Hello, Dolly!
Notes and Glossary
The earliest version of the story of Hello, Dolly! was an 1835 English
one-act play, A Day Well Spent, by John
Oxenford. In 1842, it became a full-length play, Einen
Jux will er sich machen (He Wants to Go Off On a Spree), by the Austrian
Johann
Nestroy. Thornton
Wilder adapted Nestroy’s play into his 1938 farce The Merchant of
Yonkers, a flop, which he revised, expanding the role of Dolly, and retitled
The
Matchmaker in 1955, which starred Ruth
Gordon.
The Matchmaker became a hit and was much revived and made into a 1958
film of the same name starring Shirley
Booth. The story was made into a musical in 1963 by Michael Stewart (book)
and Jerry Herman (music and lyrics), with the working title of Dolly, A Damned Exasperating
Woman (from a line in The Matchmaker). It had rocky tryouts in Detroit and Washington, DC. To promote the show, Louis Armstrong made a demo recording of the
song "Hello,
Dolly!",
which became a Billboard #1 single. When producer
David Merrick heard Armstrong’s recording of the song he changed the title of the show.
The musical opened January 16, 1964, with Carol Channing as Dolly, Charles
Nelson Reilly as Cornelius, and Eileen Brennan as Irene. The movie was made in
1969 with Barbra Streisand as Dolly, Walter Matthau as Vandergelder, Michael
Crawford as Cornelius, and Tommy Tune as Ambrose, with Louis Armstrong as the
orchestra leader and singing the title song. In the 2008 film WALL-E the
title character has a Betamax tape of the film, and the songs "Put On Your
Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" play repeatedly
during the film.
Cast
- Dolly Gallagher Levi, a widow and matchmaker and "arranger of
things"
- Horace Vandergelder, a hay and feed merchant in Yonkers and
half-a-millionaire
- Ermengarde, Vandergelder’s niece
- Ambrose Kemper, a young artist in love with Ermengarde
- Cornelius Hackl, Vandergelder’s chief clerk
- Barnaby Tucker, Vandergelder’s junior clerk
- Irene Molloy, a widow and milliner in New York
- Minnie Fay, Mrs Molloy’s shop assistant
- "Ernestina Money", Vandergelder’s date at the Harmonia Gardens
- Rudolph Reisenweber, head waiter at the Harmonia Gardens (Reisenweber
literally means "travel weaver".)
- Judge
- Court clerk
Act I, Scene 1: Along Fourth Avenue, New York City, near Grand Central Station
- spinster: a woman who spins; or, more usually, a legal term meaning
a woman who has never married.
- diffident: lacking self-confidence, shy, timid
- A frump is a dowdy, drab, and unattractive person (usually a
woman), or a dull,
old-fashioned person. In the show How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying, the character Bud Frump is the chief antagonist.
- trump: a suit in cards that outranks all other suits; by extension,
a fine person: a brick. (Remember this show was written long before The
Donald became prominent!)
- Grand Central Terminal is located at
42nd Street and Park Avenue. Because steam locomotives are noisy and spew
out steam, smoke, and cinders, the city made the southern limit of steam
operation at 42nd Street, so that is where Cornelius Vanderbilt built the
first station, called Grand Central Depot. The station was rebuilt around
1899 as Grand Central Station. Then it was rebuilt in phases from 1903 to
1913, and renamed Grand Central Terminal. At first the tracks ran down Fourth Avenue,
but later the street was dug up, the tracks were put in the resulting
trench. The trench was covered, and became Park Avenue. For this reason,
buildings on Park Avenue north of 42nd Street do not have basements. The
continuation of Park Avenue south of 32nd Street continued to be known as
Fourth Avenue, until 1959, when it was renamed Park Avenue South. The
portion from 14th St to 17th St is known as Union Square East. Currently the
only section of the name Fourth Avenue applies to the part from 8th St to
14th St. In 1954 rail travel was declining and the New York Central wanted
to tear down the grand concourse to build an office tower taller than the
Empire State building. Instead, the office tower of the station north of the
concourse was torn down and in 1963 the Pan Am building (now the MetLife
building) opened. There were still efforts to build a giant office tower and
tear down the concourse, but the city sued, and the Supreme Court ruled in
favor of the city. The terminal has since been restored.
- olio: a hodgepodge; originally, a dish of many ingredients. In this
show, it is in a stage direction: "Grand
Central oilo in". In theatrical usage, an olio is a drop scene, or,
simply, drop; that is, a canvas dropped downstage to cover a scene change
upstage.
