To wrap up our 15th anniversary celebration -- and to set up our big 400th episode -- we take a fond look at one corner of New York City which taught us to love local history.
Perhaps you know this area for Seward Park, the first municipal playground in the United States, or for Straus Square, named for Nathan Straus, philanthropist and co-owner (with his brother Isidor) of Macy's Department Store. Today, trendy artists and influencers instead spend their weekends in Dimes Square, just one block (and seemingly one world) away.
In the 19th century, as Rutgers Square, this area became a small portion of a large German immigrant community called Kleindeutschland. In an inconceivable historical moment, a statue was almost raised here -- to William 'Boss' Tweed, leader of Tammany Hall.
By the late 19th century, this place was the center for American Jewish culture, and East Broadway became Yiddish publishers row, hosting newspapers and magazines from a host of perspectives. In the 20th century, thanks to a mid-century housing boom (fueled partially by the labor unions firmly rooted to this place), some also called it Cooperative Village, with hundreds of old, deteriorating tenements replaced with new high rises.
It's a neighborhood that means so much to so many -- and we hope you learn to love it all yourself, no matter what you call it.
PLUS: We're join by staff members of the Forward, celebrating its 125th year of publication. Forward archivist Chana Pollack joins us along with Ginna Green and, hosts of the the newspaper column-turned-podcast version A Bintel Brief.
#130 Haunted Histories of New York
#129 Chinatown
#128 Hoaxes and Conspiracies of 1864
#127 The Civil War Draft Riots
#126 Fernando Wood: The Scoundrel Mayor
#125 Sardi's Restaurant
#124 Idlewild/JFK Airport
#123 TRUMP
#122: The Grid - Commissioners Plan of 1811
#121 Fraunces Tavern
#120 NYC and the Birth of the Movies
#119 The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
#118 Times Square
#117 Mark Twain's New York
#116 American Museum of Natural History
#115 African Burial Ground
#114 Supernatural Stories of New York
#113 Niblo's Garden
#112 Archibald Gracie and His Mansion
Subway Graffiti 1970-1989
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra