This Month:
....Average monthly temperature for March in NYC: 41°
...this
month, everybody's Irish in New York on March 17th as a
green line is painted up Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to
86th Street to lead thousands marching (and crowds cheering)
to the tune of drums and bagpipes at the St.
Patrick's Day ...
The
1979 production of Sweeney Todd
is the basis for the modern movie hit.
...catching the attention of the world this day in 1932,
baby Charlie Lindberg, son of the famous aviator, is kidnapped.
Later convicted and executed for the crime is Bruno Richard
Hauptmann of 1279 East 222nd Street, The Bronx...
... also on this day in 1888, the name Park
Avenue is officially accepted for the stretch of 4th
Avenue that had been beautified with park spaces 40 feet
wide in the middle of the avenue, between 34th and 38th
Streets ... while on lower Broadway America's first astronaut
John
Glenn is given a ticker tape parade this day in 1962.
... beseiged by scandals, Adam
Clayton Powell, Jr. effectively ends his Congressional
career this day in 1967..
...Mickey Mantle, the ledgendary New York Yankee retires
this day in 1969 ...and Sweeney Todd opened at the
Uris Theater this night in 1979. The original production
runs for 557 performances and spawns several stage versions
before being filmed as movie starring Johnny Depp....
March
2
...on this day in 1825 the first grand opera sung in English
is performed in New York City... and in 1933, King Kong
premieres at Radio City Music Hall...
....DeWitt
Clinton, 10-term Mayor of New York City, Governor of
New York, State Senator and US Senator representing NY was
born on March 2, 1769. Clinton was a major advocate of the
building of the Erie canal, so much so that it was often
referred to as "Clinton's Ditch..."
March 3
...the original wooden wall on Wall
Street is erected to provide fortification for the Dutch
colony this day in 1653...
...also on this day in 1877 the New
York Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan
buildings using the underground system of steam pipes that
still exist under the streets of New York City...and in
1885 the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New
York State. By the end of the year, the first line —
between New York and Philadelphia — is completed and
able to handle one call at a time...
March 4
...the original village of Harlem
was established in 1658 by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant
and named Nieuw Haarlem after the Dutch city of Haarlem...
...this day in 1944 mobster Louis
Lepke Buchalter dies in the electric chair on at 11:16
PM, the first and only mob boss ever to be legally executed....
...Bronx high school graduate Harry B. Helmsley, billionaire
real estate mogul and husband of "Queen of Mean"
Leona, is born this day in 1909...
March 5
...the Congress of New York issues ts own money during
colonial times dated March
5, 1776.
March 6
.... slugger Babe Ruth signs a contract with the Bronx
Bombers for 3 years at $52,000 a year this day in 1922...and
in 1945, Rob Reiner (All in the Family, Stand By Me) is
born in the Bronx....
March 7
...the first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation
takes place between New York - London, and is blessedly
"without static" reports the New York Times this
day in 1926....
March 8
March 8
...in 1915, the Fire Department of New York organizes Rescue
Company 1 with headquarters at 42 Great Jones Street
...
March 9
...legendary Brooklyn bank robber "Slick
Willie" Sutton pulls off a heist at Manufacturers
Bank to the tune of $64,000 this day in 1950 ....
March 10
...the Belasco Theater is transformed into a nightclub
this night in 1975 for the premier of The
Rockey Horror Show, starring Tim Curry. The show only
lasts or 32 performances, but later kicks off a cult classic
movie version with midnight showings held coast to coast
...
March 11
...two columns of light soar skyward from Ground Zero in
New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the 9/11
attacks this night in 2002, commemorating the sixth month
anniversary...
March 12
...unseasonably warm weather is followed by the Great
Blizzard of '88 this day dumping 22 inches of snow on
the city, disrupting transporation citywide and resulting
in the deaths of 200 New Yorkers. Major flooding is also
reported in Brooklyn when the deluge begins to melt days
later ...
March 13
...the first
Trinity Church on Wall Street and Broadway is completed
this day in 1698 with legendary help from pirate William
Kidd, who lends workers the runner and tackle from his ship
for hoisting the stones ...
March 12
March 14
...weeks after after winning her first horse race, Barbara
Jo Rubin rides Brave Galaxy to victory to become the
first woman jockey to win at Aqueduct race track ...
March 15
...patented by Jesse W. Reno this day in 1892, the first
escaltor is basically an inclined conveyor belt with
wooden slats. Four years later it's installed as an amusement
ride at Coney Island ...
