Spanish Flu

What: Spanish flu hit New York City less drastically than some other American cities
When: 1918
Where: New York City
Feb 13, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine | Tags: 1918, Alfred Crosby, Bergensfjord, public health, Spanish flu | Leave A Comment »
Birth Control Clinic

What: One of Margaret Sanger’s first contraceptive clinics
When: 1930 to 1973
Where: 17 West 16 Street, Manhattan
Jan 24, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Flatiron District, Health & Medicine | Tags: American Birth Control League, contraception, Ethel Byrne, Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood | Leave A Comment »
Typhoid Mary’s Exile

What: Cook Mary Mallon was forcibly detained on North Brother Island to stem the spread of typhoid
When: Early 1900s
Where: North Brother Island, in the East River
Jan 24, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine, Outside Manhattan | Tags: East River, George Soper, immigrants, Mary Mallon, North Brother Island, Philip Alcabes, quarantine, Riverside Hospital, Typhoid Mary | Leave A Comment »
Cleaning the Hudson

What: Contamination of the Hudson River with PCBs led to its designation as a Superfund site
When: 1970s to the present
Where: The Hudson River from Hudson Falls down to the harbor
Jan 20, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Environment, Modern (1978-Present) | Tags: dredging, EPA, fishermen, General Electric, Hudson River, Hudson River Foundation, PCBs, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, striped bass, Superfund | Leave A Comment »
Malaria Therapy

What: A misguided effort to fight one disease, syphilis, with another, malaria.
When: 1930s
Where: The Rockefeller Institute
Jan 07, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine, Midtown East, Scientists & Institutions | Tags: African-American patients, falciparum, Julius Wagner-Jauregg, malaria, Mark F. Boyd, penicillin, plasmodia, Rockefeller Institute, syphilis | Leave A Comment »
The Low Line

What: Abandoned tracks and an unused terminal are being converted into a subterranean park.
When: 1903 to 1948, and present
Where: Lower East Side, Manhattan
Jan 07, 2016 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Environment, Lower East Side | Tags: Dan Barasch, James Ramsey, MTA, RAAD, The High Line, The Low Line, Williamsburg Bridge Railway Terminal | Leave A Comment »
The Fly Room

What: Critical work on genetics by Thomas Hunt Morgan and Alfred Sturtevant.
When: Early 20th century
Where: Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University, 116 Street and Broadway, Manhattan
Aug 13, 2015 | Categories: All stories, Biology, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Upper West Side | Tags: Alfred Sturtevant, Columbia University, Darcy Kelly, fly room, genetics, Gregy Freyer, Nobel Prize, Thomas Hunt Morgan | Leave A Comment »
Lighting the Tree

What: A tradition created in the early 20th century
When: 1931 to the present
Where: 50 Street and Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
Apr 07, 2014 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Environment, Midtown West | Tags: Christmas tree, Rockefeller Center | Leave A Comment »
Factory Fire Horror

What: A fire that killed 146 employees in a factory in Greenwich Village led to the creation of the American Society of Safety Engineers and improved labor laws.
When: 1911
Where: Washington Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Apr 07, 2014 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Greenwich Village, Health & Medicine | Tags: American Society of Safety Engineers, Chalk, International Women's Day, labor, Michael Hirsch, Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, Rose Imperato, Ruth Sergel, Shirtwaist Kings, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, unions | Leave A Comment »
Sandhogs, Fresh Air and the Holland Tunnel

What: First direct connection for automobiles between Manhattan and New Jersey. A National Historic Landmark.
When: 1922 to 1927
Where: Under the Hudson River, close to Soho, Manhattan
Apr 07, 2014 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Technology & Engineering, Tribeca | Tags: Clifford Milburn Holland, Holland Tunnel, Hudson River, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey | Leave A Comment »
Stargazer Gatherings

What: An association created when directors from The American Museum of Natural History began thinking about building a planetarium
When: 1927
Where: American Museum of Natural History, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Apr 07, 2014 | Categories: All stories, Astronomy, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Upper West Side | Tags: Albert Einstein, Amateur Astronomers Association, American Museum of Natural History, Marcelo Cabrera, Mars opposition of 1924, Moonwatch team, Sputnik | Leave A Comment »
Walking the Line on Ellis Island

What: Officers from the Public Health Service examined thousands of immigrants who arrived by ship, controlling who could enter the country
When: 1929
Where: Ellis Island, Upper New York Bay
Apr 04, 2014 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine, Outside Manhattan | Tags: Dr. Elizabeth Yew, Ellis Island, germ theory, health, immigrants, Kate Ferguson, Public Health Service, Sura Meisler | Leave A Comment »
A Celebration of Exploration

What: A club founded by adventurers who undertook scientific expeditions to remote places.
When: 1904
Where: 70th Street and Madison, Manhattan
May 24, 2011 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Scientists & Institutions, Upper East Side | Tags: Dian Fossey, exploration, North Pole, Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, South Pole | Leave A Comment »
Power Trips

What: A secret facility in Grand Central Station housed turbines that powered electric trains
When: 1906
Where: Grand Central Station
May 16, 2011 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Midtown East, Technology & Engineering | Tags: AC/DC, Grand Central, Grand Central Terminal, M42, railways, rotary converters, trains | Leave A Comment »
Cold Blood

What: A discovery by physician Charles R. Drew enabled blood to be stored for a year, instead of the usual seven days. The finding had huge importance during the World War II.
When: 1938
Where: Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital, Manhattan
Sep 13, 2010 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine, Washington Heights/Inwood | Tags: blood, Charles R. Drew, Columbia University, Plasma for Britain, Red Cross, World War II | Leave A Comment »
Infamous Lung Block

What: A tenement rife with tuberculosis that was eventually razed
When: Early 1900s
Where: Between Catherine, Cherry, Hamilton and Market streets on the Lower East Side in Manhattan
Sep 08, 2010 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Health & Medicine, Lower East Side | Tags: Department of Health, Ernest Poole, Hermann A. Biggs, immigrants, Lung Block, tuberculosis | Leave A Comment »
Manhattan Project in…Manhattan

What: The birth of the Manhattan Project
When: World War II
Where: At three locations on Broadway, including the Woolworth Building
May 16, 2010 | Categories: All stories, Early 20th Century (1898-1945), Financial District, Physics & Mathematics, Scientists & Institutions, Technology & Engineering | Tags: atomic bomb, Manhattan Project, military, U.S. Army Corps, World War II | Leave A Comment »