Metro Cigar News Fall 1999

Fifty Fun Facts About New York City
Everyone knows that New York City is a city of superlative: the biggest, the tallest, the BEST. But ask someone where Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress photo was taken or where the ill-fated Titanic was scheduled to dock and even native New Yorkers won't know. The following list of trivial and not so trivial facts is guaranteed to reveal a side of New York City with which few are familiar.

Ye Olde New York
In 1898, the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens were officially consolidated into what is now New York City. Here are some details on city life more than 100 years ago.

In 1898, the population of New York City was 3,350,000 - it has since more than doubled.
The tallest building in the city was 23 stories - the tallest building today is 110.
Thirty-five percent of New Yorkers were foreign born, seven percent of New Yorkers were illiterate.
The nation's first automobile accident occurred in New York City in 1897 - the city speed limit was nine miles per hour.
In the years from 1180 to 1910, 17 million immigrants arrived in New York.*
At the turn of the century, the Lower East Side - almost five times as crowded as the rest of New York - was the most densely populated place in the world.
The city raked in $38,000 by issuing permits for masked balls in 1899.

Strange But True
New York City was briefly the U.S. capital from 1789 to 1790 and George Washington was inaugurated the country's first president at New York's Federal Hall.*
The Dutch supposedly bought Manhattan from its Native American inhabitants for about $24 worth of trinkets - but both Bowling Green and Inwood Hill Park, over tens miles apart, claim to be the site of this famous transaction. (Source: Signature Tours, Inc. 212/517-4306.)
Manhattan's southern tip ("downtown") is mostly landfill. "Natural" Manhattan makes up only 75% of the total downtown area.
Staten Island residents voted unsuccessfully to secede from the city in 1993 - such a move requires state approval.
"The Big Apple" was not widely used as a nickname for New York City until around 1970 when Charles Gillett, then president of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau, revived the term. Earlier in the century is had been a way of referring to New York's horse racetracks. (Source: The Encyclopedia of New York City)

Oldies But Goodies
The New York Philharmonic (212/875-5000) is America's oldest orchestra.*
The oldest surviving schoolhouse in the United States, built in 1695, is situated in Staten Island's Historic Richmond Town (718/351-1611).
The Sandy Ground Historical Society (718/317-5796) offers a look at the oldest continuously inhabited free black settlement in the nation.
The country's oldest municipal golf course, opened in 1895, is in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx.

Size Does Matter!
The world's largest gothic cathedral is the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (212/316-7540) - and it's still under construction. Its first stone was laid in 1892.
The Jewish Museum (212/423-3200) houses the most extensive collection of Judaica in the world.*
The nation's largest public Halloween parade is the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (914/758-5519, www.halloween-nyc.com).
The New York Mercantile Exchange (212/299-2000) is the world's largest physical commodities futures exchange.
Macy's (212/695-4400), the world's largest store, covers 2.1 million square feet of space and stocks over 500,000 different items.
The American Museum of Natural History (212/769-5100), located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is the largest natural history museum in the world and holds over 36 million artifacts.*
There are 53 major bridges in the five boroughs of New York City.
The New York Botanical Garden (718/817-8700) is home to the nation's largest Victorian glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
New York University (NYU), founded in 1831, is now the largest private university in America.
There are over 150 museums in New York's five boroughs.
The Panorama of the City of New York in the Queens Museum of Art (718/592-5555) is the world's largest architectural model, contain at a scale of 1 inch equals 100 feet.

Measuring Up
There are 6,374.6 miles of streets in New York City.
New York City's total area in square miles: 301.
Manhattan's total area in square miles: 22.7
Total New York City population - 7,420,166 (estimate as of 7/1/98).
There are 80 different languages spoken in New York City.*
Central Park is 843 acres - a larger area than the principality of Monaco - and contains more than 500,000 trees and shrubs.
The Statue of Liberty's (212363-7620) index finger is eight feet long.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is so long - 4,260 feet - that the towers are a few inches out of parallel to accommodate the curvature of the earth.
New York City has 578 miles of waterfront.

First in the Field
Babe Ruth hit his first home run in Yankee Stadium (718/293-4300) in the first game ever played there, which was in 1932.
The Brooklyn Children's Museum (718/735-4402), founded in 1899, was the world's first museum for kids.
In 1869, on 18th Street, the first apartment house was built.
In 1896 the first bagel was served at Clinton Street bakery.*

Did You Know...?
The Bronx is the only New York borough connected to the mainland.
The triangular shape of the Flatiron Building (an early skyscraper on 23rd Street) produced wind currents that made women's skirts billow and caused police to create the term "23 skidoo" to shoo away would-be onlookers.
Wall Street is named for the wall that kept enemies and warring Indians out of Manhattan.*
Marilyn Monroe's famous "white dress scene" was filmed over the subway grate in front of the Loews New York Hotel on Lexington Avenue and 51st Street (212/752-7000).
Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opened its doors to the world on Friday, January 1, 1892. Annie Moore, a 15-year-old Irish girl, with the first arrival on line. (Source: Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, 212/363-7620)
The Titanic was scheduled to arrive at Chelsea Piers on April 16, 1912 at the conclusion of her maiden voyage. Fate intervened, and the "unsinkable" ship struck an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. Of the 2,200 passengers aboard, 675 were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia, which arrived at Chelsea Piers eight days later. (Source: Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex, 212/336-6666).
The Cloisters (212/923-3700), a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the only museum in American dedicated exclusively to medieval art.
Longacre Square was renamed Times Square in 1904 after the 25-story New York Times tower.*
Nearly 500,000 people pass through Grand Central Terminal (121/340-2345) each day. (Source: Metro-North Railroad.)
Price of the Staten Island Ferry: free.

* Source: New York, DK Eyewitness