Act I, Scene 2 (or 2a): Vandergelder’s Hay and Feed Store, Yonkers
- Yonkers is located just north of The Bronx, and is now the fourth largest city in New York State. It was a
small farming town until about the middle of the 19th century. In 1853,
Elisha Otis invented the first practical elevator, and set up his factory in
Yonkers. Around the same time the Alexander Smith Carpet Company became one
of the largest carpet manufacturers in the world: in 1892, they sent carpets
to Moscow for the coronation of the tsar. Today Yonkers is still a
manufacturing city and not a bedroom community for New York.
- 14th Street: a major east-west street in
lower Manhattan. It is considered the northern boundary of Greenwich Village
and East Village. It is also the southern boundary of Manhattan’s grid
system: north of 14th Street, the streets and avenues form a nice grid;
south of 14th, the grid is imperfect. (South of Houston Street, the grid
system completely breaks down.) At one time 14th St was a glamorous
location, but lost some of its flair as the city grew northward. (The other
major east-west streets in Manhattan are Houston, 23rd, 34th, 57th, and
125th Streets. These streets are wide and carry two-way traffic; most other
streets are narrow and one way.)
- Dresden fingers: I assume this is a reference to Dresden porcelain
(china). It would require really dainty fingers to dump the ashes! The
Dresden porcelain industry moved to Meissen in the 18th century. The city of
Dresden was almost totally destroyed in 1945 in allied bombing raids.
- blueing (usually spelled bluing): a substance used to improve the appearance of white
fabrics. Because white textiles can never be perfectly cleaned after use,
adding a slight blue tint makes them appear "whiter" than they
otherwise would. Bluing is perhaps not as common as it once was, due to
improved detergents.
- Guernsey is a breed of dairy cattle, fawn and white in color, that
produces rich milk (c. 5% butterfat) with high beta carotene content. They
are named for the Isle of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. (Jersey is
also a Channel Island. Jersey cattle are small and brown in color. The familiar Holsteins
are black and white.)
- The railroad running between Yonkers and New York is the New York Central.
Trains arrive at Grand Central Terminal.
To get downtown from there, one could take an elevated train down
Third Avenue, or an electric streetcar, or a horse car, or take a taxi, or
walk. Subways were first running in the 20th century (1904, although there
was a short subway under Broadway from 1870-1873). Electric railways began
in the 1880’s and quickly spread to most urban areas, being cheaper to
build than cable cars, and cheaper to operate than horse-drawn cars (not to
mention the cleanup costs!). Because elevated railways blocked the sun, they
were replaced with subways by 1955.
- Barnum’s American Museum was open from 1841 to 1865, when it
burned to the ground in one of New York’s most spectacular fires. It was
located at Broadway and Ann Street in lower Manhattan.
- brilliantine (pronounced BRILL-yən-TEEN): an oily, perfumed hair
dressing used to make hair glossy
- dime cigar: a step or two up from a nickel cigar, but not quite a premium
cigar. Cigars were classed by letters, A, B, C, &c, with A being the
lowest class. Around the beginning of the 20th century, nickel cigars were
class A and dime cigars class C. Cuban cigars were class E. So for Cornelius
and Barnaby, dime cigars are perhaps a luxury!
- horse cars: Street cars drawn by horses or mules first appeared in
New York City in 1832, and lasted until 1917, being replaced by electric
trolley cars beginning in the 1880s. In Manhattan, electric streetcars had a shoe
which ran in the groove in the street between the two rails, rather than a
trolley pole, because trolley wires tended to clutter the street scene and
were forbidden in Manhattan. (Trolleys were important in Brooklyn, so that
residents were known as Trolley Dodgers, which became the name of their
National League baseball team, later shortened to Dodgers. Trolley service
in Brooklyn was completely replaced by buses in 1956, and the Dodgers left
Brooklyn in 1957. Trolley service actually lasted longer in Los
Angeles--until 1963.)
Act I, Scene 3 (or 2b): The Yonkers Depot
- Delmonico’s was one of the first restaurants in New York. Founded
by Italian Swiss immigrants, they opened in 1827. They let their guests
order items from a menu, rather than a set meal: à la carte, as opposed to
table d’hôte. Their restaurants were some of the most prominent and
successful in New York in the 19th century. They introduced Chicken à la
King, Lobster
Newburg, Delmonico
Potatoes, and Delmonico
Steak, and,
perhaps, Eggs Benedict. Due to change of dining habits and prohibition, the
last of their restaurants closed in 1926.
