How New Yorkers Lived 150 Years Ago: From The First Hipster Bar To The 70-Pound Bike

\<br\>\<strong\>BICYCLING \<\/strong\> was starting to become more widespread. While early versions were built in the \<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle#History\"\>first half of the 19th century\<\/a\>, two Frenchmen added mechanical crank pedals and the \"velocipede\" was born. Made entirely of either wood or metal (including the tires), these were also called \"boneshakers\" and one of the recommended manufacturers was Mercer and Monod (54 William Street). \<br/\>\<br/\>An 1869 book said of M&M velocipede, \"The steering post is inclined backward which bring the handle within easy reach of the body, and the whole machine under perfect control; and gives it a particularly rakish and natty appearance upon the road… The defect of this machine is its weight, which is about seventy pounds… A good rider on this machine can obtain a speed of ten or twelve miles an hour.\" \r\n\<br/\>\<br/\>Of course, this was a luxury for those who could afford the $100-150 machine (around $1600-2400 today!). With velocipedes hitting the streets, schools were opening to educate riders. A Scientific American reporter visited a facility 928 Broadway where, \"on any week-day evening,\" \"upward of a hundred and fifty gentlemen—doctors, bankers, merchants and representatives from almost every profession—engaged in this training school preparatory…. We frequently drop into the \<em\>Velocinasium\<\/em\> to witness the novel amusement which the exhibition always affords. [T]wo well-known stock brokers, jaded by the excitement of Wall Street, with their coats off and faces burning with zeal, gyrating around the room in the most eccentric manner.\"\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br\>One of the most popular \<strong\>VENUES\<\/strong\> was \<a href=\"http://www.musicals101.com/bwaypast4.htm#Niblo\'s\"\>Niblo’s Garden\<\/a\>, a 3,200 seat auditorium at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street. There, attendees could enjoy refreshments and high-brow as well as low-brow performances.\<br/\>Its manager was actor \<a href=\"http://www.green-wood.com/2010/william-wheatley-saved/\"\>William Wheatley\<\/a\> and he directed \<A href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Crook\"\>\<em\>The Black Crook\<\/em\>\<\/a\>, considered the first American musical, in 1866.\<br/\>\<br/\> The show was extremely popular because it featured Parisian ballet dancers and an unprecedented amount of \"female flesh\"—\"the sale of men\'s opera glasses had reached an all-time high,\" according to \<em\>Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898\<\/em\>. And Mark Twain wrote, \"The scenery and legs are everything...\<strong\> Girls—nothing but a wilderness of girls— stacked up, pile on pile, away aloft to the dome of the theatre... dressed with a meagerness that would make a parasol blush\<\/strong\>.\" \<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br\>One of the more well known \<strong\>BARS\<\/strong\> of the 1860s is \<strong\>PFAFF\'S\<\/strong\>, which opened in 1855 on Broadway just north of Bleecker. One of the beer cellar\'s regulars was Walt Whitman, who once wrote, \"The vault at Pfaffs where the drinkers and laughers meet to eat and drink and carouse, While on the walk immediately overhead pass the myriad feet of Broadway.\"\r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>\r\nAnother regular was Henry Clapp, Jr., who was considered the \"\<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Clapp,_Jr.\"\>King of Bohemia\<\/a\>\"—he founded The Saturday Press, New York\'s answer to the Atlantic Monthly. Some have said this was \"\<a href=\"http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/pfaffs-on-broadway-and-bleecker/\"\>the first hipster bar\<\/a\>\" and today, \<a href=\"http://gothamist.com/2011/11/01/inside_the_vault_at_pfaffs_the_19th.php\"\>it\'s open once again... for hipsters and others alike\<\/a\>.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>\<STRONG\>STREET RAILROAD CAR COMPANIES\<\/STRONG\> ruled the city. By 1860, 14 companies were carrying more than 38 million passengers a year, at around five cents a ride. (Flash forward to 2011: The MTA\'s annual subway ridership was 1,640,434,672.) In 1868, Harpers Weekly ran this cartoon: \"New York Street Railroad Cars—A Rear View\" showing men shoving to board a crowded trolley, proving mass transit \<strong\>ETIQUETTE\<\/strong\> lessons are timeless!\<br/\>\<br\> With so many railroad cars and routes, plans started to emerge for underground and elevated railroads. The first \"el\" trial was in 1868, along Greenwich Street, and it wasn\'t until 1871 that the Ninth Avenue \"el\" opened.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>One \<strong\>RESTAURANT\<\/strong\> at the time (that\'s still open today!) was \<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmonico\'s\"\>Delmonico\'s\<\/a\>, which opened in 1827, and by the 1860s was so successful that between 1865 and 1888 it expanded to four restaurants. With millionaires popping up after the war, many would dine at Delmonico\'s on items like \"partridge stuffed with truffles.\" And Delmonico\'s was hosting plenty of big affairs—in 1860 they provided the supper at the Grand Ball welcoming the Prince of Wales, which was held at the Academy of Music on East 14th Street. \<br/\>\<br/\>Delmonico\'s served French fare, as did many of the expensive establishments of the time, but \<a href=\"http://www.delmonicosny.com/about,85,26,Signature_Dishes.html\"\>it also claims\<\/a\> that it is the restaurant where dishes like Baked Alaska, Lobster Newberg and Eggs Benedict were born.\<br\>\<br/\>Above is the dinner \<strong\>MENU\<\/strong\>—in French— from the Manhattan Club, circa 1866. There is a popular myth that the Manhattan originated here in 1874, but this has been debunked a few times. Another version of history has the drink being invented in the 1860s by a bartender named Black at a bar on Broadway near Houston Street.\<br/\>\r\n\<p\>For entertaining at home, \<em\>The Habits of Good Society\<\/em\> published in 1865, said a dinner could involve 10 courses in the following order: Soup; fish; patties (of oysters, lobsters, shrimps or minced veal); made dishes, or entrees, which include poultry; the roast; the vegetables; the game; pastry, puddings, omelettes; the ice, and the dessert. \<\/p\>\<p\>Another fun foodie fact from the time: Some claim the first mention of a \<strong\>LUNCH COUNTER\<\/strong\> came \<a href=\"http://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2008/11/30/taste-of-a-decade-1860s-restaurants/\"\>in 1861\<\/a\>, used by the new proprietor of the Front-Street Coffee House—which offered a \"Dining Saloon, Lunch Counter, Bar and Oyster Department\" in their newspaper advertisements. \<\/p\>\<p\> Also: Production of \<strong\>CANNED FOODS\<\/strong\> began in the 1860s, with Civil War soldiers needing supplies; Tabasco sauce and Gulden\'s Mustard were invented during the decade; and when the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, that meant New Yorkers could eat California fruit.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<span class=\"photo_caption\"\>Central Park in 1862\<\/span\>\<br/\>\<br/\>A little \<strong\>CENTRAL PARK\<\/strong\> history: The city\'s population was rapidly growing, and in 1853 the New York legislature settled upon a 700-acre area of land from 59th to 106th Streets for the creation of the park, which cost $5 million. This came after many noted that there could be lack of public space unless a portion of land was designated for this purpose. \r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>\r\nIn 1857, the state appointed a Central Park Commission, which oversaw the development of the park, and Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a contest for the best design. Most of the park was created between 1860 and 1873 (this included the displacement of the well-established African-American settlement \<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village\"\>Seneca Village\<\/a\> in 1857) and the park\'s northern boundary was extended to 110th Street in 1863. \<br/\>\<br/\>It was, in its first 10 years, a park for the wealthy, because it was too far for the working class (who lived in lower Manhattan) and train fare was too expensive. In fact, many socialites would show off their carriages and horses in the park. \<br/\>\<br/\>Another interesting fact: Olmsted had many rules for the park, including the prohibition of German singing society picnics and Irish church suppers. \<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>While many popular novels of the time were from Britain (like \<em\>Alice in Wonderland\<\/em\>), there was an uniquely \<a href=\"http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri015.html\"\>American phenomenon\<\/a\> that allowed for affordable forays into fiction: The \<strong\>DIME NOVEL\<\/strong\>. In 1860, New York publisher Irwin P Beadle published the first dime novel, \<em\>Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter\<\/em\>. \<br/\>\<br/\>As \<a href=\"http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2010/06/150-years-ago-today-malaeska-and-birth.html\"\>The Bowery Boys explains\<\/a\>, it was \"128 pages of Hudson River Valley drama written by Ann S. Stephens, a 19th century serial writer whose breathless stories would define the genre and, by extention, the story trappings of the 20th century pulp genres. Stephens\' sad tale recounts the illicit affair between a hunter living in Manhattan and a Mohawk woman. Their bi-racial child ends up living in white culture, while Malaeska is first made a servant and then banished.