This Day in History

Today in 1970 Mayor Lindsay appoints a special commission to investigate police corruption allegations brought by officer Frank Serpico and others; it is headed by Whitman Knapp.

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Community > NYC Facts

The New-York Historical Society and NYC Media, the official network of the City of New York, have partnered to produce a special series of 90 one-minute videos that feature the staff of the New-York Historical Society as they answer some of the most captivating questions ever posed to them about the City’s fascinating and unique history. And now, the series has been nominated for a New York Emmy award!

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When Did NYC Lose Its Iconic Letter Telephone Exchanges?

In 1960 the New York Telephone Company declared the need to create new exchanges by using the 0 and 1 from the dial and assigned its first all-number exchange. The letters were not fully banished from the white pages until 1978. The letter exchanges denoted neighborhoods or old families or were merely made up by the telephone company supervisor John C. Doughty. 

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What Was the Pig War?

It was one of a series of wars fought between Dutch settlers of New Netherland and the local Native Americans. In this instance in 1640 the Dutch made a false accusation of swine theft against the Staten Island Lenapes that mushroomed into a bloody and complicated feud encompassing the entire region.

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Do You Have to Be a Musician to Join the Harmonie Club?

 The German word "harmonie" in the club's title does not refer to musical harmony. Founded in 1852 by German Jews who were refused admission to private clubs in New York City, the club was known as Gesellschaft Harmonie, loosely translated as "a harmonious company or party" until 1893. From its start the club extended membership to both Jews and non-Jews of German descent.

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Is C.P.H. Gilbert the Same Architect as Cass Gilbert, Who Designed the Woolworth Building?

 No. C(harles) P(ierrepont) H(enry) Gilbert, a "manion specialist," designed a number of distinguished residences in Brooklyn and Manhattan—including the home of Frank W. Woolworth. This, and the habit of referring to C.P.H. Gilbert by his initials, has led even some architecture experts to confuse him with Cass Gilbert, the more famous designer of Woolworth's iconic office building in lower Manhattan.

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What Is Showered on the Honorees of So-Called Ticker-Tape Parades?

Even before stock tickers became obsolete, shredded documents and newspapers rained down with ticker tape along the "Canyon of Heroes." The tradition started when workers flung ribbons of tape out office windows to celebrate the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. The earliest known image of the practice appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on October 27, 1888.

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Does "Tea Water" Actually Have Anything to Do With Tea?

The term referred to water of sufficient quality for making tea but also to potable water in general. Colonial pollution compromised New York's limited supply of fresh water, which presented an ongoing problem until the opening of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842. In the meantime, tea water flowed from a small assortment of private wells that dotted the city.

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