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The Bowery Boys: New York City History

#300 The Forgotten Father of New York City

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.73.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2019

⏱️ 73 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

EPISODE 300: Andrew Haswell Green helped build Central Park and much of upper Manhattan, oversaw the formation of the New York Public Library, helped found great institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo, and even organized the city's first significant historical preservation group, saving New York City Hall from demolition.  This smart, frugal and unassuming bachelor, an attorney and financial whiz, was critical in taking down William Tweed and the Tweed Ring during the early 1870s, helping to bail out a financially strapped government.  But Green's greatest achievement -- championing the consolidation of the cities of New York and Brooklyn with communities in Richmond County (Staten Island), Westchester County (the Bronx) and Queens County (Queens) -- would create the City of Greater New York, just in time for the dawn of the 20th century.  Kenneth T. Jackson, editor of the Encyclopedia of New York, called Green "arguably the most important leader in Gotham's long history, more important than Peter Stuyvesant, Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Law Olmsted, Robert Moses and Fiorello La Guardia.'' So why is he virtually forgotten today? "Today not one New Yorker in 10,000 has heard of Andrew Haswell Green," wrote the New York Daily News in 2003. In our 300th episode, we're delighted to bring you the story of Mr. Green, a public servant who worked to improve the city for over five decades. And we'll be joined by an ardent Green advocate -- former Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0

Today's show is brought to you by City Running Tours.

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and loves to explore it through running.

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Join one of their scheduled routes

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or customize your own personal running experience.

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These sweat and sightsee tours are the ideal way

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to discover New York's most iconic neighborhoods.

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Julie from Calgary said,

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this was the best part of my trip.

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I learned so much about the city and felt like I was running

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with an old friend.

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Be sure to use coupon code BowryBoys,

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1:00.0

The BowryBoys episode 300.

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