Originally, "Lower East Side" referred to the area alongside the East River from about the Manhattan Bridge and Canal Street up to 14th Street, and roughly bounded on the west by Broadway. It included areas known today as East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Bowery, Little Italy, and NoLita.

Wikipedia

Germany was not unified as a nation until 1871. Up to that time it was made up of multitude of states, princedoms, dukedoms, city states, etc. All of these diverse regions had their own dialects, customs and dress. The "Germans" who came to America in the 1800s tended to form communities within their own regional groups. Bavarians and Prussians were the two biggest German speaking groups.

Helmbold's Pharmacy, 594 Broadway

Dr Henry T. Helmbold, born in Philadelphia in 1826 was a dealer in patent medicines. He came to New York from Philadelphia in 1863 where he opened a drug store at 594 Broadway (on the east side near Prince, between the Metropolitan Hotel and Niblo's Theater and opposite the San Francisco Minstrel Hall). According to a New York Times article of 1897 Helmbold's Pharmacy "became the wonder of the city".

Helmbold made a huge fortune but was arrested as a "lunatic" in Philadelphia in 1877 and was committed to an asylum. He was released in 1885 but arrested again in New York in 1889. He died in an asylum in Trenton, New Jersey in 1894.

He made and sold "Helmbold's buchu" a concoction of water, licorice root, alcohol, caramel, molasses, oil of peppermint and tincture of cubels. It supposedly cured disease of the bladder, kidneys weakness, nervousness, loss of memory, dimness of vision, lassitude of the muscular system and more. It cost $1.00 for a 3½ ounce bottle.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE STORE.

The store extended from Broadway to Crosby Street, and being perhaps the finest fitted tip place in the city at the time, drew visitors from every part of the country. Any clerk who was not busy would pilot the "Rubes" around and while showing the curiosities would extol the merits of our preparations and the greatness of Dr. Helmbold. There were two soda fountains, one of the sarcophagus style to the left as one entered, but not used, and the second in the center of the store about 50 feet back. There was method in this arrangement, for not only did customers have to pass through rows of show cases (there were, no "silent salesmen" then), but they got a curiosity- developing vista of the fairyland in the rear. Next came a parlor about 25 feet square, carpeted with an Axminster woven in one piece to fit the place, plentifully covered with silk-upholstered comfortable rockers and other chairs, some of which were so expensive that they were protected by a broad silk ribbon to prevent people, from sitting on them. On a table in the center of this parlor were magazines and papers for waiting clients; and wall cases tempted them by their rich and large assortment of perfumes and toilet articles. A substantial ornamental railing separated the parlor both from the front store and the rear part; a colored attendant with three colored aides, clothed in immaculate white, coats with brass buttons, ruled this domain. NO king ever had more ceremony-demanding guards. It was only after much questioning and card giving that the visitor could reach, "the Doctor". Then came another stretch of store, with rows of huge columns and two perfume fountains which owing to their size and the expense of running them, were usually at rest.

Next came the advertising department with its velveteen-coated workers (notice everyone wore a species of uniform), then on one side a doctor's office for medical consultation and on the other the "sanctum sanctorum" as the sign above the glass door to it read. This private office was small, fitted in a rich yet plain manner, the principal object, to my mind, having been a bust carved from some rare wood, representing the great "Doctor" himself--the then great H. T.

To give a small idea of the lavish expense in fitting up "Helmbold's Palace": Brass monograms were set into the marble floor at some places; every gas globe had a huge -H. T. H." on it and cost about $5; there must have been over a dozen mirrors reaching from floor to ceiling; the price of the wood-carving alone would have bought a small sized store; canary birds in cages hung along the fixtures; there was one of those distorting mirrors which reflected the image of the onlooker fat or thin as it was turned probably the only one of its kind in the city at the time. A splendid ladies' room with colored attendant was another luxury.

WHO WAS HENRY HELMBOLD?

Metropolitan Hotel

The Metropolitan Hotel was build in 1852. At which point the entrance to Niblo's Theater was through the hotel lobby.

The Metropolitan is a handsome brown stone edifice, situated at the northeast corner of Broadway and Prince street. It extends back to Crosby street, and has a frontage of about 300 feet on Broadway. It is one of the most elegant hotels in the city, in every respect. It contains about 400 rooms, and is

always full. It is very popular with army officers, with Californians and the people of the mining States and Territories, as well as with the New Englanders. Capitalists and railroad managers also have a fondness for it. "Shoddy"* is to be seen here also in great force.

"Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe**, 1872

Niblo's Theater

William Niblo's Theater stated in 1828 as the Sans Souci Theater at the Columbia Gardens at Broadway and Prince. It offered light vaudeville in an outdoor setting and was so successful that Niblo build a larger more permanent structure. The structure suffered from several fires and was rebuilt several times. The 1881 New York City Atlas maps shows it inside the Metropolitan Hotel. In 1866 it had a seating capacity of over 3,200 people. It was demolished in 1895.

See History of the Musical Stage 1860s: The Black Crook by John Kenrick

Comments on the Niblo's from "Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe, 1872:

"Niblo's Theatre, or as it is generally called, "Niblo's Garden," is situated in the rear of the Metropolitan Hotel, with an entrance on Broadway. It is one of the largest and handsomest theatres in the city, and by far the coolest in warm weather. It is devoted principally to the spectacular drama. It was here that the famous spectacle of the Black Crook was produced. Its revival is to take place before these pages are in print, and it will probably be continued throughout the remainder of the season."

See History of the Musical Stage 1860s: The Black Crook by John Kenrick

View of the Interior of the Opera House, at Niblo's Garden, New York

St Nicholas Hotel 1863

The St Nicholas Hotel was located between Mercer and Broadway below Spring Street. It fronted on Broadway.

"The St. Nicholas is one of the best houses in the city. It shows a handsome marble front on Broadway, with a brown stone extension on the same thoroughfare to Prince street, and extends back to Mercer street.

It is handsomely furnished, and is kept on a scale of comfort and magnificence worthy of its fame. Its spacious halls and sitting-rooms, on the street floor, furnish one of the most popular lounging places in the city. Towards nightfall they are full to overflowing. The table is said, by the lovers of good living, to be the best served of any house in the city. The hotel is always full, and is very profitable to its proprietors. It is said to pay better in proportion to its expenses than any of its rivals. It is much liked by the Western people, who come here in crowds. There is also a dashing element about its guests which gives to it its peculiar reputation in the city. It is popularly believed to be the headquarters of "Shoddy," and certain it is that one sees among its habitues an immense number of flashily dressed, loud-voiced, self-asserting people."

"Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe, 1872

Interior View of Phalon's New Salloon, the the St. Nicholas Hotel (1853)

Dining Room of the St Nicholas Hotel. (1859?-1896)

Broadway below Spring Street as seen from the St Nicholas Hotel, circa 1872

Broadway from opposite the St Nicholas Hotel, looking North. [Anthony's instantaneous views. No. 315] ([Ca. 1860])

The Globe Theatre, Broadway, Opposite Waverley Place, N. Y. owned by Mr Steward (1876)

The Globe Theatre was listed in the 1871 Almanac: "Globe Theatre, 728 Broadway, opposite Waverley Place, variety performances"

Originally the Unitarian Church of the Messiah it opened as a theater called the Athenaeum in 1865. The names was changed many times. It was called the New Theatre Comique in 1881. It burnt in 1884 and was not rebuilt.

1. Chickering Hall, Eat 14 near Broadway, concerts
2. Globe Theatre, 728 Broadway, opposite Waverley Place, variety performances
3. Kahn's Anatomical Museum 745 Broadway, near Astor Place
4. Leavitt's Art Rooms, 817 Broadway cor 12th st exhibitions of paintings
5. Lina Edwin's Theatre, 720 Broadway near East 4th st, French opera buffe
6. Musuem of Anantomy, 618 Broadway near Houston st
7. New York Circus, East 14th st opposite Irving Place
8. Niblo's Garden, Broadway near Prince st, scenic drama and comedy
9. Olympic Theatre 624 Broadway near Houston st, pantomime
10. San Francisco Minstral Hall 586 Broadway, near Houston, minstrelsy
11. Schaus's Gallery 749 Broadway opposite Astor Place, paintings
12. Theatre Comique, 514 Broadway, near Spring st, variety performances
13. Union Square Theatre East 14th St near Broadway
14. Wallack's Theatre Broadway near East 13th Street, comedy and drama

" The Olympic is a large, old-fashioned theatre, on Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker streets. It is devoted to pantomime, and is famous as the headquarters of the erratic genius who calls himself Humpty Dumpty."

Once one of the most fashionable streets in the city, by the end of the Civil War the Bowery had become the home of popular theaters and German beer gardens.

A 1892 Century Magazine about the Bowery had the following to say:

• "It is an enormous, crowded, noisy street of retail shop, lodging houses, and museums."

• In addition to "respectable" shops like grocer's, baker's and a shop for "the supply of firemen's goods" there were a abundance of cheap jewelry stores and pawnbrokers.

• The "foreign inclination" of the street was noted:

  "one sees the force of foreign inclination unmistakably in other features of the street. The frequency of signs painted with Hebrew characters in German words even in the windows of banks, is no more mistakable than the occasional "delicatessen", shops, as the Germans call these places which are nearly like our "fancy groceries". The number of places for the sales of muscial instruments is so great as to indicate that the majority of their customers are from continental Europe, and in the still larger numbers of cheap photograph-galleries the same influence is apparent"........... Not only are the types of faces Teutonic and Slavonic, but the sitters have shown a fondness for being pictures in fancy costumes and maskers' dresses.".......... The sources of the fancy costumes is seen in the many places for the hire of masquerade dresses that are in the Bowery.......The costumes are hired for use at masquarade balls and it is on the morning after such a ball, before the dresses are returned, that the dancers wear them once again to the photograph-galleries."

• The inhabitants of the Bowery area were joiners and everyone became members of numerous "societies". Each occupation had one of more societies. One became a member of the society of people who came from the same village of area of Germany. Other societies included singing clubs, sharpshooting clubs, secret societies, mutual benefit societies, gymnastic clubs, and various church groups.

  "Fraternity and fun are at the bottom of all these organizations — a kind of fun we Anglo-Saxon are too stiff to enjoy, and a sort of vigorous and ostentatious fraternity that we do not see the necessity for............No matter what the aim or title of the organization, dancing and the drinking of wine and beer seem to us the main purpose of the members."

  Many of these clubs members mixed on "equal terms" regardless of their social standing. The king of a given "ball" could have been "wage-earner", "clerk, a "professional" or a "well-to-do shop keeper".

  One society had the sole purpose to "bring together the people for a Rhenish village for a grand dance and feast of new sausage and new wine once a year."

• The large number of drinking establishments was noted:

  "The street is fourteen blocks long, and there are sixty-five places where drink is sold on on its east side and seventeen on its west side"

  The numbers included: four music halls, four restaurants, four oyster houses, two or three wine houses, one wholesale liquor store, and several bars connected with theaters and variety-halls.

  "Some of the saloons have glittering exteriors and costly fittings, but not one is so called fist rate. In the main they are cheap places of a low class."

  The exception was the "one orderly resort &mdash The Atlantic Garden —"

  "Lager beer is of course the standard tipple of the Bowery, and it flows there in such torrents that I am not guilty of the slightest exaggeration is saying that early on Sunday morning, after a busy Saturday night , the very air that is breathed in the great avenue is weighted with the odor of soured beer."

• There were six museums on the Bowery. They showed such things as "the fattest women on earth"

• The Bowery was one of the most brilliantly lit streets of the day. Although Julian Ralph deems it "cheap and vulgar".

• The Old Bowery theater had recently been "given over" to entainment for "Polish Hebrews".

  "The language used on the stage is a strange jargon of bad Russian, Polish, old Hebrew, and one or more other tongues"

• "More numerous than all others on this great East-Side parade are the people of German origin."

Post marked 1910

By the mid 1870's elevated trains ran along 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 9th Avenues. While they improved the speed of travel they were loud and caused pollution.

Not posted

The Bowery, one of the most noted thoroughfares in the city, runs in a northeasterly direction through the most congested district of the famous East side. It practically begins at the Brooklyn Bridge under the name of Park Row and ends at Cooper Square. Was formerly a part of the old Boston Post Road.

Third Avenue El — From Battery Park to Harlem along the Bowery and Third Avenue.

Harpers Weekly April 1871

The Bowery Theatre was know at various times as the Thalia and Fay's Bowery Thretre.

Comments on the Olympic Theatre from "Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe, 1872:

"The Old Bowery Theatre, situated on the thoroughfare from which it takes its name, below Canal street, is the only old theatre left standing in the city. Three theatres have preceded it on this site, and all have been destroyed by fire. Within the last few years, the interior of the present theatre has been greatly modernized. The plays presented here are of a character peculiarly suited to that order of genius which despises Shakspeare, and hopes to be one day capable of appreciating the Black Crook. "Blood and thunder dramas," they are called in the city. The titles are stunning--the plays themselves even more so. A writer in one of the current publications of the day gives the following truthful picture of a "Saturday night at the Bowery:"

[Picture: THE OLD BOWERY THEATRE.]

"I had not loitered long at the entrance after the gas blazed up, when from up the street, and from down the street, and from across the street, there came little squads of dirty, ragged urchins--the true gamin of New York. These at once made a gymnasium of the stone steps--stood on their heads upon the pavements or climbed, like locusts, the neighboring lamp-posts; itching for mischief; poking fun furiously; they were the merriest gang of young dare-devils I have seen in a long day. It was not long before they were recruited by a fresh lot of young 'sardines' from somewhere else--then they went in for more monkey-shines until the door should be unbarred. They seemed to know each other very well, as if they were some young club of genial spirits that had been organized outside of the barriers of society for a long while. What funny habiliments they sported. It had never been my experience to see old clothes thrown upon young limbs so grotesquely. The coat that would have been a fit for a corpulent youth nearly buried a skinny form the height of your cane.

"And on the other hand, 'young dropsy's' legs and arms were like links of dried 'bolonas' in the garments which misfortune's raffle had drawn for him. Hats without rims--hats of fur, dreadfully plucked, with free ventilation for the scalp--caps with big tips like little porches of leather--caps without tips, or, if a tip still clung to it, it was by a single thread and dangled on the wearer's cheek like the husk of a banana. The majority seemed to have a weakness for the costumes of the army and the navy. Where a domestic tailor had clipped the skirts of a long blue military coat he had spared the two buttons of the waist-band, and they rested on the bare heels like a set of veritable spurs. Shoes and boots (and remember it's a December night) are rather scarce--and those by which these savoyards could have sworn by grinned fearfully with sets of naked toes. One 'young sport,' he had seen scarcely ten such winters, rejoiced in a pair of odd-mated rubber over-shoes, about the dimensions of snow-shoes. They saluted him as 'Gums.' A youngster, with a childish face and clear blue eyes, now shuffled upon the scene.

"'O Lordy, here's Horace, jist see his get up.' A shout of laughter went up, and Horace was swallowed in the ragged mob.

"'Horace' sported a big army cap like a huge blue extinguisher. He wrapped his wiry form in a cut-down, long-napped white beaver coat, the lapels of which were a foot square, and shingled his ankles as if he stood between a couple of placards. I had seen the latest caricature on the philosopher of the _Tribune_, but this second edition of H. G. swamped it. I knew that that young rogue had counted upon the effect of his white coat, and he enjoyed his christening with a gleeful face and a sparkle in his blue eyes. O, for the pencil of a Beard or a Bellew, to portray those saucy pug-noses, those dirty and begrimed faces! Faces with bars of blacking, like the shadows of small gridirons--faces with woful bruised peepers--faces with fun-flashing eyes--faces of striplings, yet so old and haggard--faces full of evil and deceit.

"Every mother's son of them had his fists anchored in his breeches pockets, and swaggered about, nudging each other's ribs with their sharp little elbows. They were not many minutes together before a battle took place. Some one had tripped 'Gums,' and one of his old shoes flew into the air. I think he of the white coat was the rascal, but being dubbed a philosopher, he did his best to look very wise, but a slap on the side of the ridge of his white collar upset his dignity, and 'Horace' 'went in,' and his bony fists rattled away on the close-shaven pate of 'Gums.'

"The doors are now unbarred, and this ragged 'pent up little Utica' rends itself, but not without much more scratching and much swearing. O, the cold-blooded oaths that rang from those young lips! As the passage to the pit is by a sort of cellar door, I lost sight of the young scamps as the last one pitched down its gloomy passage.

"In the human stream--in a whirlpool of fellow-beings--nudging their way to the boxes and the upper tiers, I now found myself. It was a terrible struggle; females screaming, were eddied around and around until their very faces were in a wire cage of their own 'skeletons.'

"'Look out for pickpockets,' shouted a Metropolitan. Every body then tried to button his coat over his breast, and every body gave it up as a bad job. In at last, but with the heat of that exertion--the smell of the hot gas--the fetid breath of two thousand souls, not particular, many, as to the quality of their gin--what a sweltering bath follows! The usher sees a ticket clutched before him, and a breathless individual saying wildly, 'Where?' He points to a distant part of the house, and the way to it is through a sea of humanity. A sort of a Dead Sea, for one can walk on it easier than he can dive through it. I shall never know how I got there at last; all I remember now are the low curses, the angry growls and a road over corns and bunions.

"The prompter's bell tingles and then tingles again. The bearded Germans of the orchestra hush their music, and the big field of green baize shoots to the cob-web arch.

"Now is the time to scan the scene--that teeming house--that instant when all faces are turned eagerly to the foot-lights, waiting breathlessly the first sound of the actor's voice. The restlessness of that tossing sea of humanity is at a dead calm now. Every nook and cranny is occupied--none too young--none too old to be there at the rise of the curtain. The suckling infant 'mewling and puking in its mother's arms.' The youngster rubbing his sleepy eyes. The timid Miss, half frightened with the great mob and longing for the fairy world to be created. Elder boys and elder sisters. Mothers, fathers, and the wrinkled old grand-sire. Many of these men sit in their shirt-sleeves, sweating in the humid atmosphere. Women are giving suck to fat infants. Blue-shirted sailors encircle their black-eyed Susans, with brawny arms (they make no 'bones' of showing their honest love in this democratic temple of Thespis). Division street milliners, black-eyed, rosy-cheeked, and flashy dressed sit close to their jealous-eyed lovers. Little Jew boys, with glossy ringlets and beady black eyes, with teeth and noses like their fat mammas and avaricious-looking papas, are yawning everywhere. Then there is a great crowd of roughs, prentice boys and pale, German tailors--the latter with their legs uncrossed for a relaxation. Emaciated German and Italian barbers, you know them from their dirty linen, their clean-shaven cheeks and their locks redolent with bear's grease.

"Through this mass, wandering from pit to gallery, go the red-shirted peanut-venders, and almost every jaw in the vast concern is crushing nut-shells. You fancy you hear it in the lulls of the play like a low unbroken growl.

"In the boxes sit some very handsome females--rather loudly dressed,--but beauty will beam and flash from any setting.

"Lean over the balcony, and behold in the depths below the famous pit, now crowded by that gang of little outlaws we parted with a short time ago.

"Of old times--of a bygone age--is this institution. In no other theatre in the whole town is that choice spot yielded to the unwashed. But this is the 'Bowery,' and those squally little spectators so busy scratching their close-mown polls, so vigorously pummeling each other, so unmercifully rattaned by despotic ushers--they are its best patrons.

"And are they not, in their light, great critics, too? Don't they know when to laugh, when to blubber, and when to applaud, and don't they know when to _hiss_, though! What a _fiat_ is their withering hiss! What poor actor dare brave it? It has gone deep, deep into many a poor player's heart and crushed him forever.

"The royal road to a news-boy's heart is to rant in style.

"Versatile Eddy and vigorous Boniface are the lads, in our day, for the news-boys' stamps.

"Ranting is out of the female line, but Bowery actresses have a substitute for it.

"At the proper moment, they draw themselves up in a rigid statue, they flash their big eyes, they dash about wildly their dishevelled hair, with out-stretched arms and protruding chins they then shriek out, V-i-l-l-a-i-n!

"O, Fannie Herring! what a tumult you have stirred up in the roused pit! No help for it, my dear lady. See, there's 'Horace,' standing on his seat and swinging his big blue cap in a cloud of other caps--encore! encore! And the pretty actress bows to the pit, and there is more joy in her heart from the yells of those skinny little throats than from all the flowers that ladies and gents from above may pelt her with.

"The bill of fare for an evening's entertainment at the Old Bowery is as long as your cane, and the last piece takes us far into the night--yet the big house sits it out, and the little ones sleep it out, and the tired actor well earns his pay.

"I'll not criticise the acting--a great part of the community thinks it's beyond the pale of criticism--this peculiarity of tearing things to pieces, and tossing around 'supes' promiscuously.

"And another thing, those little ungodly imps down there have a great appreciation of virtue and pathos. They dash their dirty fists into their peepers at the childish treble of a little Eva--and they cheer, O, so lustily, when Chastity sets her heavy foot upon the villain's heart and points her sharp sword at his rascal throat. They are very fickle in their bestowal of approbation, and their little fires die out or swell into a hot volcano according to the vehemence of the actor. 'Wake me up when Kirby dies,' said a veteran little denizen of the pit to his companions, and he laid down on the bench to snooze.

"'Mind yer eye, Porgie,' said his companion, before Porgie had got a dozen winks. 'I think ther's somthen goen to bust now.' Porgie's friend had a keen scent for sensation.

"As I came out, at the end of the performance, I again saw 'Horace.' He had just rescued a 'butt' from a watery grave in the gutter. 'Jeminy! don't chaps about town smoke 'em awful short now'days!' was the observation of the young philosopher.

"The theatre is almost the only amusement that the ragged newsboy has, apart from those of the senses. The Newsboys' Lodging House, which has been the agent of so much good among this neglected class of our population, find the late hours of the theatre a serious obstacle to their usefulness. It is safe to say that if the managers of the two Bowery Theatres would close at an earlier hour, say eleven o'clock, they would prosper as greatly as at present, and the boys who patronize their establishments would be much better off in body and mind. An effort is about to be made to obtain this reform from the managers voluntarily--instead of seeking legislative aid. We are quite sure it will be for the interest of all to close the theatres early."

THE THEATRE ____ WHERE THEY SPEND THEIR MONEY HARPERS WEEKLY 1867 (1867)

NEWSBOYS

This image is indicative of of the type of prejudice that existed in the press toward recently arrive immigrants. Their shabby, unfashionable cloths, their homely looks, their casual posture are indications of "low class". The one boy is holding a program that reads "Bowery". The type of theater presented at the Bowery theater was considered low brow as apposed to the opera and musical recitals given up town. It should also be noted that they are occupying the cheapest of seats in an already "cheap" theater.

The Stadt Theatre on Sunday Eve

Comments on the Stadt Theatre from "Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe, 1872:

"The Stadt Theatre, just across the street from the Old Bowery, is exclusively a German establishment. It is a plain old-fashioned building, without and within, but is worth a fortune to its proprietors. The performances are given in the German language, and the company is usually good. The prices are high and the audiences are large. Occasionally a season of German opera is given. I doubt that a more appreciative audience is to be found than that which assembles within the walls of the Stadt on opera nights. They are to a man good judges and dear lovers of music, and their applause, when it breaks forth, is a spontaneous outburst which shakes the house to its foundations. It is generously given, too, and must be particularly grateful to the performers.

