Today in 1883 The Brooklyn Bridge, the engineering marvel that was then the longest span in the world, opens with fireworks and fanfare; the festivities are marred by the deaths of twelve pedestrians trampled in a panic.
This Day in History
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Today in 1911: the @NYPL’s grand Beaux-Arts building at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue is dedicated.
New York Public Library (under construction), ca. 1902-1903. Gelatin silver print. New-York...
Unidentified artist, A Southeast Prospect of the City of New York, ca. 1756-1761. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, 1904.1. On view this summer in From Colony to Nation: 200 Years of...
George P. Hall & Son, Luna Park, Coney Island, 1908. Gelatin silver print. New-York Historical Society
Today in 1903: Coney Island’s Luna Park opens to the illumination of 122,000 bulbs; upscale...
When Was the First Apartment Building Constructed in NYC?
Although multiple-unit tenements were being constructed in the 1830s, these were not considered true apartments because the units did not...
New York Tenement Cross Section, ca. mid-19th Century. New-York Historical Society #39649
On May 14, 1867, the passage of New York’s first tenement house law requires buildings to be equipped with...
Louis Lang, Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, 1862-1863. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society. From The Civil War in 60 Objects by Harold Holzer and the New-...
Crowded ships brought American troops back to New York harbor for months after V-E Day, 5/8/1945. Photo: Troopship returning to New York harbor, 1945. Gelatin silver print. New-York Historical...
Today in 1945: New Yorkers celebrated V-E Day following Germany’s surrender to the World War II Allies. After three dark years, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty turned on their lights in honor...
Today in 1849, photographer Jacob Riis, whose exposes initiated slum clearance programs & new laws, was born in Denmark. Photo: Jacob Riis, Bohemian Cigarmakers. Gelatin silver print. New-York...