\" \<br/\>\<br/\>The year 1860 also saw a revised edition of Walt Whitman\'s \<em\>\<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass#Publication_history_and_origin\"\>Leaves of Grass\<\/a\>\<\/em\>, one of many revised versions of the 1855 poetry collection. The publishers of the 1860 edition went bankrupt and almost couldn\'t pay Whitman. Another edition was published in 1867; Whitman thought it would be the last, but a few more came after that.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>While the rich had the luxury of houses, laws were just being mandated that tenements \<a href=\"http://nycarchitecture.columbia.edu/0243_2/0243_2_s1_text.html\"\>needed \<strong\>FIRE ESCAPES\<\/strong\>\<\/a\>, though not many paid attention. In this photo you\'ll see a sketch from a terrible fire that occurred in a tenement building on 45th Street on March 28th, 1860.\<\/p\>\<p\>A tenement reformer and New York architect named Ernest Flagg once wrote that \"the greatest evil which ever befell New York City was the division of the blocks into lots of 25 x 100 feet. So true is this, that no other disaster can for a moment be compared with it. Fires, pestilence, and financial troubles are as nothing in comparison; for from this division has arisen the New York system of tenement-houses, the worst curse which ever afflicted any great community.\"\<\/p\>\<p\>At the time, \<strong\>TENEMENTS\<\/strong\> were sprouting up everywhere, including the one that now houses the \<A href=\"http://www.tenement.org/\"\>Tenement Museum\<\/a\>, which had just been built in 1863 at 97 Orchard Street. For $8-12 month, a family could rent three rooms.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br\>While the wealthy could afford to live in their own Italianate mansions or townhouses (costing $100,000-150,000), with the most desirable areas between 23rd and 34th Streets, others moved north to take advantage of space. \<strong\>UPTOWN\<\/strong\> was barely populated at the time, this drawing above is of Park Avenue between 115th and 116th (circa 1864). For those not living in tenements downtown, there were spacious homes in places like Washington Heights. Pictured below was the villa residence of Bartlett Smith—the photograph was taken in 1860.\r\n\<br/\>\<br/\>\r\n\<img src=\"http://gothamist.com/attachments/arts_jen/1860washheights.jpg\"\>\r\n\<br\>\r\nBut the growing middle class needed another option—and one closer to bustling parts of Manhattan (the Ninth Avenue \"el\" only reached 30th Street in 1871; it was expanded in 1878)—the middle class wanted a respectable option beyond boarding houses. This is when \"French flats\"—aka apartment houses—started to be built near Irving Place and Madison Square Park; by the mid-1870s, \"French flats\" were being built near the southern end of Central Park.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<span class=\"photo_caption\"\>An 1860 political cartoon featuring Abraham Lincoln and others playing baseball\<\/span\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<strong\>BASEBALL\<\/strong\> was a popular past time for \"shopkeepers, clerks and skilled craftsmen (especially butchers),\" according to \<em\>Gotham\<\/em\>. By 1867, there were over a hundred amateur clubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Notably, it was William Cammeyer, Williamsburg resident, who opened the \<a href=\"http://www.brooklynballparks.com/union.html\"\>Union Grounds\<\/a\>, the first enclosed baseball field in 1862. The enclosed field allowed Cammeyer, who owned the New York Mutuals, to charge admission. \<br/\>\<br/\>\<b\>BOXING\<\/b\> was a popular sport for the middle- and lower classes to watch or participate in—and much of it was dominated by the \<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_identities_in_The_Gangs_of_New_York_(book)\"\>criminal underworld\<\/a\>, who either boxed, oversaw matches or owned saloons where matches were held. The upper classes did attend as spectators (gentry who followed the sport were \"the fancy,\" which became the word \"fan\"). Interestingly, one of the most infamous saloonkeepers who held boxing matches, Kit Burns, was force to close his establishment, Sportsman\'s Hall, in 1870 because it also held dog fights. The organization that shut it down? The ASPCA, founded in 1866.