A SATURDAY NIGHT SCENE IN THE BOWERY NEW YORK, HARPERS WEEKLY MAY 20, 1871

"Broadway wears a silent and deserted aspect all day long, but towards sunset the Bowery brightens up wonderfully, and after nightfall the street is ablaze with a thousand gaslights. The low class theatres and places of amusement in that thoroughfare are opened towards dark, and then vice reigns triumphant in the Bowery. The Bowery beer-gardens do a good business. The most of them are provided with orchestras or huge orchestrions, and these play music from the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church.

Until very recently the bar-rooms were closed from midnight on Saturday until midnight on Sunday, and during that period the sale of intoxicating liquors was prohibited. Now all this is changed. The bar-rooms do a good business on Sunday, and especially on Sunday night. The Monday morning papers tell a fearful tale of crimes committed on the holy day. Assaults, fights, murders, robberies, and minor offences are reported in considerable numbers. Drunkenness is very common, and the Monday Police Courts have plenty of work to do.

From a painting by Andre Castaigne, 1891

1. Bowery Theatre 46 Bowery near Canal, melodrama etc.
2. Liederkranz Hall 35 East 4th Street near Bowery
3. Stadt Theatre 45 Bowery, German plays
4. Tony Pastor's Opera-House 201 Bowery near Spring st, variety performances

Cooper Union, New York. Posted 1911.

Cooper Union located in Cooper Square (Bowery, Third Avenue and 7th Street) was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper and offered free classes to everyone, regardless of race, gender, religion or social status.

Steinway Hall, East 14th Street near 4th ave concerts, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1871

Third Avenue was a heavily populated street lined with small shops It did not contain any important public buildings, with the exception of Copper Union.

Cooper Institute Hall East 8th and 3rd ave, concerts and lectures, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1871.

SECOND AVENUE LOOKING NORTH FROM ST. MARK'S PLACE

The two buildings on the right are identified as N. Y. Historical Society and the Second Avenue Baptist Church

"In the quaint and historic structure of St. Marks church, at Tenth Street, is an interesting landmark. For a time this was a part of the German quarter."

The New Metropolis, 1899

The first facility of the German Dispensary was located at 132 Canal Street. In 1862 it moved to 3 East Third Street. By 1887 when it was located at 137 2nd Ave. the Dispensary was treating 28,000 patients a year, most from the neighboring German community. In 1905 the facility moved to Park Ave and 77th Street. It is now the Lenox Hill Hospital.

GERMAN BRANCH Y. M. C. A 140 and 142 Second Avenue near 9th Street

FIRST AVENUE LOOKING NORTH FROM EAST EIGHTH STREET

According to The New Metropolis, 1899 the elevated train gave First Avenue "an air of gloom and poverty".

"It comprises mile after mile of small shops on its west side and generally factories on the eat side, or yards of lumber, coal or stone."

St Nicholas Chruch, rectory, and convent on 2nd Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. The church and convent are no longer standing.

AVENUE A AND TOMPKINS SQUARE LOOKING NORTH FROM EAST SEVENTH STREET

Avenue A was the main thoroughfare of the German community in Lower Manhattan.

"Its entire lower end, from East Houston to Fourteenth Streets, is lined with shops that are German, spread with signs that are German, and promenaded by men and women who are, without question, prosperous German-Americans. A decade ago little else but the German tongue in its various dialects was heard here; now much English, though often a broken English, is to be heard. This is not because the Germans have moved, however. As a matter of fact there are more of this nationality about there than ever before, and Avenue A, for about fifteen blocks, is the pivotal center of "Kleine Deutchland". The reason of this gradual dropping of the German language is the influence of the growing generation which attends American schools. The older generation still speak the dialects of their native land. On the evenings just proceeding Christmas the curbs are lined with booths of decorations and toys, and it takes on an especially picturesque and foreign aspect. Avenue A abounds with "wein stubes," "bier Halles," bowling alleys, and numerous quaint shops."

The New Metropolis 1899

Tompkins Square is located between Avenues A and B, 7th and 10th Streets. The park, which opened in 1850, was a breath of fresh air in the congested area of Little German. It was also the scene some unrest:

• 1857 — immigrants demonstrated against unemployment and food shortages and were attacked by police

• 1863 &mdash Draft Riots

  See 1863 Draft Riots now or at the bottom of the page

• 1874 — Labor riots.

  See image below

• 1877 &mdash conflict between the National Guard and crowd gathered to head Communist revolutionary speeches

The park contains a monument to the victims of the General Slocum boat disaster in 1904. See General Slocum Disaster

"Tompkins Square is one of the largest in the city, and is laid off without ornament, being designed for a drill ground for the police and military. It occupies the area formed by avenues A and B, and Seventh and Tenth streets."

"Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City" by James Dabney McCabe, 1872

POOR PEOPLE'S PARKS — TOMPKINS SQUARE

TOMPKIN'S SQUARE, NEW YORK - OUT FOR A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

Those lucky enough to live close to one of the few parks in the Lower East Side could enjoy a more pleasant space — no traffic, less noise, trees, greenery.

The church in the background is St. Bridget's Roman Catholic started in 1848 by famine survivors. It is at Avenue B and East Seventh Street. The church has been the center of a lot of controversy in the last several years as the Archdiocese of New York sought to demolish the building. In May 2008 an anonymous donor gave $20 million to save the building and provide an endowment for the parish.

THE RED FLAG IN NEW YORK - RIOTOUS COMMUNIST WORKINGMEN DRIVEN FROM TOMPKINS SQAURE BY THE MOUNTED POLICE, TUES JANUARY 13th

There were not that many open spaces in the lower part of the city. A group of mostly immigrant, working-class, laborers requested a permit to demonstrate in the square. Political leaders suspected the group of Communist leanings and at the last minute revoked the permit to hold the rally. Large numbers of men and their families had gathered without realizing they no longer had a permit. Mount police wielding clubs rode down on the crowd.

"THE RED FLAG IN NEW YORK"

The so-called workingmen of the American Commune were announced to meet in Tompkins Square on Tuesday morning January 13th, and by ten o'clock at least 6,000 persons had assembled in the square. Many were also outside the railing inclosing the square and in the adjoining streets. Suddenly squads of police marched to the center of the square, crowds quickly hemming them in. Commissioner Duryea formed the men in line, and ordered the crowd to disperse. The officers, at almost the same moment, made a rush upon the crowd, which broke and ran, hotly pursued by the police who used their clubs indiscriminately. The square was soon cleared, except one portion, where Christian Meyer held froth as a leader of the Tenth Ward Association. He defied the police, and, with his crowd made a desperate resistance. He struck Sergeant Berghold with a hammer on the head, laying open the scalp a length of three inches. The sergeant's wounds were dressed at the station. His assailant was severely clubbed, and, with several of his bodyguards, was arrested. Several policemen were severely cut while taking the prisoners to the station house.

In the crowd were several hundred Communists, with red flags. The Central Committee of the Workingmen left the Casino, in Houston Street, at eleven A. M. followed by mounted police. On reaching Topmpins Square, the crowd hooted and yelled and stoned the police. While Captain Walsh was clearing the square his attention was suddenly directed to a body of men, numbering about two hundred, who were marching down the avenue followed by numerous rabble. The leader, Justus Swab, a Communist, carried an immense red flag which he defiantly waved over his head. When he reached the square, Captain Allaire arrested him and sent the flag to the police station. The First Avenue Station-house was besieged for several hours by the friends of those who were confined there. Our illustration represents the mob flying before the police."

Visable in the background is Houston Street at the corner of Sheriff Street.

Sheriff Street south of Houston. The building on the extreme right may be Grammar School No 22.The building to the left of it also looks more like some public building than an appartment building.

I believe that this view is of the Stanton Street side of Hamilton Fish Park.

To see more images of Hamilton Fish Park go to Children, New York City, Tenement Life

ELECTRICAL LIGHT LEAVING THE BRUSH STATION

According to the accompanying article, the Brush Electric Light Company station was at 210 Elizabeth Street.

In 1889 there were 7 electrical companies provide electric service for Manhattan.

1. The United States Co covered lower manhattan and part of middle Manhattan .
2. The Brush Co covers the middle.
3. The Manhattan Co. covered the upper east side and some upper and middle parts of the city
4. The East River Co. covered the east side and part of the middle.
5. The Harlem Co. covered the upper east side.
6. The Mount Morris covered the west side
7. The Edison covered lower and middle

The Brush and Manhattan supplied only large lights and motors. The Manhattan supplied only small lights. The other companies had similar restrictions.

Grand Street, New York at Night

The beer garden was an important part of German America life. It was here that the entire family congregated on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons to eat, socialize, sing and drink beer. There were numerous of these establishments throughout the German American neighborhoods in the New York Metropolitan area - Jersey City, Hoboken, Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Some were very large and could accommodate up to 1,000 people. Music, smoking and beer drinking were the most important components of the beer garden, but many also had other types of entertainment. Everyone, "even the baby is sure to be treated to a modicum of the ruddy malt." [The Illustrated London News, Dec 3, 1864]

German Americans were very family oriented. Germans parents rarely went out without their children. Entertainment, diversions and holidays were for the whole family.

A BROADWAY SUNDAY CONCERT IN NEW YORK

HARPER'S WEEKLY OCTOBER 8, 1859

As many of these engravings illustrate there was a tendency to look upon the German custom of spending Sunday evening in a Beer Garden as something rather wicked.

A GERMAN BEER GARDEN IN NEW YORK CITY ON SUNDAY EVENING

Harpers Weekly October 15, 1859

A GARTEN WIRTHSCHAFT

ENTERTAINMENT IN A LAGAR BEER SALOON

On the top floor of this brewery in Guttenberg, New Jersey was "a spacious hall containing billiard-tables, a piano, and bar for lager beer and the pleasant vintages of the Rhien"

Atlantic Gardens, located at 50 Bowery between Canal and Bayard Streets, was a great hall where people, especially the Germans, went with their families (wives and children) to drink beer and listen to music. There was a rival hall, the Volks Garden Deutshes Volksgarten), across the street. Other beer gardens in the area were Nieblo's Saloon, Magar's Concert Hall, and Lindenmeyer's Odeon. The Atlantic Gardens boasted several bars, a shooting gallery, bowling alleys, billiard tables and an orchestra. See Germans Immigrants to America

The Atlantic Gardens was founded in 1858 by William Kramer. In 1892 in an article on the Bowery for The Century Julian Ralph described it thus:

It is throughly German, from the dishes served on the counter near the door to the music played by the orchestra within, or the well salted pretzels that are consumed with the beer. It is simply a large hall a block in depth, partly surrounded by a gallery, and set with chairs and tables. Its decorations are neither good, bad, nor costly. Its purpose is to afford a place in which an hour can be passed in talking, drinking beer and listening to music of a band by night and of a huge orchestrion by day."

When the hall was changed into a Yiddish Vaudeville Theater in 1910 the New York Times wrote:

"The Atlantic Gardens is a large hall which extends from 50 Bowery to Elizabeth Street. In the front is a barroom and in the rear a concert hall with a stage, where vaudeville performances went on while the patrons ate and drank at tables. In 1858, when it was first opened, it was in the centre of what was the popular section for the better class of of Germans. To the east was the district where the Irish centered."

The Atlantic Garden C. New York City Life 1872

Accompanying text:

"The 'Beer Gardens' are very much in the style of the beer gardens in Germany, and of our English tea gardens. The hall shown in the sketch is the famed Bowery, the Whitchapel of New York. It is large and most elaborately decorated, daily concerts of no mean order, both vocal and instrumental, being provided for the entertainment of guests. The saloon has a large brewery attached for the brewing of "Weiss' and 'Larger' beer. On Sunday the Halle is always crowed with Tutonic customers, and although the law is supposed to enforce the closing of all drinking saloon, it is reported that enough money is taken in on Sunday night to pay the whole week's expenses".

A LARGER-BEER SALOON IN NEW YORK — DISCUSSING THE WAR*

*The 1870 War (or the Franco-Prussian War) which lasted from from July 1870 to May 1871 was a war between France and Prussia. The end of the war marked the unification of the Germany Empire and the downfall of Napoleon III.

SUNDAY "SOCIAL FREEDOM" IN THE BOWERY

There were a lot of "native Americans" who highly disapproved of the action of the "German Americans". This group of Sunday sinners, including the fellow who appears to be sneaking off to play golf, were probably having much too jolly a time.

A SACRED CONCERT

Our illustration presents none too vividly the sacred influence of a Sunday Evening Concert, which the foes of "puritanical tyranny" and "sumptuary legislation" propose to substitute for the Sabbath Evening services of the sanctuary, or the equally sacred services of the home circle. To the special pleading of would-be reformers, self-constituted emancipationists, and theatrical managers, and newspaper writers, for more recreation and less religion on the Sabbath. We need only reply, by pointing out the actual kind of sacred (!) diversions proposed. Do the fathers and mothers of the land want this sort of attraction to allure their sons on Sabbath evening from the ways of purity, truth, and righteousness?

Last Sabbath there were seven "Sacred Concert" and theatrical performances in New York. The "Herald" graphically describes the scenes of jollity and fun, and in a semi-justification of the Sabbath observances in this city, owing to the "peculiar wants" of its population says "the greatest of these wants is liberty, and for that reason the public insists that sunday shall be a day of social freedom." And yet the divine law stands unrepealed, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

A typical New York beer-garden (1900)

A MODEL SCHOOL AMONG THE GERMANS

ERSTER SPRECHER. "The School which we now have formed here in Orchard Street, in accordance with our Charter, Gentlemen (drinks!), will show the enervated American what a miserable farce their System of Education is. Looking around this assemlby of blooming, enlightened Young Men, I feel that German Education is now, as ever, the cradle of pure action, enobling sentiment, strong itellect, and manly courage, which accopanies, the German wherever, he goes, and commands the respect of every civilized nation on the face of the earth" (Drinks — immense applause!?)

A GERMAN INSTITUTION (1871)

This image mailed from Germany in 1902 gives a much more elegant twist on the German smoking and drinking habits. It was sent to Mr. and Mrs Joseph Griesedieck at the National Brewery Co. in St Louis Mo.

See Griesedieck Brothers Beer

"GENTLEMEN'S SALLON, ACADEMY OF MUSIC — LAGER BIER SCENE, BETWEEN THE ACTS OF THE OPERA, PERFORMED IN TURN BY THE WHOLE MALE AUDIENCE"

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Oct 11, 1856

" XLV. THE BEER-GARDENS.

In some respects, New York is as much German as American. A large part of it is a genuine reproduction of the Fatherland as regards the manners, customs, people, and language spoken. In the thickly settled sections east of the Bowery the Germans predominate, and one might live there for a year without ever hearing an English word spoken. The Germans of New York are a very steady, hard-working people, and withal very sociable. During the day they confine themselves closely to business, and at night they insist upon enjoying themselves. The huge Stadt Theatre draws several thousand within its walls whenever its doors are opened, and concerts and festivals of various kinds attract others. But the most popular of all places with this class of citizens is the beer-garden. Here one can sit and smoke, and drink beer by the gallon, listen to music, move about, meet his friends, and enjoy himself in his own way--all at a moderate cost.

From one end of the Bowery to the other, beer-gardens abound, and their brilliantly illuminated signs and transparencies form one of the most remarkable features of that curious street. Not all of them are reputable. In some there is a species of theatrical performance which is often broadly indecent. These are patronized by but few Germans, although they are mainly carried on by men of that nationality. The Rough and servant girl elements predominate in the audiences, and there is an unmistakably Irish stamp on most of the faces present.

The true beer-garden finds its highest development in the monster Atlantic Garden, which is located in the Bowery, next door to the Old Bowery Theatre. It is an immense room, with a lofty curved ceiling, handsomely frescoed, and lighted by numerous chandeliers and by brackets along the walls. It is lighted during the day from the roof. At one side is an open space planted with trees and flowers, the only mark of a garden visible. A large gallery rises above the floor at each end. That at the eastern or upper end is used as a restaurant for those who desire regular meals. The lower gallery is, like the rest of the place, for beer-drinkers only. Under the latter gallery is a shooting hall, which is usually filled with marksmen trying their skill. On the right hand side of the room is a huge orchestrion or monster music-box, and by its side is a raised platform, occupied by the orchestra employed at the place. The floor is sanded, and is lined with plain tables, six feet by two in size, to each of which is a couple of benches. The only ornaments of the immense hall are the frescoes and the chandeliers. Everything else is plain and substantial. Between the hall and the Bowery is the bar room, with its lunch counters. The fare provided at the latter is strictly German, but the former retails drinks of every description.

During the day the Atlantic does a good business through its bar and restaurant, many persons taking their meals here regularly. As night comes on, the great hall begins to fill up, and by eight o'clock the place is in its glory. From three to four thousand people, mainly Germans, may be seen here at one time, eating, drinking, smoking. Strong liquors are not sold, the drinks being beer and the lighter Rhine-wines. The German capacity for holding beer is immense. An amount sufficient to burst an American makes him only comfortable and good humored. The consumption of the article here nightly is tremendous, but there is no drunkenness. The audience is well behaved, and the noise is simply the hearty merriment of a large crowd. There is no disorder, no indecency. The place is thoroughly respectable, and the audience are interested in keeping it so. They come here with their families, spend a social, pleasant evening, meet their friends, hear the news, enjoy the music and the beer, and go home refreshed and happy. The Germans are very proud of this resort, and they would not tolerate the introduction of any feature that would make it an unfit place for their wives and daughters. It is a decided advantage to the people who frequent this place, whatever the Temperance advocates may say, that men have here a resort where they can enjoy themselves with their families, instead of seeking their pleasure away from the society of their wives and children.

[Picture: THE ATLANTIC GARDEN.]

The buzz and the hum of the conversation, and the laughter, are overpowering, and you wander through the vast crowd with your ears deafened by the sound. Suddenly the leader of the orchestra raps sharply on his desk, and there is a profound silence all over the hall. In an instant the orchestra breaks forth into some wonderful German melody, or some deep-voiced, strong-lunged singer sends his rich notes rolling through the hall. The auditors have suddenly lost their merriment, and are now listening pensively to the music, which is good. They sip their beer absently, and are thinking no doubt of the far-off Fatherland, for you see their features grow softer and their eyes glisten. Then, when it is all over, they burst into an enthusiastic encore, or resume their suspended conversations.

On the night of the reception of the news of Napoleon's capitulation at Sedan, the Atlantic Garden was a sight worth seeing. The orchestra was doubled, and the music and the songs were all patriotic. The hall was packed with excited people, and the huge building fairly rocked with the cheers which went up from it. The "German's Fatherland" and Luther's Hymn were sung by five thousand voices, hoarse or shrill with excitement. Oceans of beer were drunk, men and women shook hands and embraced, and the excitement was kept up until long after midnight. Yet nobody was drunk, save with the excitement of the moment.

The Central Park Garden, at the corner of Seventh avenue and Fifty-ninth street, is more of an American institution than the Atlantic. It consists of a handsome hall surrounded on three sides by a gallery, and opening at the back upon grounds a moderate size, tastefully laid out, and adorned with rustic stalls and arbors for the use of guests. At the Atlantic the admission is free. Here one pays fifty cents for the privilege of entering the grounds and building. During the summer months nightly concerts, with Saturday matinees, are given here by Theodore Thomas and his famous orchestra--the finest organization of its kind in America. The music is of a high order, and is rendered in a masterly manner. Many lovers of music come to New York in the summer simply to hear these concerts.

The place is the fashionable resort of the city in the summer. The audience is equal to anything to be seen in the city. One can meet here all the celebrities who happen to be in town, and as every one is free to do as he pleases, there is no restraint to hamper one's enjoyment. You may sit and smoke and drink, or stroll through the place the whole evening, merely greeting your acquaintances with a nod, or you may join them, and chat to your heart's content. Refreshments and liquors of all kinds are sold to guests; but the prices are high. The Central Park Garden, or, as it is called by strangers, "Thomas's Garden," is the most thoroughly enjoyable place in the city in the summer."

The first professional performance of a German play was in 1849 at Magner's Hall on Elizabeth Street between Broome and Grand.

One of the earliest German theaters was the Stadt Theater on the Bowery. Managed by Messrs Hoym and Harman it closed in 1853 after a fire. It was later the site of the People's Theater which was on the Bowery at Spring Street in 1918. Other early theaters were the Windsor, the Thalia, Germania, the Bowery, Irving Place Theatre (Amberg's German Theatre), and Wallack's.

The upstown swells tended to look down on the German Theater.

"It is generally conceded that the German Theatre evolved from a dilettante enthusiasm displayed at the German Vereins. In these social gatherings, private theatricals were given, and talent was eagerly sought for among the members. On Sundays, plays were preformed in the different Verein hall. It was a matter of art and beer, and even though the at might be bad, the beer was unfailingly good."

"The Life of Heinrich Conried" by Montrose J Moses, 1916

"To the disgust of German intellectuals emigres it specialized in melodrama and farces"

"Women in the American Theatre: Actresses and Audiences", 1790-1870 By Faye E. Dudden, 1997

The German Theater in New York City in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s presented classical drama, comedy, farce and operetta.

Germania Theatre: The Roman Catholic Church of St Annes 148 Eighth Street between Broadway and Forth Avenue was converted into a theater in 1879. It was leased to several German Speaking groups and was known during the 1890s as the Germania.

"Star Theatre, year 1900 (formerly Wallack's Theatre) at northeast corner of Broadway and Thirteenth."

Ada Merito, A German Stage Favorite

Ada Merito was born in Tieste, Italy but trained in Vienna. For several seasons she was the leading lady at the Irving Place Theatre. In 1901 she played Margaretha (also known as Grethcen) at the Irving Place theatre to rave reviews. She also played Roxanne in Cyrano. The plays were performed in German. Irving Place Theatre was/is located at Irving Place at 15th street. It opened in 1888 and was also known as the Amberg's German Theatre.

Leona Bergere appeared as Mary/Freddy in "A Day in Manila" by Adolph Phillip and Wegern in October 1898. (A history of the New York stage from the first performance in 1732 ..., Volume 3 By Thomas Allston Brown)

Although I cannot confirm that it is the same person, she also appeared to have acted in some early Germany movies of the 1920.

Kathi Schratt

Kathi Schratt played Cyprienne in Divorcons at the Thalia Theatre in 1882. Katherine (Catherine) Schratt was a star of the Burg Theater in Vienna was a long time companion of the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria

Josie Gallmeyer, A Favorite Viennese Comedian

Josephine Gallmeyer was a popular Viennese singer of operettas and comic operas who was compared to Lillian Russell. She was born in Leipsic in 1838 to a theatrical family. She made her stage debut at age 10. She toured sucessfully in the United States in 1882-1883. She played the Thalia Theatre in September and October 1882. She died in 1884 in Vienna of cancer of the stomach.

Agnes Sorma, A Celebrity of the German Stage

Agnes Sorma was born 17 May 1862 in Breslau Schlesien and died 10 February 1927 Crownend Arizona.

She appeared at the Irving Theatre in 1898 in Humberdinck's "Die Konigskinder" and at the same theatre in the same year in Ibsen's "A Doll House".

She played Juliet, Ophelia, and Desdemona in Germany. He first tour to the US was in 1897. From 1904 to 1908 she worked under Max Reinhardt.

Franz Ebert and Adolph Zink, of the Lilliputian Company

The Lilliputian company first appeared in America in November 29, 1883 at the Thalia Theatre. They arrived by steamship from Hamburg after a successful tour of Europe where they performed in the National Theatre in Berlin, the Opera Theatre in Brussels, and the Crystal Palace in London. They also gave a private performance for Queen Victoria.