March 16
...Peter Stuyvesant issues New Amsterdam's first tavern
license this day in 1648...March 16, 1827 1st U.S. black
newspaper, "Freedom's Journal" begins publishing
in New York City...
March 17
...America has its first
St. Patrick's Day parade in New York this day in 1779
when The Volunteers of Ireland (Irish soldiers serving in
the British army) march in honor of Ireland's patron saint,
kicking off a centuries-old New York tradition...
March 18
...beginning the this day in 1741, mysterious fires begin
breaking out all over town, attended by wild rumors that
Negroe slaves are plotting to burn down the entire city.
The hysteria results in one of New York City's darkest days
as colonists burn 14 slaves "alive with a slow fire
until dead and consumed to ashes," and hang 18 more
during the Great
Negro Plot...
March 19
...the first bank robbery in America is reported this day
in 1831 when The City Bank of New York City is shorted $245,000
in a brazen heist. Edward Smith, an English immigrant, is
later convicted of the crime and sentenced to five years
hard labor at Sing Sing prison ...
March 20
...the first women to be elecrocuted in the U.S. is the
mentally unbalanced Martha Place, who is convicted in Brooklyn
this day in 1899 for the murder of her 17-year-old stepdaughter,
and the attempted axe bludgeoning of her husband, William,
a key witness at her trial...
March 21
...on this day in 1790, Thomas Jefferson arrives in New
York to assume duties as the new Secretary of State of the
United States and spends his first week "in almost
unbroken conference" with new U.S. President George
Washington ...
March 22
.... tidy and fastidious Mrs. Van Cortlandt is driven to
distraction by all the dust raised by her husband's delivery
horses at their brewery on Brouwer (Brewer) Street. After
she and her neighbors raise enough funds, the dusty thoroughfare
becomes the first cobblestone-paved street in old New Amsterdam
this day in 1658. The street is later appropriately named
Stone
Street, today sandwiched between South William and Pearl
...
March 23
...20-year-old Brooklyn funny girl Barbra
Streisand makes her Broadway debut inI Can
Get It for You Wholesale...and the reviews
are in : "The evening's find is Barbara Streisand,
a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice
and an arpeggiated laugh. Miss Streisand is a natural comedienne"
proclaims the New York Times this day in 1962...
March 26
March 24
...this day in 1961 the New York Senate approves $55 million
for a baseball stadium at Flushing Meadows. It is later
named for William
Alfred Shea, an attorney who is instrumental in acquiring
a new team for New York following the departure of the Giants
and the Dodgers in the 1950's....
March 25
....the infamous and tragic Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire on Washington Place erupts on
the eight floor this day in 1911 resulting in the deaths
of 146 of the 500 employees, many of whom find exit doors
locked and escape impossible. Many jump to their deaths
to the street rather than to burn alive ...
March 26
...later to transform Vogue from a small New York
society rag into the world's premier fashion magazine, New
Yorker Condé
Nast is born this day in 1873...
March 27
...discoverd to be the source of a widespread typhoid fever
epidemic this day in 1907, "Typhoid
Mary" Mallon is carried off, kicking and screaming,
to an isolation cottage on the grounds of the Riverside
Hospital, between the Bronx and Rikers Island...
March 28
...still one of the largest theaters on Broadway and the
original home to mega-hits such as Camelot, Funny Girl,
Breakfast at Tiffanys, Grease, and Phantom of the
Opera, the Majestic Theater opens on West 44th Street
this day in 1927...
March 29
...John
Jacob Astor, the first millionaire in the United States
dies on March 29, 1848. He is buried at Trinity Church in
Manhattan...
March 30
...this day in 1909 the Queensboro
Bridge opens, linking Manhattan and Queens. Better known
to locals as the 59th Street Bridge, it is later immortalized
as a pop song by Simon & Garfunkel in their hit, The
59th Street Bridge Song/Feelin’ Groovy...
March 31
...highbrow pop history is made on this day when Gustav
Mahler conducts the New York Philharmonic for the first
time in 1909... and in 1921, Albert Einstein lectures in
New York on his new theory of relativity....
...this day in 1864, sculptor Emma Stebbins is commissioned
to create the sculpture for the Bethesda Fountain in Central
Park. Dubbed the Angel
of the Waters it is unveiled in 1873...
...March 31, 1923 sees the first dance marathon take place
in New York City where Alma Cummings dances for a record
27 hours...
...taking
Manhattan to the Web.
