On October 27, 1871, the infamous Boss Tweed was arrested in New York on corruption charges. For many, the arrest was long overdue as he had a disturbing stronghold on the New York political system for many years.
The growing population of New York created a need for large construction projects, municipal improvements and contract workers. It was a fertile ground for manipulative individuals to make a few extra bucks on the side. Boss Tweed was a member of The Society of Saint Tammany a charitable organization that became a filter for money jobs and votes from the immigrant community.
On July 13, 1865, the world famous museum owned by adventurous entrepreneur P. T. Barnum burned to the ground ending America’s first and last museum come sideshow in downtown New York. The Barnum legacy remains in the circus circuit today and his involvement in the shape of the modern American museum.
From humble beginnings in Connecticut where Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in July 1810 to a grocery store owner and his wife. He moved to New York in the 1820s and spent time working in Pennsylvania in the 1830s. Barnum was a faithful convert to the Universalism religion and spent much time in prayer and study often acting as a lay preacher at his church.
The museum was not Barnum’s only endeavor and in fact came along quite late in his working life. Early jobs included grocery store clerk and newspaper editor but it wasn’t long before Barnum changed tracks and entered the world of entertainment. Two and three ring circuses were the order of the day with giant elephants, tiny people, bearded ladies being part and parcel of the “greatest show on earth.” Barnum was known for his ability to give audiences more than they ever expected.
The American Museum was the first of its kind, combining thrilling entertainment with natural history education. Created in 1841, the original museum lasted until 1865 when the fire caused Barnum to rebuild a few blocks away. The first museum was located on the corner of Broadway and Anne in downtown Manhattan and gathered for the first time a number of different sources of cultural entertainment.
Over its lifetime the museum housed numerous exhibits from natural history to side show characters. There was a picture gallery, a theatre, a wax room, a lecture room and cases of American collectibles. There were singers and actors, several lecture series, Shakespearean plays as well as every conceivable animal exhibit were available to visitors.
And the museum, in the tradition of all good museums, was a great social leveler. The nominal entrance fee meant that the vast majority of New Yorkers and tourists could visit bringing a range of social classes together. Men and women, children, rich and poor all attended the museum. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until 1861 and the onset of the Civil War that African Americans were given entrance to the museum.
Barnum is an example of American capitalism often under recognized in the history of American entrepreneurs. Selling his unique brand of American entertainment at the reasonable price of 25 cents a visit made Barnum’s show affordable and repeatable. Over the course of the museum’s life over 37 million visitors graced the exhibit floors.
“There’s a sucker born every minute.” That is the famous phrase of P. T. Barnum but it does little to explain the religious man who performed profitable public services and taught a nation how to relax. Barnum’s American Museum was just that, a testament to the capability and ingenuity of a diverse people with infinite needs and a foundation stone in the history of America’s public institutions.
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Tags: 1841, 1865, American capitalism, American collectibles, American entrepreneur, American Museum, American Museum. Civil War, Barnum, bearded ladies, Circus, entertainment business, feejee mermaid, fiji mermaid, giant elephant, history of sideshows, Museum, museum history, natural history education, New York, P.T. Barnum, P.T. Barnum legacy, Pennsylvania, picture gallery, Shakespearean plays, The Greatest Show on Earth, theater, three ring circus, tiny people, two ring circus, Universalism religion, wax exhibit
In a time when unemployment is high, union activity low and business regulated by strict safety standards, it is hard to imagine just how precious and how dangerous working used to be. Since the American industrial revolution began along the rivers and waterways of New England, no work place disaster has ever been so great as the tragedy at the Triangle Shirt Waist company in New York. The year was 1911 and the work day almost over.
But change was happening. Sick of the deplorable working conditions in the sweat shops of New York City, people had begun to organize and union activity was thriving. Triangle was a non union shop and any sort of union activity was discouraged with the terrifying threat of unemployment. Losing a job, especially a minimum wage job in 1911 in a new country where you didn’t know the language and had no family network to rely on for support kept many women workers out of the unions and inside the stuffy overcrowded rooms of the sewing businesses of Manhattan. Change was coming but it was just a little late for Triangle.
The discarded fabric, machine oil, blocked exits, lack of fire safety practices and overcrowded work rooms meant seconds after the fire broke out so too did mass panic. Reports in the local newspaper the next day claimed it was only minutes before the fire engines arrived. But in those few minutes the clawing grasping smoke, over crowding and terrified screams took over and people began to jump out of the windows. Partly due to being pushed by the massive crowds inside, partly due to an insufficient number of elevators and the natural understandable fear of being burned alive. Reports of the time stated that several dozen people did escape by way of the elevators before they broke down. After that, people hurled themselves into the empty elevator shaft to escape the smoke and flames. One man shimmied down the cable to safety but only after landing on the dead bodies of his less successful coworkers.
Bodies falling from the windows above kept one man glued to the spot until helped arrived. Emergency responders brought a net to try and catch the falling bodies. And catch some they did. The problem was no one took gravity into account and people bounced out of the net to land full force on the sidewalk below. Most of the deaths were due to burns and suffocations.
In an era when politicians and pop stars have followings that reach into the millions (and this is seen as a normal part of American culture), it’s hard to imagine a time before adoring the famous was a staple of our collective lives. But until May 20, 1927, and the fame of aviator Charles Lindbergh spread from coast to coast and across the western world, the ‘cult of personality’ was an unknown phrase in the American vocabulary.
The flight was a total of 3, 610 miles taking off from Roosevelt Field in New York and landing at Le Bourget airport in Paris, France. This was not the first time the flight had been attempted. It was the first time it had been accomplished without fatalities or pain. Six pilots had lost their lives and three had been seriously injured attempting the solo flight between continents.