- patent leather: fine leather treated to give it a high glossy
finish. Patent leather was first produced in Newark, New Jersey, by treating
leather with a linseed-oil-based lacquer. Today’s patent leather usually
has a plastic finish. Patent leather shoes are worn with men’s formal
wear and dress military uniforms. Other fashion items made of patent leather
include purses and wallets.
- bowler: a hard felt hat with rounded crown and small brim. Bowlers
were introduced in the middle of the 19th century, and were favored by the
middle classes, being a compromise between the top hat of the upper class
and the felt caps of the lower classes.
- slicker: a long loose oilskin raincoat
- knickers: In the United States, "knickers" refers to
baggy trousers worn usually by boys buttoned or buckled just below the
knees. Today they are worn for sports, such as golf, bicycling, and cross
country skiing. (In Britain, Ireland, and Australia knickers refers to women’s
undergarments.)
- valise: a piece of hand luggage
- cravat: a neckband, the forerunner of the modern necktie and bow
tie. The name originated from the French mispronunciation of Hrvat,
which means Croat, from the Croatian mercenaries employed by King Louis XIII
and Cardinal Richelieu. The Croatians wore a picturesque scarf knotted at
their necks.
- silk high hat: a silk top hat, the kind worn by fashionable men in
the 19th century. In the 18th century, men wore a tricorn, a three-horned
hat. The top hat made of beaver felt began to be popular around 1800. But
around 1830 the felt hat became replaced with the silk top hat. In the last
half of the century, urban culture found smaller hats, such as bowlers and
fedoras more convenient, so that by century’s end, the top hat was
associated only with the upper classes. Ordinary men stopped wearing top
hats after World War I, and they are worn today only with the most formal
attire (morning dress and white tie), such as by diplomats.
- turned up cuffs: considered more formal than trousers without
cuffs. The main purpose of cuffs is to give weight to the fabric and help
with the drape of the trousers, and to prevent fraying.
- suede: a type of soft-napped leather used for gloves, from gants
de Suède, French for "gloves from Sweden".
- The Astors are an American and English family. John Jacob Astor
(1763-1848) was
born in Walldorf, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1784 after
living for awhile in London. He founded a fur-trading empire and then
branched into real estate. When he died in 1848, he was the richest man in
the country. His son William Backhouse Astor Sr (1702-1875) became the head
of the family because his older brother John Jacob Astor II (1791-1861) was
feeble-minded. The Astor family dominated the New York social scene through
much of the 19th century. William had three sons, John Jacob Astor III
(1822-1890), William Backhouse Astor Jr (1830-1892), and Henry Astor
(1832-1918). William Jr was not much interested in social life, but his
ambitious wife Caroline ("Lina") dominated the New York social scene after the Civil
War. She tried to keep the persons in Fashionable Society limited to 400.
But in 1883 she was forced to admit Alva Vanderbilt, first wife of William
Kissam Vanderbilt to her circle. (There is a story, probably apocryphal,
that when Mrs Vanderbilt gave her housewarming for her new mansion on Fifth
Avenue at 52nd Street, Mrs Astor’s daughter Carrie wanted to attend, but
Mrs Vanderbilt wouldn’t invite her because she had not met her mother. So
rather than disappoint her daughter, Mrs Astor was forced to call on Mrs
Vanderbilt.) Until 1887 Mrs Astor used the title Mrs William Astor, but that
year her sister-in-law died, so she called herself simply "Mrs
Astor". But her son-in-law William Waldorf Astor, son of JJA III,
thought his wife should be "Mrs Astor". Unable to challenge her
preeminence, he emigrated to England, where he eventually became a Viscount.
He had his mansion on 5th Avenue torn down and replaced by the highly
fashionable Waldorf Hotel. Mrs Astor’s house was next door, and she and
her son eventually tore it down to build the Astoria Hotel. The architect
planned for the possibility of the two hotels being joined, which they soon
were, to become the Waldorf-Astoria, at the time the largest hotel in the
world. In 1928 the hotel was torn down to make way for the Empire State
Building, and a new Waldorf=Astoria Hotel [the double hyphen is correct] was built at 301 Park Avenue. The
hotel contains the United States Embassy to the United Nations. There is an Astoria district in Queens, New York, as well as an Astoria,
Oregon, the site of one of John Jacob Astor’s fur trading posts.
