Upcoming Art Show

Dear Friends, I'm pleased to announce that a show of my paintings is opening at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts on March 31st and runs until May 7th. Opening Reception: March 31st, 6 - 8 PM Kathryn Markel Fine Arts 529 W. 20th St. NY, NY I hope that you have a chance to stop by. Best Wishes, Mary Didoardo

Mary's an old friend of Joann and myself from our NYC days (prior to 1991. We're sure you'll enjoy her work. If you go tell her Eagles Byte sent you.

David

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MEETING - AUGUST 13, 2014

Save Our Seaport invites the public to its fifth Town Meeting Wednesday, August 13, 2014 6:30-7:30PM Southbridge Towers Community Room Guest Speakers include: Maureen Koetz, Environmental Law Attorney Joanne Gorman, Southbridge Towers resident, SOS Activist Bridget Schuy, Realty Specialist Lower Manhattan After the speakers there will be a brief question and answer period with open discussion, followed by a walk through the South Street Historic District.

BRONX INVADES MANHATTAN

75 YEARS AGO TUESDAY, PUTINESQUE BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT JAMES J. LYONS PLANTED HIS FLAG AND ATTEMPTED TO SEIZE A PIECE OF MANHATTAN!

A LECTURE WILL COMMEMORATE LYONS' STUNT.

On March 11, 1939, Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons invaded Manhattan and tried to annex a piece of it for his borough! With his driver in tow he climbed to the highest point in Marble Hill and planted the Bronxflag. Marble Hill, though physically attached to the Bronx in 1913 with landfill, was legally Manhattan territory.

To mark the 75th anniversary of B.P. Lyons' audacious stunt, on Tuesday, March 11th Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione will offer a lighthearted multimedia presentation about the curious history of Marble Hill.

See a photo of the flag-planting, read an amusing New York Times article about the event, and get complete details about the lecture here: 

https://sites.google.com/site/manhattanboroughhistorian/ 

SOS MEETING THURSDAY JANUARY 30th Save Our Seaport Meeting Thursday, January 30th 6:30pm St. Margaret’s 49 Fulton St. Our next public meeting is approaching — we will meet this Thursday, January 30th, at our usual spot: Conference Room 1 at St. Margaret’s House 49 Fulton Street, 6:30PM . Our numbers have been growing, and we need YOU! Please plan to join us on Thursday. DOWNTOWN POST NYC Many of you are familiar with the outstanding coverage provided by Terese Loeb Kreuzer when she was reporting for the Downtown Express. Terese has launched her own project, Downtown Post NYC, and continues to write insightfully about our historic neighborhood and the fight to preserve it. The newsletter is delivered three times a week to your email, and you can sign up at www.downtownpostnyc.com.

SAVE OUR SEAPORT WEEK'S EVENTS

The Pier 17 shopping mall closes after today, with demolition to follow.

The SOS Seaport Watch continues… more hands are needed!

Tuesday, September 10th (that's tomorrow!) at 1:30pm, meet outside Key Food at 55 Fulton Street, from there we’ll move on to The Blue School on Water Street, for an hour or two of leaflets, talking with our neighbors, and bringing people on board for the fight to Save Our Seaport!

The next evening, Wednesday, September 11th at 6:30pm we will have a Save Our Seaport public meeting in the meeting room at St. Margaret’s Center (Map).

At our last meeting, we resolved to increase our activity in the District, plan regular SOS meetings, announce a “Seaport Watch” to take part in (see above), and a rally at the end of the month.

There is much to talk about. We will certainly discuss the disturbing information in this Downtown Express article.

Important meeting dates:

• Our next SOS meeting, September 11, 6:30pm, St. Margaret’s (Map).
• Community Board 1 Seaport meeting on September 17 (Details to follow).

Please join us!

P.S. If you don’t already follow us on Twitter (@SaveOurSeaport) and Like us on Facebook (facebook.com/SaveOurSeaport), please do – these are the best ways to keep up with the latest developments!

BOOK TALK - MARGUERITE HOLLOWAY

Thurs. Apr. 11, 8:00 p.m.

Clark Auditorium

Cultural Education Center - Empire State Plaza

222 Madison Avenue - Albany

Marguerite Holloway, author of The Measure of Manhattan, will speak about the fascinating history of John Randel, Jr., the man who plotted the grid transforming hilly, undeveloped, early 19th century Manhattan into today's modern, geometric city.

Free and open to the public.  Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the Friends of the New York State Library, and the New York Council for the Humanities.

Free parking for this event is available in the Cathedral Lot, just east of the CEC.

Posted at the request of the Friends of the New York State Library.

St. Mark's Bookshop Victory

Together we have scored a victory for the St. Mark’s Bookshop and the Lower East Side! Cooper Union has agreed to a new one-year lease to reduce their monthly rent to $17,500. The bookshop has a $2,500/month rent reduction and Cooper Union will forgive back rent owed. This is a $37,500 win for the bookstore. We won through a lot of organizing -- including your signature among the 44,128 on our online petition. Thank you!

The organization that led this fight -- the Cooper Square Committee -- knows that bookshops are a crucial part of our beloved Lower East Side community. We have organized for over 52 years to ensure that the Lower East Side remains an affordable home to the diverse multi-ethnic community of working people and artists that has continued to draw so many people to it.


Join Our Victory Celebration and Mark their 34th anniversary serving the community

St. Mark’s Bookshop:
31 Third Avenue (corner of 9th Street)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011
5:30-7:30pm
* Celebrate our win, meet up with friends and neighbors
* Learn more about our community
* Learn more about the Cooper Square Committee (You can also learn more about the Cooper Square Committee -- its history battling Robert Moses and later gentrification, and its current tenants’ organizing --
here: http://www.coopersquare.org/

If you can't come in person, check out the St. Mark's Bookshop website: http://www.stmarksbookshop.com/
Peace with justice,

Joyce Ravitz
Chairperson
Cooper Square Committee

NEW YORK CITY TIMELINE - 1755-1759

NYNY 1755-1759

1755

Jun 19

Former City of New York coroner John Burnet is appointed coroner again, after Bartholomew Crannell, his replacement, moves to Poughkeepsie.

Sep 11

John, a servant of New York City resident Daniel Obrian, falls into the East River near John Moore’s wharf while drunk and drowns. ** William Hunter and James Smith, servant to the gunner of the HMS Sphinx, falls overboard from the ship’s jollyboat or dinghy at New York City and drowns.

Sep 25

Mariner James Wilkes assaults John Christie in New York City with a hanger (cutlass).

Sep 28

Christie dies of his wounds. Wilkes is charged with murder by a coroner’s jury.

Oct 14

John Burnet, reappointed coroner, takes his oath of office.

Nov 22

Rewben Hutchins and Thomas Brooks, seamen sleeping on the snow (brig) Charming Nancy, are suffocated in New York City when a fire meant to dry out the hold gets out of control. Fellow sailor Jacob King so testifies before a coroner’s jury.

Dec 25

Britain’s Royal American (60^th Foot) Regiment is formed on New York City’s Nutten

(Governors) Island.

Dec 26

New York City mariner Patrick Harper dies of, “an inflammation and mortification in his bowels”.

City

Hanover Square publisher and bookseller Hugh Gaine publishes a catalogue of books he has for sale. ** The approximate date Adam Vanderberg opens the Drover’s Inn (later the Bulls-Head) on the former Company Farm property on lower Broadway. In 1838 it will become the site of the Astor House Hotel.

1756

Jan 7

New York City jail prisoner, John Tilyou, incarcerated for debt, dies of natural causes.

Mar 25

A New York City coroner’s jury affirms that a new male infant was stillborn.

May 12

Benjamin Spratt, in jail in New York City for desertion from his provincial militia company, dies of unknown causes.

Jun 1

New York City resident Maria Slyter “. . . of the visitation of God dyed.”.

Jun 13

The drowned body of an unknown male is found in New York’s East River.

Jun 22

Samuel Bull, a black man, falls from the packet ship General Wall in New York City’s East River, drowns.

Jul 8

New York City cartman (freight transporter) James Davis accidentally runs over and kills a John Crew.

Jul 22

The HMS Nightingale arrives off New Jersey's Sandy Hook carrying Lieutenant General John Campbell, earl of Loudon, for New York City, to replace governor William Shirley as commander of Britain's forces in North America.

Jul 23

Loudon arrives in lower Manhattan.

Jul 24

Loudon confers with Shirley for the first time. He will travel to Albany toward the end of the month.

November

A new coach service starts at John Butler’s Sign of the Death of the Fox tavern in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Alley, transporting passengers to New York City.

Nov 23

Andries Gush, slave of Nicholas Bayard of New York City, commits suicide, shooting himself.

City

The St. Andrews Society is founded.

1757

Feb 11

John Williams of New York City, slips and falls in the water while trying to board the packet Earle of Halifax, drowns. ** Intoxicated New Yorker Mary Callaghan falls from a pier, drowns.

Feb 13

Intoxicated New Yorker Jane Bailey falls into her fire, is burned to death.

March

The approximate date an intoxicated Andrew Pearse, falls from the ship Earl of Halifax moored in New York City’s East River, drowns.

Mar 30

Francis Gray, master of the transport Mary, shots himself in New York City in the morning, dies instantly.

Apr 15

New York City resident James Sprowl, a mariner, is bayoneted by a British sergeant and three grenadiers stationed in the city.

May 4

James Sprowl dies of his wounds.

May 17

When Michael Fatt, grenadier stationed on New York City’s Nutten (Governors) Island attacks fellow grenadier Christopher Hesse with a sword, Hesse uses his own sword on Fatt, killing him.

Jun 7

New York City resident Jane Lightfoot falls from the ferry stairs on the East River, drowns.

