New York EXPLAINED
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On this day

On this day in New York.

Every morning we write up one real thing that happened in New York on this date, told straight: the sourced facts, the words of the people who were there, and why it still matters. It starts small and fills in as the calendar turns, one verified piece at a time.

21 days written up so far, and counting.

  1. July 30, 1916 German Saboteurs Blow Up Black Tom A munitions depot in New York Harbor went up in the dead of night with a force felt for a hundred miles, and shrapnel struck the Statue of Liberty.
  2. July 29, 1976 The Son of Sam Killings Begin in the Bronx A gunman walked up to a parked car in Pelham Bay and opened fire, starting a year of shootings that would grip New York with fear.
  3. July 28, 1945 A Bomber Hits the Empire State Building Lost in thick fog over Manhattan, an Army B-25 flew straight into the 79th floor of the world's tallest building, and a young elevator operator survived a fall no one should have.
  4. July 27, 1789 The First Federal Department Is Born in New York In the nation's first capital on Wall Street, Congress created the office that would become the State Department, the first arm of the new government under the Constitution.
  5. July 26, 1788 New York Ratifies the Constitution, Barely By three votes, at a convention where the opponents held the majority, New York became the eleventh state to join a union it could not afford to sit out.
  6. July 24, 1983 The Pine Tar Game at Yankee Stadium George Brett hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth, then watched an umpire call him out for too much pine tar, and lost his mind on national television.
  7. July 23, 1885 Ulysses S. Grant Dies, and New York Claims His Tomb The general who saved the Union died of throat cancer upstate, and a million and a half people turned out in Manhattan to bury him.
  8. July 22, 1933 Wiley Post Lands Solo from Around the World Fifty thousand New Yorkers mobbed a Brooklyn airfield to greet the one-eyed Oklahoman who had just flown around the planet alone.
  9. July 21, 1983 Diana Ross Sings Through the Storm in Central Park Hundreds of thousands packed the Great Lawn for a free concert, and when the sky opened Diana Ross refused to leave the stage.
  10. July 20, 1899 The Park Row Building Tops Out as the World's Tallest Office Thirty-one stories of brick and steel rose over Printing House Square, and for nearly a decade no office building on earth stood taller.
  11. July 19, 1845 The Great Fire of 1845 Levels Lower Manhattan A predawn fire in a whale-oil shop reached a warehouse full of saltpeter, and the explosion that followed flattened block after block of the young city's business district.
  12. July 17, 2014 "I Can't Breathe" on Staten Island A Staten Island father stopped for selling loose cigarettes died in a police chokehold, and his last words became the rallying cry of a movement.
  13. July 16, 1964 A Police Killing Ignites Harlem The shooting of a fifteen-year-old boy by an off-duty police lieutenant set off six nights of unrest in Harlem, a preview of the summers that followed across urban America.
  14. July 15, 1976 New York Hosts a Convention and Barbara Jordan Steals It A nearly bankrupt city threw open Madison Square Garden for the Democrats, and a congresswoman from Texas gave the keynote that outlasted everything else said that week.
  15. July 14, 1853 New York Opens Its Crystal Palace A dome of iron and glass rose behind the Croton reservoir, and a sitting president came to open America's first world's fair on the ground that is now Bryant Park.
  16. July 13, 1863 The Draft Riots Set the City on Fire Days after the first names were drawn for a Civil War draft, working-class New York exploded into what is still the deadliest riot in American history.
  17. July 12, 1871 The Orange Riot Turns Eighth Avenue into a Battlefield A Protestant parade the city first tried to ban, then chose to guard with soldiers, ended with more than sixty New Yorkers dead on Eighth Avenue.
  18. July 11, 1804 Burr and Hamilton Meet at Weehawken The sitting vice president shot the man who built the nation's finances, and New York lost its most restless founder to a duel the city had every reason to prevent.
  19. July 8, 1889 The Giants Come Home to Coogan's Hollow After spending half the season as baseball's most famous vagrants, the New York Giants moved into a half-built ballpark in upper Manhattan and won the crowd before the last out.
  20. Houdini Goes Overboard July 7, 1912 Houdini Goes Overboard Blocked by the NYPD at Pier 6, Houdini steered a tugboat to federal waters off Governors Island, had himself nailed into a weighted crate, and was free from the East River in 57 seconds.
  21. Slavery Ends in New York July 4, 1827 Slavery Ends in New York New York freed its last enslaved residents on July 4, 1827, and the next morning thousands turned out for a march down Broadway that said what the Fourth of July still couldn't.

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