\<br/\>\<br/\>\r\nAnd \<b\>COLLEGE FOOTBALL\<\/b\> \<a href=\"http://scarletknights.com/history/history.asp\"\>got its start with a game\<\/a\> just across the river, between Rutgers University and Princeton in 1869 (Rutgers won). Columbia University \<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Lions\"\>joined intercollegiate sports\<\/a\> in 1867, by forming a baseball team (football would come in 1875). \<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>The fashionable \<strong\>SHOPPING\<\/strong\> district had been on Broadway just south of Houston Street, with upscale merchants like Tiffany and Ball, Black & Co., but bigger stores started to move north. In 1858, \<strong\>MACY\'S\<\/strong\> opened: Back then, it was \"R.H. Macy Dry Goods,\" on 6th Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets—on their first day of business they made a little over $11, or $297.09 today. Macy\'s introduced annual clearance sales in 1863 and the store kept expanding throughout the years, eventually moving to 18th Street and Broadway, on the \"\<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies%27_Mile_Historic_District\"\>Ladies\' Mile\<\/a\>\", the elite shopping district of the time; and by 1902, the Herald Square location opened.\r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>On Broadway, between 9th and 10th Streets, was A.T. Stewart\'s \"Iron Palace\" (pictured) of a \<strong\>DEPARTMENT STORE\<\/strong\>. Opened in 1862, the six-story cast-iron building had a glass dome skylight and sold dry goods, like silks and fabrics, as well as manufactured ladies\' clothing. There were also 2,000 employees and, on average, 15,000 customers a day. \<br/\>\<br/\>\r\nFor the men, there was the \<strong\>BROOKS BROTHERS\<\/strong\>, who had been making fine suits since the early 1800s. According to legend, starting in 1865, the company did not make an off-the-rack black suit—\"the idea that this was because Abraham Lincoln wore a bespoke black Brooks frock coat when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.\" This is a myth, though it\'s unclear why they didn\'t make that color suit starting in that year. And the store was ransacked during the \<A href=\"http://gothamist.com/2012/06/21/nycs_deadliest_riot_happened_nearly.php#photo-4\"\>1863 Draft Riots\<\/a\>, as both a place where the wealthy bought their clothes and as a manufacturer of Union uniforms.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br\>\<strong\>THE METROPOLITAN FAIR\<\/strong\> (think of it as the Great GoogaMooga of its time) was held in April of 1864, to raise money for National Army soldiers who were sick and wounded from the Civil War. Organized by the \<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Sanitary_Commission\"\>United States Sanitary Commission\<\/a\>, private volunteer effort directed by Frederick Law Olmsted, numerous fairs were held around the country. In the Manhattan fair, two buildings were put up for the fair—one was on Union Square, \"a popular spot for visitors, and also home to the music business in New York City. Food was served in the Knickerbocker Kitchen. On Fourteenth Street, close to Sixth Avenue, another, larger building was erected. Exhibits included relics from the war, items captured from the Rebels, and an Indian tribe with teepees.\" The fair cost an expensive $5 to get in; the doors were open each day from April 5th to the 25th, by which time $1,100,000 had been collected.\r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>\r\n\<form mt:asset-id=\"720321\" class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\" style=\"display: inline;\"\> \<img alt=\"newmetrotix.jpeg\" src=\"http://gothamist.com/attachments/arts_jen/newmetrotix.jpeg\" width=\"640\" height=\"376\" class=\"image-none\" /\> \<\/form\>\r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>At the fair, predictions \<a href=\"http://news.stacks.com/content/do-you-know-about-the-new-york-metropolitan-fair/\"\>were made\<\/a\> about the city\'s future, and in particular, what it would be like 100 years later, in 1964: \"There will be bridges across the East River, and tunnels beneath the North; and vast docks at Harlem and Brighton. A belt of marble and granite piers shall girdle it. The Central Park will wave secular elms, and find all its groves too small for the multitudes. Railways, or whatever succeeds them, shall thread all the depths of the island, and Broadway be but an alley. Fashion will have come three or four times round again to the oddities of our own day. Distance will be so nearly destroyed, and the conveniences of life brought so close to every man, that probably the world will be no more in a hurry than it is now.