|  When
you explore streets surrounding the ITC - Union Square, Gramercy
Park, and Madison Square Park - do you ever wonder who lived
here? How these streets looked long ago?
The ITC neighborhood contains a few surprises not only for
visitors but for native New Yorkers as well. We will take
you through these fascinating streets around the ITC and reveal
some mysteries New York has in store for you. So buckle up
your seat belts and join us for this breathtaking journey
into the enigmatic past.
Gramercy Park
Once upon a time there was a small brook that streamed from
Madison Square to the East river, Dutch called it "Krom
Mesje" ("little crooked knife"). After the
English came, Krom Mesje (pronounced Krommessie) was Anglicized
to Gramercy.
Samuel Ruggles, a gentleman, developed Gramercy Park with
ideas about city zoning that were generations ahead of his
time. Mr. Ruggles offered for sale sixty lots with building
restrictions and a park with golden keys. Purchase was limited
to a selected group of socially prominent gentlemen who were
promised use of the Park, and the golden keys forever. In
return, each purchaser agreed to pay 10 dollars per year to
keep the Park tidy, and promised not to lend his golden keys.
Gramercy Park still looks the way Mr. Ruggles designed it.
Most of the trees he planted died, of course, but there is
still one fine old elm left and a willow. Under the willow
there is a monument to Mr. Ruggles, and a fountain for dogs
and birds. Keys, no longer made of pure gold, are distributed
for an annual fee to a few residents in nearby streets who
have been approved by trustees. So, unfortunately, if you
are not a resident, you will have to look at the garden through
the fence that Mr. Ruggles built to protect its creation from
idle pedestrians.
House numbers begin on Gramercy Park West at 21st Street.
The big lamps in front of No. 4 mean that it was once the
home of the Mayor. Every house in New York where a mayor used
to live has a pair of handsome lamps out front. In the old
days they were for nocturnal emergencies, but now they are
just decorative.
The National Arts Club at No. 15 was once the home of Samuel
Tilden, bachelor Governor of New York and Democratic candidate
for Presidency. To escape politicians, who hung around his
door, Tilden had an underground passage made from the basement
to an exit on 19th Street. But people said it was so that
he could run away from pursuing women.
Edwin Booth, an actor, founded the Players, whose clubhouse
is at No. 15. Hamlet in his interpretation is said to have
been the noblest the American stage has ever known. Edwin
was a son of Junius Brutus Booth, an English actor famous
for his performance in the United States. Junius went once
to Simpson's to borrow the price of a gold-headed cane but
instead of repaying the debt, he squatted in the pawnbroker's
window. By the time his manager redeemed him, everybody in
New York knew that Junius Booth was in town. After Junius
Booth took up Buddhism, he developed so great a horror of
inflicting death that he would burst into tears if someone
killed a fly or stepped upon a worm. Tragically, John Wilkes
Booth, beloved son of this great actor who hated killing,
was the man who murdered Abraham Lincoln. Two weeks after
the assassination, John Booth was found hiding in a barn in
Maryland. His captors shot him in the head and he lived for
three hours, imploring them to kill him.
|