- Tony Pastor’s: Antonio Pastor, born 1837 in Brooklyn, was an
impresario, song writer, and theater owner. He produced shows in Manhattan’s
theater district, then located on Broadway downtown. At the time, theaters
catered to an all-male audience. and the shows were bawdy and crude. He soon
realized he could double his ticket sales if he could appeal to a female
audience, and he began producing shows that were good, clean fun. He opened
Tony Pastor’s Opera House on the Bowery in 1865. In 1874 he moved to 585
Broadway. But the theater district was moving to Union Square (Broadway at 14th
Street), so Pastor
moved again to the same building that housed Tammany Hall on 14th Street. He
alternated his theater’s presentations between operettas
and family-oriented variety shows, creating what became known as vaudeville.
His theater featured performers such as Ben
Harney presenting a new style called "ragtime"
as well as other up-and-coming talents such as Lillian
Russell, May
Irwin and George
M. Cohan. Since his clientele was primarily middle class, the chorus of
people of Yonkers don’t really understand New York social life if they expect to
find the Astors there!
Act I, Scene 4 (or 3a): The Yonkers Depot
- Water Street: according to the stage direction, Mrs Molloy’s shop
is on Water Street, which is located in four segments in lower Manhattan one
or two blocks from the
East River, between the Battery and where the East River turns northward. Originally, Water Street was continuous. (I’m not sure this
location makes sense; Barnaby and Cornelius don’t have carfare to get from
the lower end of Manhattan to 14th Street. So I suspect Mrs Molloy’s shop
should be closer to 14th Street.)
- A milliner is a dealer in women’s hats. The term is from the city
of Milan, Italy, from the importers of women’s articles from Italy to
England in the 16th century.
- boater: a type of straw hat associated with boating, but generally
popular around the 1890’s, and the kind associated with barbershop
quartets. It has a broad brim and flat top.
- The reference to vampire is probably an inside joke.
- Jenny Lind: Jenny Maria Lind (1820-1887) was a Swedish opera
singer. Known as the "Swedish Nightingale", she was one of the
best known opera singers of the 19th century. On the invitation of P. T.
Barnum, she gave a series of 93 large scale concerts in America, for which
she earned a quarter million dollars.
- The Fifth Avenue Hotel was located
on Fifth Avenue on the entire frontage between 23rd and 24th Streets and
facing Madison Square. It was built between 1856 and 1859. At that time, it
was considered far uptown. But it soon became the center of elite life in
New York. It had five stories and the first elevator installed in a hotel in
the United States. In those days the Republicans
had their headquarters in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and the Democrats in the
nearby Hoffman House Hotel. In the 1890s
the even grander Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel opened, and became the most fashionable hotel in New York. The
Fifth Avenue Hotel was demolished in 1908 and replaced with an office
building, which still stands.
- The Erie Canal was built between 1818 and 1825 to connect the
Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo. It was the first canal to
the interior of the United States, and cut transport costs 95% from the cost
of hauling wagons by draft animals. It made New York the chief port of the
United States, pulling traffic away from Boston, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore. These cities responded by beginning railroads. For awhile the
state of New York would not allow a rail line through the Mohawk Valley to
compete, because the state had invested heavily in the canal. Eventually the
New York Central Railroad was built and cut travel time, although the canal
was still cheaper. But the railroad could operate when the canal was frozen.
Today the canal is part of the New York State Barge Canal system, and the
Erie Canal is used mostly for recreational boating, but it still carries
some commercial traffic. The Erie Canal made New York the chief port and
largest city of the United States. The New York Central and Erie Railroads,
which succeeded in the canal in importance, made sure New York retained its
status.
- The Panama Canal was built between 1904 and 1914, after a French
company tried and failed to build a canal 1882-89. It was one of the most
ambitious engineering feats of all time, ranking with sending a man to the
moon. The canal has still a major part in international shipping, and it
shortens the travel distance from New York to the west coast by about half.
It is amusing that the Hackls could have built a canal by 1895 that didn’t
open until 1914! There had been dreams of a Panama Canal since the 15th
century. The Spanish traded with Peru and Argentina across the Isthmus of
Panama. In 1699 a Scottish company attempted to set up a colony on the
isthmus, hoping to pay for it by the trade across. But the Spanish drove
them away, ruining the Scots financially, and indirectly leading to the
union with England.