\"\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br/\>\<strong\>MUSIC\<\/strong\> of this decade was (as it often is) dictated by social and political issues. According to this \<a href=\"http://www.buzzle.com/articles/music-of-the-1860s.html\"\>brief history\<\/a\>, \"Musicians and singers expressed themselves through anthems and hymns, when not contributing to the opera music genre. Singers like Henry Russell and groups like The Hutchinsons, addressed a number of moral issues through their songs.\" Music popularized during this time included operatic arias, secular vocal music, piano music and solo instrumentals. \"Performers like the Hutchinson family and arrangers like P.T. Barnum ensured the outreach and development of popular music in America during the 1860s.\" Hear what a song may have sounded like back then \<a href=\"http://pdmusic.org/1800s/60bb.mid\"\>right here\<\/a\> (\<a href=\"http://pdmusic.org/1800s/60bb.txt\"\>lyrics\<\/a\>).\<\/p\>\<p\>\r\nSome prominent music makers of the time were \<a href=\"http://books.google.com/books?id=XTamwC54BNoC&pg=PA409&lpg=PA409&dq=gertrude+kellogg+actress&source=bl&ots=jybd2AP8I_&sig=7X2bQ8RqPkKv90egNcdHysRq100&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RBLVT4WSE-f00gGn6J2LAw&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=gertrude%20kellogg%20actress&f=false\"\>Gertrude Kellogg\<\/a\>, who became a popular stage actress in the 1870s; and William Steinway, who in 1866 erected \<a href=\"http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/steinway_3.html\"\>Steinway Hall\<\/a\> in order to create \"a place for the exhibition of the highest musical skill.\" Above is a photograph of the interior from that year.\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>

\<br\>Construction began on \<strong\>THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE\<\/strong\> on January 3rd, 1870—but \<a href=\"http://gothamist.com/upload/2012/06/php4CA8YZPM.jpeg\"\>plans were being made\<\/a\> in the 1860s, when it was still being referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, or the East River Bridge. In fact, in an 1867 letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the bridge was referred to as the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was formally named that in 1915.\r\n\<\/p\>\<p\>\r\nPerhaps one of the more vertigo-inducing facts about the bridge is \<a href=\"http://history1800s.about.com/od/bridgebuilding/ig/Images-of-the-Brooklyn-Bridge/The-Step-Onto-the-Foot-Bridge.htm\"\>the temporary footbridge\<\/a\> (pictured)—it was made of rope and wooden planks and was \"strung between the towers during construction. The walkway would sway in the wind, and as it was more than 250 feet above the swirling waters of the East River, it required considerable nerve to walk across. Despite the obvious danger, a number of people chose to take the risk to be able to say they were among the first to walk high above the river.\"\<br/\> \<br/\>\<em\>19th century New York\'s elite and underbelly await you in \<a href=\"http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v2|3F95|0|0|%2a|t;260186108;0-0;0;82485700;31-1|1;48718935|48716268|1;;;pc=[TPAS_ID]%3fhttp://www.bbcamerica.com/copper?utm_source=Gothamist&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=copper\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>BBC America\'s \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\>\<\/a\>. Watch the premiere of the riveting new series from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana on Sunday, August 19, at 10/9c, only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to \<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CopperTV\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>like \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Facebook\<\/a\> and \<a href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/coppertv\" rel=\"nofollow\" onClick=\"_gaq.push([\'_trackPageview\', \'/outgoing/Copper_150Years\'])\"\>follow \<b\>COPPER\<\/b\> on Twitter\<\/a\>.\<\/em\>\<br/\>\<br/\>\<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/5C1WfSzOpm8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen\>\<\/iframe\>\<\/i\>\<img src=\"http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=ade2011-ca&at=view&rt=banner&st=image&ca=copper&cr=site&pc=watcheffect&ce=siteservedtag&rnd=[timestamp]\" /\>