The Lilliputian Company, a popular comic opera group composed of midgets, staged "A Tip to Mars" at the Niblo Theater in September 1893 that was very well attended not only by the German community but "portions of the English element"*. The company of eight midgets including the star Franz Ebert was accompanied by dance troops, music and singing.

Franz Ebert measuring 28 inches tall was the principle comedian of the Lilliputian Company. Franz Ebert and Adolph Zink played in "The Golden Horseshoe" at the Irving Palace Theatre in September 1898.

* New York Times September 6, 1893

Friedrich Mitterwurzer

Born 16 October 1844, died 13 February 1897 Vienna, Friedrich Mitterwurzer was a popular German speaking actor who played Faust and Mephisto. He toured Germany, Holland and America from 1886 to 1894.

He played in New York at the Star Theatre in November 1885 and at the Thalia Theatre in November 1885 to mixed reviews.

Adolf Sonnenthal

Adolf Sonnenthal, a Hungarian Jew, was born in Budapest 21 December 1834. He played most of the leading roles of the day including Hamlet, Macbeth, Faust and more. He died in Prague in 1909. He made his first American tour in 1885.

He appeared at the Thalia in March 1885 in a four-act drama by Wilbrandt, entitled "Die Tochter des Herrn Fabricius." The New York Times panned the play but praised Sonnenthal. He appeared later that same month at the Thalia in "Fromont jeune et Risler aine". Again the play was panned but Sonnenthal praised.

There are numerous reviews available in the New York Times Archives of the plays he appeared in in 1885 in New York.

He returned to the New York Stage in 1899, this time to the Irving Palace Theatre.

Wilhelm Knaack

Wilhelm Knaack was born in Rostock Germany on 13 February 1829. He was successful in both dramatic and comic operatic roles. He completed a popular tour of the United States and Canada in 1882. He played the Thalia Theatre in November 1882 to rave reviews.

He died in Vienna 29 October 1894.

See Wilhelm Knaak und Johann Nestroy in Orpheus in der Unterwelt, Lithographie von Adolf Dauthage aus dem Jahre 1860

Heinrich Conried

Heinrich Conried was born in 1855 in Bielitz, Silesia (now Poland). He was an actor in the Burgtheatre in Vienna. He immigrated to New York in 1878 and became the stage manager for the Germania Theatre. He held various other positions in the New York German theater including manager of the Iriving Place Theatre. In 1903 he became the director of the Metropolitan Opera. He held that position until 1908 when he retired due to poor health. He died in Merano, Tryol, Austria (now Italy) in April 1909.

Ludwig Barnay

Ludwig Barnay was born in Budapest in 1842. He played in various cities in German and Austria. His principle roles were in tragities. He died in 1924.

He made a successful tour of the US in 1882. He was in the US again in 1888 when he played at the Academy of Music which was then under the management of Heinrich Conried.

Ludwig Barney, Jewish Encyclopedia

Adalbert Matkowsky

Adalvert Matkowsky was born in 1857 in Konigsberg.

"Matkowsky was a magnificent interpreter of shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, and other classics. His William Tell was possibly him most popular creation."

New York Times March 28, 1909

He died in Berlin 1909.

Marie Geistinger was born in 1836 and died in Klagenfurt, Germany in 1903. She made two tours to America one in 1880 and the other in 1897. In 1880 she played the Thalia Theatre. She was the "queen of the operetta' but she also played French Opera Bouffe as well as dramatic roles. Her father was a Russian court actor.

German American Actors and Actresses

Ada Merito, Leona Bergere, Kathi Scratt, Josie Gallmeyer, Agnes Sorma, Frank Ebert, Adolph Zink, Frederich Mitterwurzer, Adolf Sonnenthal, Wilhelm Knaack, Ludwig Barnay and Adalbert Matkowsky were all famous actors on the stage in Germany who came on tour to the United States. Heinrich Conried immigrated to the US although he was born and died in Europe and he returned to Germany frequently to search out new talent for the plays presented at the Irving Theatre.

Accordint to "The German element in the United States: with special reference to ..., Volume 2, By Albert Bernhardt Faust, 1909 some of the people he recruited were:

• Hedwig Lange: In 1901 and 1902 she was the leading lady of the Irving Theatre.

  "If Hedwig Lange were and American she would be a "star" in about two minutes"

  The Bookman Vol 15, 1902

• Marie Reichardt:

• Hedwig von Ostermann: Leading lady at the Irving Theatre in 1901 and 1902. See New Notes From Recently Uncovered Articles About Actress Hedvig (or Hedwig) Von Ostermann

• Hermine Varma:

• Alexander Rattmann:,

• Adolf Zimmerman: In 1902 he was listed by the New York Times as a "popular juvenile actor" at the Irving Place Theatre.

• Gustav von Seyffertitz: Born 1862 in Bavaria and died 1943 in Los Angeles. He was a popular comedian and character actor with New York German Theatre goers. He later became a successful character actor in the movies. He appeared in 118 films between 1917 and 1939. He played with Greta Garbo in The Mysterious Lady and Mary Pickford in Soarrows. He was married multiple times. See Gustav Von Seyffertitz The True Hollywood Aristocrat. According to his passport application in 1924 he immigrated to the United States in September 1896 and was naturalized in the District Court of New York in Jan 1922. He appears to have made trips back to Europe in 1903, 1908, 1909, 1910 and 1924.

German Singing Societies:

1. Arion Singing Society

2. Liederkranz Club a German singing society was founded in 1847. For many years they had a club house on Forth Street until they moved "uptown". Each year starting in 1853 they held a "Carnival masquerade". Liederkranz History

   There were Liederkranz clubs and halls wherever there was a large German population.

THE LIEDERKRANZ BALL

The Liedergranz ball of 1883 was held at the Academy of Music and was their 30th annual ball. A feature of the Liedergranz balls was the grand parade with all of the participants dressed in elaborate costumes.

THE CARNIVAL IN NEW YORK - THE GREAT ARION BALL

OUR GERMAN AMERICANS HAVE AS GREAT A CAPACITY FOR ENJOYMENT AS ANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY, AND WHEN THEY CELEBRATE THEY DO IT IN A WHOLE-SOULED FASHION WHICH IS PLEASANT TO WITNESS AND TO CONTEMPLATE

The 1897 Arion Society Dance was held in Madison Square Garden. The celebration opened at 10:30 with a procession of fantastic floats carrying multiple gods and goddesses, nymphs, satyrs, and other figures from mythology, opera and literature. "By 12 o'clock the procession was over, and the masked dancers took possession of the floor" (New York times, February 12, 1897). The ball lasted till 6 o'clock in the morning.

The two great masked balls in New York were the Liederkranz and the Arion balls. For years the Liederkranz Ball was held at the academy of music and the Arion Ball was held at Madison Square Garden.

The Arion Ball was not only a dance but a major indoor spectacle. Days of preparation were needed to decorate the garden. In 1897 there was "an immense grotto of imitation icicles" and "a mammoth floral star, hanging from the ceiling" which fell apart at midnight releasing "50 imprisoned sparrows" at the same time "a colossal egg" which also hung from the ceiling "let a shower of bouquets fall upon the dancers". In addition there was an abundance of paper streamers and confetti.

In 1887 "great festoons of evergreens hung from the centre of the ceiling of the Metropolitan Opera House to the galleries, where they met elaborate decoration of flowers and greens. Over the center of the dancing floor hung a huge floral ball of poses pinks and violets." According to The Atlantic monthly, Volume 44, 1897, author unknown, ladies did NOT go to masked balls in the United States, hence all of the women at the Arion Ball were NOT ladies but may have been "a milliner, or a washer woman, or your wife's maid, but not a lady." The New York Times routinely described the balls each year and it is fun reading about the themes of the floats, tableaus and dances.

