On this day in Old New York - Old NY Tours

Lincoln Highway Dedicated

10/31/2014

1916 route map of the Lincoln Highway. Source: 1916-Lincoln Highway Route-1916 Official Road Guide

On this day, October 31st, 1913 the Lincoln Highway was dedicated. It was the first automobile road across United States. The Lincoln Highway spanned coast to coast from Times Square, New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco passing through 13 states. There are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and over 700 cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

Orson Welles and Aliens in NYC

10/30/2014

Orson Welles, March 1, 1937 Source:Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Van Vechten Collection, reproduction number LC-USZ62-119765. Carl Van Vechten (1880–1964)

On this day, October 30th, 1938 Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds at Columbia Broadcasting Building, 485 Madison Avenue, New York. The radio program was recorded as a series of news bulletins that were fictional. This particular "report" caused alarm and anxiety as they described an alien attack that was under way.
The program's news bulletin format was heavily criticized after the incident. However, the episode secured Orson Welle's fame.

October Storm NYC

10/29/2014

On this day, October 29th, 2011 an early season snow storm hits New York City. The storm brought 19 inches and icy conditions. However, uncharacteristically high temperatures in the days ahead salvaged Halloween for Trick or Treaters!

Statue of Liberty Dedication Prompts Parade

10/28/2014

Statue of Liberty Photo by Old New York Tours

On this day, October 28th, 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
As the Statue of Liberty was being dedicated the first ticker-tape begins! Office workers started throwing ticker tape down to the streets from their windows starting the long standing tradition.

First Underground Addition to NYC Subway

10/27/2014

Top: #1236 arrives at Fordham Road (Jerome Avenue El) on the 4 line. Bottom: an R160A E train waits for passengers at 42 St - Port Authority Bus Terminal. September 24th, 2011 Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Subway_R142_on_the_4_R160A_on_the_M.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Subway_R160A_9237_on_the_E.jpg Adam E. Moreira

On this day, October 27th, 1904 the first underground New York City Subway line opens. The subway system becomes the biggest in the United States and one of the biggest in the world.

First Commercial Flight

10/26/2014

On this day, October 26th, 1958 Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight from New York City to Paris, France.

New York Daily News Strikes

10/25/2014

On this day, October 25th, 1990, The New York Daily News goes on strike.
Eight out of the ten Daily News unions went on strike after drivers went months without a contract.
This event marked one of the symptoms of near bankruptcy that almost ended this new york daily.
The strike lasted five months and shorty afterward, the newspaper restructured.
Going strong today, The New York Daily News maintains local bureaus in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, City Hall, One Police Plaza and various state and federal courthouses in the city.

Annie Edson Taylor Born Today

10/24/2014

Annie Edson Taylor, the first person who'd survived a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel on 24 October 1901. |Source=Francis J. Petrie Photograph Collection |Author=Template:Cade |Date=1901

On this day, October 24, in 1838, Annie Edson Taylor was born in Auburn, New York. She was one of eight children.

An independent woman widowed at an early age, Taylor supported herself through various, sometimes creative endeavors. She became a schoolteacher, earning an honors degree through a four year course. Taylor would go on to open her own dancing school in Bay City, Michigan and later a music school in Sault Sainte Marie, also in Michigan.
Taylor’s true claim to fame came on October 24th, 1901 on her 63rd birthday when she became the first person to go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel. Traveling to the edge of the falls in a rowboat, she climbed into the barrel and friends screwed the lid shut. A bicycle tire compress was used to pump air into the barrel and then plugged up with a cork. After the plunge the currents carried the barrel toward the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and rescuers reached her shortly afterward. The stunt was successful with Taylor incurring only a minor injury, a cut on her head. Although she did survive this daredevil stunt, the adventuress did not make her fortune as planned. She did earn money speaking about her experience for a short time but when her manager, Frank Russell ran off with her barrel, most her savings was spent on private investigators attempting to track the barrel down.

In her later years, Taylor posed for photographs in New York City with tourists and sold souvenirs.

Although it never came to be, Taylor talked about attempting the plunge a second time in 1906. She also had plans to write a novel and reenacting her first plunge on screen which was never actually seen.

She supported herself working as a clairvoyant and providing magnetic therapeutic treatments to local residents.

Annie Taylor died on April 29, 1921, aged 82, at the Niagara County Infirmary in Lockport, New York. She is interred in the "Stunters Section" of Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York.

Suffragettes Take Manhattan

10/23/2014

Rose Sanderson Women's suffragists demonstrate in February 1913. The triangular pennants read "VOTES FOR WOMEN". The negative is labeled "ROSE SANDERSON", the woman holding the trumpet. An adjacent photograph in the series (LC-DIG-ggbain-12482) contains a flyer labeled "COME AND WATCH SUFFRAGE SPREAD" that identifies the event as one sponsored by the National Suffrage Association. MEDIUM: 1 negative : glass ; 5 × 7 in. or smaller. Date 10 February 1913 Source Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-12483 (digital file from original negative), archival TIFF version (23 MiB), color level (pick white point), cropped, and converted to JPEG with the GIMP 2.6.1, image quality 88. Bain News Service. Photographer

On this day, October 23rd, 1915, 25,000 - 33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue in New York City to advocate their right to vote.

Metropolitan Opera House Opens

10/22/2014

Metropolitan Opera House, New York, c1905 Courtesy Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress, LC-D401-18319

On this day, October 22, in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera House, also known as the Old Met, opened its doors for the first time. A performance of Faust by Charles Gounod.

It was gutted by fire, 9 years later, on August 27, 1892.