Jun 17

James Denton, a prisoner in New York City’s jail, dies of smallpox.

Jul 7

New York City jail prisoner John Pell, held on suspicion of felony, dies of smallpox.

Sep 20

Proclaimed New York City lunatic Michael Sharpe hangs himself in the home of widow Eliza Auncly. ** An intoxicated Henry Greenfield falls into the river at New York City while going from the wharf onto the packet Earle of Leicester, drowns.

Oct 4

Pedlar John McShee goes to bed intoxicated at the home of Thomas Wall, is found dead the next morning. His goods will be impounded for his debts, the remainder being delivered to Mr. Wall at the request of McShee’s widow.

Dec 19

Ailing New York City resident Johanna Casebold collapses and dies, near Wall Street.

Dec 22

Jailed New York City militiaman John Terry drinks himself to death.

Dec 24

The New York City Assembly approves the fees of coroner John Burnet.

City

Alderman John Cruger, Jr., son of former mayor John Cruger, is appointed mayor for the next ten one-year terms. ** The first colonial art exhibit is held. ** Lawyer Joseph Murray – one of the founders of King’s College (later Columbia) - dies in New York in his early to mid-sixties.

1758

Jan 20

Edward Pearse, ship’s steward of the packet Earl of Halifax, moored off Manhattan, assaults Alexander Doughlass of the packet Generall Wall, knocking him into the water, where Doughlass drowns.

Mar 20

The body of an unidentified black man is found drowned, in New York City.

Apr 5

French prisoner of war John Pignon dies in New York City, cause unknown.

May 31

A drunken Thomas Coats attempts to go aboard the ship Success in New York harbor, falls into the water and drowns.

Jun 9

Drunken sailor John Brady attempts to relieve himself out an upper window in the East Ward of New York City, slips and falls to his death.

Jul 11

Demented shipwright John Rissett strangles himself to death in New York City.

Jul 14

Eighteen-year-old New York City resident Eleanor Wright (widow of William Wright), subject to fits, is found dead by neighbors.

Jul 27

Drunken seaman Charles Scott falls off the ship Terrible in New York City, drowns.

Jul 30

A New York City coroner’s inquest rules that a found unknown person, apparently a Dutchman, had drowned.

Aug 6

Debtors’ prison inmate John Smith leaps to his death from New York ‘s City Hall.

Aug 9

When a sudden wind strikes and overturns a barge in the Hudson River off lower Manhattan, seaman Joseph Whelssley drowns.

Sep 3

A “Negro woman slave” belonging to William Hyer of New York City, is delivered of a dead baby girl.

Oct 22

Susannah Roome, wife of New York City feltmaker Cornelius Roome, makes a deposition before city coroner John Burnet, to the effect that a black slave named Phillis had been jailed approximately five week earlier for attempting to poison her owner, a tailor named Lowder. When she’s released due to severe illness, she’s confined to a small room in Lowder’s home. Phillis had subsequently starved to death. Susannah Roome, swears the slave had been given sufficient food.

Nov 4

Having received a message from New York’s lieutenant governor James DeLancey, reporting the body of a man lying under an East River hay shelter, coroner Burnet summons a15-man jury to investigate. They set out, then learn the man is still living so they all separate and go home.

Dec 9

New York City resident Jacobus Ryckman is attacked with a sword by a British soldier

of the “Royall Americn Regiment of foot” and wounded.

Dec 17

Ryckman dies of his wound.

Dec 18

A New York City coroner’s jury determines that Ryckman’s unknown attacker is guilty of murder.

City

The Nassau Street Theatre is converted into a German Calvinist church. ** The provincial legislature establishes a quarantine station at Bedloe's Island, in New York harbor.

Bronx

Blacksmith Isaac Valentine buys property in the Norwood section, then part of Westchester County, from the Dutch Reformed Church.

1759

January

A daughter, Jane, is born to British army chaplain William Haliburton and his wife Emily Tyne Haliburton, in New York City.

Mar 13

Widower Scots-born doctor William Farquhar marries botany enthusiast Jane Colden, daughter of Cadwallader Colden, in New York’s Trinity Church. She will abandon her botanical studies.

October 12

Festivities held in New York City to celebrate the fall of Québec include a bonfire, illuminations, toasts, and the discharge of over a hundred cannon.

Nov 10

New York City celebrates the birthday of George II.

City

Bridewell, a three-story jail is built next to the almshouse in the old City Hall Park. ** Kafeltas and Sharpe's Old Insurance Office, at the Coffee-House, and Anthony Van Dam's New York Insurance Office next door, begin offering Marine Insurance. ** British captain Henry Gladwin of the 48th Regiment of Foot is appointed temporary major. ** Frederick Philipse’s 1693 toll bridge across Spuyten Duyvil Creek, linking Manhattan to the mainland, shuts down when faced by the competing bridge built this year by Benjamin Palmer and Jacob Dyckman, to avoid Philipse’s high tolls.

© 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte