New York City Events

1835 Aug 10 P. T. Barnum Begins Career As Showman
In 1835 P. T. Barnum began as a showman with his purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman, Joice Heth, claimed by Barnum to have been the nurse of Ge...
1835 Aug 25
to 1835 Aug 31
 The Great Moon Hoax
During the final week of August 1835, a long article appeared in serial form on the front page of the New York Sun. It bore the headline: GREAT ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES LATELY MADE ...
1841 P. T. Barnum Purchases Scudder's American Museum
In 1841 Barnum bought Scudder’s American Museum located across from St. Paul’s on the southeast corner of Broadway and Ann Street. He transformed the five-story exterior into a giant, gau...
1842 Dec 8 Charles Sherwood Stratton, aka 'General Tom Thumb' Performs at Barnum's American Museum
Visiting his home state of Connecticut on a cold November night in 1842, the great showman Phineas T. Barnum thought to track down an amazingly small child he had heard about. The boy, Ch...
1850 Sep 11 P. T. Barnum Arranges American Tour of Swedish Opera Star, Jenny Lind
By 1849, when Lind was in the midst of her third triumphant London season, P. T. Barnum had become aware of her success and the large audiences she attracted. Earlier in 1845 and 1846 Bar...
1857 Aug 24
to 1859 Feb 1
 The Panic of 1857
The major financial catalyst for the panic of 1857 was the August 24, 1857, failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. It was soon reported that the enti...
1858 Oct 27 Theodore Roosevelt is Born
Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in a four-story brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, in the modern-day Gramercy section of New York City, the second of four children of The...
1860 Conjoined Twins Chang And Eng Bunker Appear At Barnum's American Museum
Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins from Siam (now Thailand), came to the U.S. in 1829 and toured the nation and the world over the next four decades. Born in 1811 of Chinese parents, t...
1860 William Henry Johnson, aka 'Zip the Pinhead' Begins Performing at Barnum's American Museum
William Henry Johnson was born to a very poor African-American family. His parents were William and Mahalia Johnson, former slaves. As he grew his body developed normally but his head rem...
1862 Anna Haining Swan Appears at Barnum's American Museum
Anna Haining Bates, born Anna Haining Swan (August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888), was a Canadian from Mill Brook, New Annan, (near present-day Tatamagouche), Colchester County, Nova Scotia, f...
1865 Isaac W. Sprague, aka 'The Original Living Skeleton' Begins Performing at Barnum's American Museum
Isaac W. Sprague (May 21, 1841, in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts - January 5, 1887, in Chicago, Illinois) was a famous "human skeleton". Although normal for most of his childhood, Sp...
1865 Jul 13 Barnum's American Museum Destroyed In Massive Fire
Music has ceased forever in Scudder's balcony, not because of rain but of fire. When Barnum's Museum burned, a few days since, one of the few interesting, and from Halleck's lines we may ...
1871 P. T. Barnum Begins Displaying Cardiff Giant
The Giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. Hull, an atheist, decided to create the giant after an argument with a fundamentalist minister named Mr. Turk about...
1875 Dec 4 William Marcy "Boss" Tweed Escapes From Prison
On December 4, 1875, William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, notorious leader of New York City's Democratic political machine, escaped from prison and fled to Europe. Between 1865 and 1871, Boss Twee...
1879 Arthur James Caley, aka 'The Middlebush Giant' Begins Performing at Barnum's American Museum
Arthur James Caley or Routh Goshen (May 5, 1837 - February 12, 1889) was most commonly known as Colonel Routh Goshen, but this was a stage name that was created by Phineas Taylor Barnum. ...
1880 Hiram and Barney Davis, aka 'The Wild Men of Borneo' Begin Performing at Barnum's American Museum
The Wild Men of Borneo, Waino and Plutano, were a pair of exceptionally strong dwarf brothers who were most famously associated with P. T. Barnum and his freak show exhibitions. Waino ...
1882 Sep 5 The First Labor Day Parade
On September 5, 1882, some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City to participate in America's first Labor Day parade. After marching from City Hall, past reviewing stands in Union Squa...
1885 Jun 19 Statue Of Liberty Arrives In New York
Construction of the statue began in 1875 in France, and was completed in June 1884. A design patent, for the statue was issued, by the United States Patent Office, on February 18, 1879. ...
1891 Carnegie Hall Built
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th S...
1891 Jul 30 Nikola Tesla becomes a citizen of the United States
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York in the same year. Later, Tesla e...
1892 Jan 1 First Immigrants Pass through Ellis Island on way to US Citizenship
On January 1, 1892, a fifteen-year old Irish girl named Annie Moore became the first of the more than twelve million immigrants who would pass through the doors of the Ellis Island Immigr...
1895 May 6
to 1897 Apr 19
 Theodore Roosevelt Becomes President of the Board of the NYC Police Commissioners
Roosevelt became president of the board of New York City Police Commissioners in 1895. During his two years in this post, Roosevelt radically reformed the police department. The police fo...
1899 Sep 14 Henry Bliss is the First Person Killed in a Motor Vehicle Accident in the United States
H. H. Bliss, a real estate dealer, with offices at 41 Wall Street, and living at 235 West Seventy-fifth Street, was run over last night at Central Park West and Seventy-fourth Street. He ...
1903 Apr 22 New York Stock Exchange Building Opened
The new building, located at 18 Broad Street, cost $4 million and opened on April 22, 1903. The trading floor, at 109 x 140 feet (33 x 42.5 m), was one of the largest volumes of space in ...
1913 Al Capone Expelled From School
Al did quite well in school until the sixth grade when his steady record of B's deteriorated rapidly. At fourteen, he lost his temper at the teacher, she hit him and he hit her back. He...
1917 Al Capone Becomes "Scarface" From Knife Fight
Back in 1917 young burly Al Capone was working in the Harvard Inn on Coney Island for Frankie Yale. Frankie Yale was a mob boss in New York. On one particular evening back in 1917 ...
1920 Sep 16 Wall Street Bombing
One employee of J. P. Morgan & Co., William Joyce, of the securities department, was killed yesterday by the explosion in Wall Street between the Morgan and Co. building and the United St...
1926 Oct 22 'The Sun Also Rises' Is Published
The Sun Also Rises epitomized the post-war expatriate generation for future generations. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway melds Paris to Spain; vividly depicts the running of the bulls in...
1932 Dec 27 Radio City Music Hall Opens
Radio City Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932. Located in New York City's Rockefeller Center, this fabulous Art Deco theater is home to the The Radio City Christmas Spec...
1941
to 1943
Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Draws Political Cartoons for PM Magazine
These cartoons rail against isolationism, racism, and ant-Semitism with a conviction and fervor lacking in most other American editorial pages of the period. These are virtually the only...
1947 Edward R. Murrow Fires William L. Shirer
The relationship between Murrow and Shirer ended in 1947 in one of the great confrontations of American broadcast journalism, when Shirer was fired by CBS. He said he resigned in the heat...
1956 Jul 25 The SS Andrea Doria Collides with MS Stockholm
A little after 11:00 p.m., the Stockholm struck the Doria, delivering a fatal blow. The impact opened such a gaping hole in the Doria's side that within minutes the ship was leaning dange...
1957 Feb 1 Northeast Airlines Flight 823 Crashes
After what was described as a normal takeoff roll, the aircraft lifted off. Upon establishing a positive rate of climb, the landing gear and wing flaps were retracted, and the engine powe...
1960 Apr 28 Elena Kagan is Born
Kagan was born in New York City, the middle of three children, on the city's Upper West Side. Her mother, Gloria Gittelman Kagan, taught fifth and sixth grade at Hunter College Elementary...
1969 Jun 28 The Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village Unofficially Ignite the Gay Rights Movement
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Gr...
1970 Aug 26 Women's Strike for Equality
Jonathan Friedan, Betty Friedan’s middle child (and my third cousin), spent much of August 1970 fighting forest fires in Washington State. When his backpack was stolen, the 17-year-old hi...
2004 Jun 27 2004 New York City Gay Pride Parade
Every year, New York City attracts millions of people to its gay pride celebration. From the New York City Gay Pride Parade, to incredible NYC Gay Pride parties, it is a gay pride celebra...
2005 Jun 26 2005 New York City Gay Pride Parade
Much to the delight of gay and straight New Yorkers, yesterday's steamy weather meant that there was more reason for marchers in the Gay Pride Parade to go shirtless. If you were downtown...
2005 Oct 6 Lauryn Hill Performs at Take Back TV Concert
On October 6, 2005, Hill emceed and performed two songs at the Take Back TV concert launching Al Gore's CurrentTV.
2006 Jun 25 2006 New York City Gay Pride Parade
New York City's Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade is a huge event that draws a huge crowd - gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight! It is actually one of the final events in an enti...
2007 Jun 24
12:00PM
 2007 New York City Gay Pride Parade
THE DETAILS • When: Sunday, June 24; noon • Where: The parade begins on Fifth Avenue at 52nd Street and proceeds south to 8th Street where it continues west. At Sixth Avenue, the parade...
2008 Jun 29 2008 New York City Gay Pride Parade
If there was ever any doubt that gay people form one of Gov. David A. Paterson’s most loyal and enthusiastic constituencies, that doubt was erased on Sunday by the howl of a drag queen on...
2008 Sep 15 Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection
On September 15, 2008, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the massive exodus of most of its employees and clients, drastic losses in its stock, and devaluation ...
2009 Jun 17 Protests Against Iranian Election Results Continue in New York City
Demonstrators gathered in New York City's Union Square Wednesday evening in support of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. The rally attracted about 700 people - a far cry f...
2009 Jun 24 Economic summit for poor nations at UN in New York
A summit on the world financial crisis gets under way at UN headquarters in New York later. It is the first time rich and poor nations have got together to discuss the impact of the wo...
2009 Jun 28
12:00PM
 2009 New York City Gay Pride Parade
New York City celebrates Gay Pride for a full week each June, to honor what many consider to be one of the foremost events in the history of lesbian and gay rights, the Stonewall Riots, w...
2011 Oct 15 Over 70 Protesters Arrested in New York at Occupy Wall Street Demonstration
Police say more than 70 people have been arrested in New York City during demonstrations against corporate greed, including 45 in Times Square. Two police officers suffered injuries an...