RECEPTION OF THE GERMAN SINGING SOCIETIES AT THE CITY HALL PARK, JULY 15, 1865

Saengerfest [Singing Feast] brought singing groups from all over the county. In 1865:

"They came from Philadelphia, from Buffalo, from Pittsburg, from Hartford, from Baltimore, and from many other cities, and devoted the day and night to processions, to concerts, to prize dvocal tournaments, to picnics, to sports , to excursions , to jollity. With characteristic geniality the great multitude sang and drank and laughed and played and peacefully departed."

THE GREAT SAENGERFEST BY THE COMBINED GERMAN SINGING SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES - THEIR RECEPTION BY THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK (1865)

NEW YORK CITY - THE FIRST ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF THE NORTH GERMAN SOCIETIES - THE GRAND PROCESSION LEAVING THE GERMANIA ASSEMBLY ROOMS, MONDAY AUGUST (1875)

The National Saengerfest was held in New York City in June 1894 and was the first time the city had hosted a Saengerfest in a quarter of a century.

The festival was held a Madison Square Garden and consisted of five "entertainments" held between Saturday evening and Monday evening. and was attended by over 50,000 people. At one of the performances 6,000 singers, representing singing societies from all over the country, stood on tiers ranging from the ground to the rafters. They were accompanied by a 150 person orchestra. The various societies competed for prizes on Sunday and Monday afternoons.

A picnic at Gravesend Beach, wheere the prizes were awarded, closed the festivities.

THE GERMAN PEACE CELEBRATION IN NEW YORK

This event celebrated the end of the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870-10 May 1871. The Germany victory resulted in the unification of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I (William the Great). It also resulted in the end of the Second French Empire under Napoleon III (a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte).

This image is a composite of venues in the city. Notice the row of buildings on the top left corner. The second building has the word Helmbold across the top. Helmbold's Pharmacy was on Broadway near the corner of Prince.See Broadway above. The center of the image represents Tompkin's Square. St Bridget's Church is visible to the right of the grand stand.

The celebrations were described in great detail in New York Times April 11, 1871

Tens of thousands of people participated in the celebration. A "procession" lasting 3 and three quarters hours passed in front of City Hall and ended at

Stores and buildings along the route were decorated with: banners, flags, streamers, bunting, drapery, flowers, fresh evergreens, 10 foot paintings, triumphal arches, etc.

Every German club and society in the city marched in the procession.

A Verein was/is a club. As mentioned the German American community joined all sorts of clubs: shooting, social, political and athletic.

THE GYMNASIUM OF THE CENTRAL TURN VEREIN, NEW YORK

The Turn Verein (or Turner Bund) was a popular club in Germany and the United States. See Turnverein, Ohio University

In 1890 the Turner Bund of New York had 1,800 members and was the largest in the United States.

THE FLORAL TEMPLE IN THE GRAND GERMAN FAIR

A Fair was held at the 37th Regiment on Broadway between 35th and 36th streets to raise money for wounded German soldiers.

One of the chief attraction was the "magnificent Floral Temple".

• Dr. Kahn's Museum of Anatomy, Science and Art, 194 Bowery

  "Gotham's greatest attraction!...... Open Every Day and Evening from (A.M.....The models in this Institution are directly from Nature and illustrate the Human Anatomy in such a faithful manner that admission can be granted ONLY TO MEN"

  After a police raid in 1888 the museum was closed for four years. I was under various ownerships and at various locations from it founding in 1862. Kahns was associated with the Jordan family who had similar establishments in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Ostensibly, museums of this type were established to teach the general public about human anatomy in order to improve health and prevent disease. On display were wax models and specimens in jars.

  When several of these establishments were raided in 1888 the material confiscated by the police was described as "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent" and the head line as "REVOLTING SHOWS CLOSED".

  See Common Place, A Cabinet of Curiosities

The Germans who arrived in New York City at the time in question were generally Lutheran, Catholic or Jewish. A small number, regardless of pervious affiliation, rejected formal religion.

Some Places of Worship, Jewish

Preceding the influx of Eastern European Jews in the area, the German Jews build at least two synagogues.

1. The first synagogue in the Lower East Side built specifically as a synagogue currently houses Angel Orensanz, a cultural center for the performing arts. Built in 1849 it is located at 172-176 Norfolk Street (just south of Houston), 6 blocks west of 88 Sheriff St.

2. In 1853 another synagogue was built at 8 Clinton Street (just south of Houston), 4 blocks west of 88 Sheriff. A reformed congregations established by German Jewish immigrants, that congregation eventually moved to the Upper West Side. In 1891 building was taken over by a congregation of Polish Jews.

Some Places of Worship, Christian

The Christian German immigrants were primarily divided into Lutheran and Catholic. However, there were other Protestant denominations represented. Peter Goehle's family were Catholic in Germany yet he eschewed both the Catholic congregations and the more prominent Protestant congregation of the Lutheran faith. Most of family rituals that have been found so far were performed in smaller Protestant congregations.

1. St. Nicholas Kirche (1833) was the first German Catholic Parish in New York City. The church was opened in 1836 on 2nd Avenue between 1st and Avenue A. The building no longer stands, although the rectory still remains. Isabelle Walsh and Frank Goehle were married in St. Nicholas in 1921. Frank converted the Catholicism around the time of his marriage. To see an image of St. Nicholas church go to Frank Goehle now or at the bottom of the page. Or see St. Nicholas German Catholic Church

2. German Reformed Churches at:
   1. 129 Norfolk Street
   2. Avenue B at 5th

3. The Second German Evangelical Reformed Church Madison and Montgomery Streets. Peter Goehle and Catherine Christ were married in this church in 1875. Catherine Lindeman, the younger, and Charles BeyerKohler were married in this church in 1888. The church is no longer standing.

4. St. Mark's Lutheran Church at 323 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue

   founded 1846. Community Synagogue since 1940.

5. German Evangelical Church, Rivington Street

   The German Evangelical Church (AKA 1st German Presbyterian Church) at 89-93 Rivington Street was originally built circa 1857. This was the church in which Julius Lindermann and Catherine Furst were married at in 1863 and where their daughters were baptized: Elizabeth in 1864 and Sophia Catherine in 1866. Several sites on the internet say the building was bought by an Orthodox German Jewish congregation in 1864. So the German Evangelical Congregation may have been somewhere else by the baptism of Sophia in 1866. It subsequently became the home of the Allen Street Memorial Church in 1890. In 1902 it housed the First Roumanian-American Congregation (Jewish). The building collapsed in January 2006.

No date

The Brooklyn Bridge (at the right of the photo) took 14 years to complete. It was the longest, highest bridge in the world when it opened in 1883.

The Manhattan Bridge (in the center of the photo) was completed in 1912.

No date.

The bridge in the center of the photo is the Williamsburg Bridge (completed in 1903) which ends on Delancey Street in Manhattan. Known addresses for Peter Goehle include:

• Pitt Street just north of Delancey in 1875/76
• Broom Street just south of Delancey in 1881
• Columbia Street just south of Delancey from 1883 to 1889
• Sheriff Street just south of Delancey in 1894
• Pitt Street just north of Delancey in 1899

This photo was taken before the old buildings were demolished to make room for the housing projects that now cover most of the area.

Not posted

The major focus of this recruitment are the Irish and Germans. Notice the sign is in both English and German. Union soldiers can be seen mingling with the crowd. Unfortunately, the accompanying article is missing.

There is no clear stereotype of a German immigrant in this image.

German-Americans were the largest ethnic group to fight in the American Civil War. Most fought on the Union side. New York supplied the largest number of German born Union soldiers.

See also 1863 Draft Riots

Catherine Furst, Julius Lindemann, Peter Goehle, Henry Blanck, the Erxmeyers, the Petermanns were among the millions of German American immigrants. For images of life in Germany, click on the picture of the wooden shoes

Catherine Furst, Julius Lindemann, Peter Goehle, Henry Blanck, the Erxmeyers, the Petermanns were among the millions of German American immigrants. For information on and images of the German American in United States click on the image of the German American Family

On June 15, 1904 the excursion boat, SS General Slocum caught fire on the East River resulting in the death of over 1,000 persons, mostly women and children. It was the biggest disaster in New York City until 9/11.