed Green-Wood Cemetery with winding paths and roads, high banks and ponds, died.
October 20: Fanny White
October 20: On this date in 1860, the coroner concluded that Fanny White, famed for her beauty and business sense, had not been poisoned, but rather had died of apoplexy.
October 19: Charles Pfizer
October 19: on this date in 1906, Charles Pfizer, who in 1849 co-founded Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical company, died.
October 18: Elizabeth Fries Lummia Ellet
October 18: Elizabeth Fries Lummis Ellet, the first to write about the role women had played in the Revolution, was born on this date in 1818.
October 17: Robert Troup
October 17: On this date in 1777, Robert Troup, a Continental officer and aide to General Horatio Gates, witnessed the surrender of British General John Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga.
October 16: William “Boss” Tweed
October 16: On this date in 1984, the Tweed Courthouse, a monument to civic corruption named for William “Boss” Tweed, whose gang stole hundreds of millions of dollars from New York, was designated a New York City landmark.
A Green-Wood Coming Out Party
We recently held a coming out party in our Historic Chapel to introduce the public to developments in our events, collections, and archives. The evening was co-sponsored by the Archives Round Table of Metropolitan New York. The proceedings began with a wine and cheese reception outside the Chapel, on a lovely fall evening. Then it … Read more
October 15: Thomas Hastings
October 15: Thomas Hastings, who set “Rock of Ages” to music, was born on this date in 1784.
October 14: Leonard Bernstein
October 14: Maestro Leonard Bernstein died on this date in 1990.
October 13: Louis Moreau Gottschalk
October 13: On this date in 2012, “The Angel of Music” was dedicated at the grave of international musical superstar Louis Moreau Gottschalk (who died in 1869).