- Betsy Ross: born 1752 as Elizabeth Griscom and died 1836, is
credited with making the first American flag, the Stars and Stripes. But
this information comes only from 19th century Ross family oral history, and is
not much believed today. What is known is that she was a seamstress in
Philadelphia and received orders for flags.
- "an immigrant girl from a land that oppressed my people":
I assume this means that Irene Molloy is an Irish immigrant from Britain or
Ireland.
- Castle Garden was a promenade, beer garden, exhibition hall, and
theater located in the Battery at the southern end of Manhattan. It was
built originally as the West Battery in 1808-1811 to defend New York City
against possible (British) attack, but never saw action in the War of 1812,
or in any other war. In 1815 it was renamed Fort Clinton, not after Bill,
but after the Mayor of New York, Dewitt Clinton. In 1821 the Army leased the
fort to the city and it became known as Castle Garden. In 1850 it became the
sight of Jenny Lind’s first American concerts in her tour managed by P. T.
Barnum. From 1855 to 1890 it was the Emigrant Landing Depot, where
immigrants were processed, until the federal government took over this task
and built a larger facility at Ellis Island. From 1896 to 1941 it was the
site of the New York Aquarium and became one of the city’s most popular
attractions. The aquarium moved to Coney Island, and the parks commissioner
wanted to tear down the castle to build a Brooklyn-Battery bridge. The
public outcry kept the commissioner from tearing it down, and it was
designated a national park in 1946, although not really developed until the
1970s. (Instead of a bridge, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was built and
opened in 1950.)
Act I, Scene 5 (or 3b): Fourteenth Street
- The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
extended the vote for President to the District of Columbia. The 19th
Amendment required all states to allow women to vote, ratified in 1920. At
the time of its passage, all but seven states had some form of women’s
suffrage.
- The United States Mint is located in Philadelphia, with branches in
Denver, San Francisco, West Point, and Fort Knox. There have been branches
in Charlotte (N. C.), Dahlonega (Ga.), Carson City (Nev.), New Orleans, and
Manila (Philippines), but never in New York City.
- The song Sweet Rosie O’Grady was first published in 1896,
credited to Margaret Nugent (1877-1958).
Act II, Scene 1: Beginning In Front of the Hoffman House Hotel, on Fifth Avenue,
ending Outside the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, on the Battery
- The Hoffman House Hotel (from where, according to the stage
direction, Cornelius, Irene, Minnie and Barnaby begin their walk to the
Harmonia Gardens) was a hotel located on Broadway at 25th Street, near Fifth
Avenue and Madison Square in New
York. It was sold in 1915 and replaced with a 16-story office building. Next
to it was the Albemarle House Hotel, at the corner of 24th and Broadway.
Across 24th Street was the Fifth Avenue Hotel. In those days the Republicans
had their headquarters in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and the Democrats in the
Hoffman House Hotel. (Madison Square is located between 23rd and 26th
Streets and between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. This seems not to fit the
dialogue: "Mr Hackl, we’ve just loved looking at the lights of
Fourteenth Street these past four hours . . . ." Could it be another
hotel located off Union Square, which is adjacent to 14th Street and Fifth
Avenue? There was the Spingler House Hotel on the west side of Union Square,
and the Hotel Churchill [formerly the Morton House; originally the Union
Place Hotel] on the southwest corner of Broadway and 14th Street.) Across
23rd Street from Madison Square, in the angle between Fifth Avenue and
Broadway is the Flatiron Building, the first skyscraper in New York. To get
to the Battery, where the Harmonia Gardens is located, they would have to
walk down Broadway 2½ miles from 14th Street, or 3 miles from 25th Street.
However, a line in the song "Hello, Dolly" suggests that the
Harmonia Gardens may actually be on 14th Street, perhaps in the area once
known as "Kleindeutschland" (Little Germany), the lower east side
around Avenue B (which was known as the "German Broadway", in
which case they would only have to walk a little over a mile. In the 1890s
the Germans began moving to the Upper East Side and Harlem, leaving the
lower east side to the next wave of immigrants.
- hack: a taxicab, in those days, pulled by a horse. (I would guess
the Hackls don’t ride hacks!)
- savoir faire: a French expression, literally meaning
"to know how to do": generally it means to be able to respond
appropriately in any situation
- James Buchanan "Diamond Jim" Brady (1856-1917), was a businessman,
financier, philanthropist, and bon vivant. He worked on the New York Central
Railroad, and then became a successful salesman for a railroad supply
company. He made a fortune in the stock market and became known for his love
of gems, especially diamonds, and his enormous appetite.
- Vanderbilt: an American family of Dutch origin who became prominent
in the Gilded Age
- Cornelius Vanderbilt ("the Commodore") (1794-1877) gained
prominence in shipping and then in the New York Central Railroad; he
built the first Grand Central Terminal. Although he was very rich, he
was excluded by Mrs Astor from the New York social circle.
- William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885), son of the Commodore, took over
his father’s railroad empire. He was a philanthropist and died the
richest man in the world. His first wife Alva eventually forced Mrs
Astor to admit her to her circle.
- There is a story that Gloria Vanderbilt was ill
in some New York hospital, but it was discovered on Friday that she
needed to be moved to another hospital. But it had to wait until the
weekend was over. The headline
in the New York Daily News was "Sick Gloria in Transit
Monday".
- cowtow: usually spelled kowtow; from the Chinese, literally
meaning "bump head", the act of kneeling and touching one’s forehead
to the ground, formerly done in China; more generally, it means show
servile deference to.
- J. P. Morgan: John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was an American
banker, financier, and art collector. He formed General Electric in 1892
from Edison’s company and other electrical companies, and U. S. Steel from
Carnegie Steel and other iron and steel companies in 1902. He is reported to
have saved the U. S. economy and U. S. treasury on two occasions. He
bequeathed much of his large art collection to New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
Act II, Scene 2 (or 2a): Inside the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant
- The German word und means "and" and is pronounced
"oont".
- pasté maisson: should be pâté maison, literally,
"pasty (of the) house", a pastry dish or pie that is a specialty
of the house
- soup de jour: should be soup du jour, literally, "soup
of the day", a soup selection in a restaurant that varies day by day
- pommes soufflés: puffed potatoes, or literally, puffed apples, pommes
being French for apples and pommes de terre for potatoes. Pommes
soufflés are potatoes sliced and cooked twice, first at a low
temperature, drained, and then cooked at a high temperature, which causes a
skin to form, and the moisture left in the slices causes them to puff up.
- Washington Post March: one of the most popular marches of John
Philip Sousa (1854-1932), written in 1889, named for the Washington
Post newspaper
Act II, Scene 3 (or 2b): A Courtroom on Centre Street
- Centre Street in lower Manhattan is the location of the Civil Courts Building, the
Criminal Courts Building, the New York County Courthouse, and the Federal
Court House.
- Dolly sings she’s gonna learn to dance and drink and smoke a
cigarette. . . . Didn’t Dolly teach Cornelius and Barnaby to dance in
Act I, and wasn’t that on one of her business cards for all occasions? In
the 1890s for a woman to smoke in public would be considered scandalous. It
wasn’t until after World War I that smoking by women was socially
accepted.
Act II, Scene 4 (or 2c): The Hay and Feed Store, Yonkers
- faun yellow: probably should be fawn yellow, or just fawn,
is a yellowish brown, probably close
to buff
- puce: a
dark or brownish purple like this
New York City around 1890
The appearance of New York City in 1890 was different from today’s city.
The city itself consisted of Manhattan and part of The Bronx. Brooklyn was a
separate city, and the third largest city in the United States. Queens and
Staten Island were still somewhat rural. There were no skyscrapers or subways.
The first skyscraper, the Flatiron Building came in 1902 and the first subway
two years later. The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1893; the rest of the bridges
across the East River opened in the 20th century. Penn Station opened in 1910:
before then passengers using the Pennsylvania Railroad (and the B & O,
Reading, and Erie) took a ferry across the Hudson River to get to Manhattan.
Grand Central Depot had been opened in 1871 and served the New York Central and
New Haven railroads. (Grand Central was rebuilt in 1899-1900 and reopened as
Grand Central Station, then rebuilt again 1903-1913 and reopened as Grand
Central Terminal. See the map
of New York railroads around 1900.) Trinity Church, located at 79 Broadway
at Wall Street, was the highest structure in New York until the New York World
Building was built in 1890.
References:
- Last updated: 05/23/2013.
- For additions, suggestions, corrections,
or comments on this glossary, please email me: tf_mcq
<at> yahoo.com.
- Return to McQ’s theater page.
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