Hey, it's the Bowery Boys.

Hey.

Hi there, welcome to the Bowery Boys.

This is Greg Young.

190 years ago this month, New York City was very nearly wiped off the map due to a devastating

inferno which burned its way through Lower Manhattan beginning on the late frozen evening

of December 16, 1835. Now, today there are very few buildings in this area of New York, which date back to the 18th century.

We have Francis Tavern, of course, and St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway.

But we don't have an old town center in the same way that Philadelphia or Boston do,

and the Great Fire of 1835 is one of the many reasons for that.

If you're interested in marking this anniversary with a coal pint or a nice meal,

I do recommend you head down to one of the many fun spots on Stone Street,

which is a street that dates back to the Dutch,

but most of the buildings were constructed atop the ashes of those which were destroyed in the

fire that's described in this show. There are literally so many layers of history in this district.

So raise a toast to the Stone Street Historic District, which was

made an official historic district back in 1996, and enjoy this classic remastered episode of

the Barry Boys, which we first recorded all the way back in 2009. So let me back up here, Tom, and give you know, give you a little brief recap of sort of the fire history of the island of Manhattan up until 1835.

Get you up to that point.

Now, New York, as in like, you know, all pre-industrial cities are, let's just say they're very flammable.

Exactly how are they flammable?

Well, I mean, you're talking about up until this time, a city of mostly wooden structures that are all built closely together. People have torches and lanterns. You also don't have like proper fire safety codes

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