Lower Manhattan Historical Association
The Lower Manhattan Historical Association is a collaborative umbrella organization for Downtown New York historical, cultural and military groups devoted to the study, preservation, commemoration and celebration of Lower Manhattan’s rich and complex history.
Past Events
July 4, 2022 - The 7th Annual Lower Manhattan Independence Day March
2022 - 230th Anniversary of the Buttonwood Agreement - Jessica Lappin, President of the Alliance for Downtown New York
April 8, 2022 - 292th anniversary of the Consecration of the first Synagogue in North America US Congressman Jerrold Nadler standing with Rabbi Joseph Potasnick, Executive Vice President, New York Board of Rabbis who received the Gershom Mendes Seixas Religious Freedom Award. Ambrose Madison Richardson (7th from left), President of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (LMHA), presented the award.
2021 4th of July celebration
July 4th March 2021
October 16th 2019 - Saratoga Yorktown
April 10, 2019 at the Ceremony of the co naming of S William Street for the Mill Street Synagogue and Seixas Way
2019 Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Achievement Award Winners: Congressman Adriano Espaillat (Dominican Republic), Thomas Isekenegbe, Ph.D. (Nigeria), Mery Lezama (Ecuador), and Peter Woo (China)
October 21, 2012 - A plaque commemorating Horatio Gates whose grave was unmarked was installed at Trinity Church Cemetery with the Daughters of the Revolution
Revolutionary War in New York - the Midnight Walking tour led by James Kaplan
February 3rd, 2023 - Founding of New York City event at New York City Hall
Upcoming Events
History of Lower Manhattan- Bowling Green Timeline
1626 Peter Minuit purchases Manhattan Island from the Lenape Indians for 60 guilders worth of tools
1633 Construction of Fort Amsterdam marked the official founding of New York City.
1677 1st Public Water Well was dug at Ft James (originally, Fort Amsterdam) to supply water for tea
1733 Leased for 1 pepper corn a year a ‘manicured lawn bowling court’ created by the Common Council and funded by Peter Jay, John Chambers and Peter Bayard was the 1st park in New York, landmarked in 1970.
1770 Statue of King George III erected by Sculptor Joseph Wilton in Roman Garb victory celebration after the Seven Years War amid a lot of protests
1771 Oldest Fence in New York erected fence erected because of the protest to protect a giant statue of King George III that was erected in the park six years earlier by the British government.
1776 George III Statue toppled and then recast into musket balls on July 9th, 1776 after Washington had the Declaration of Independence read aloud; the ornaments at the tops of the fence were also cut off
1783 Evacuation Day officially ended the War. As a departing gesture, the British greased the flagpole; John Van Arsdale went to a nearby hardware store and bought cleats so he could shimmy the pole, remove the British Flag and raise the new American one; plaza renamed in 2016.
1790 Fort Amsterdam is demolished the rubble is used to extend Bowling Green to the west. Government House is built in its stead.
1790 2nd Presidential Mansion George Washington occupied the Alexander Macomb House until the capital was finally moved to Philadelphia
1820 Transportation terminus When the entertainment venue Castle Garden opened, the streets around Bowling Green became clogged
1893 Cable Car Line In all MTC spent $12 million on a cable car railway system to move cars on Broadway from Bowling Green to 36th Street
1896 Abraham De Peyster statue George Edwin Bissell’s sculpture of the early Dutch Mayor, alderman, acting governor and member of the King’s Council who among other things donated the land for the original City Hall.
1897 Pneumatic Transit The Post Office begins sending mail from the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green to the Old General Post Office on Park Row, a distance of 3750 ft in under a minute
1905 IRT Subway Park Reconfigured for IRT subway construction
1939 Worlds Fair Robert Moses and Mayor Laguardia renovated park as part of the Citywide improvements for the Worlds Fair
1969 Ticker Tape Parades return of Apollo 11 Astronauts in August. An impromptu parade celebrating the opening of the Statue of Liberty with employees throwing ‘ticker tape’ out of windows to join in the celebration became the 1st of the 206 in 1886
1989 Charging Bull In the wake of the stock market crash of 1987, Arturo Di Modica installed the 7 ton sculpture in the middle of the night in front of the NYSE as a ‘Christmas Gift to the People of NY’. Removed several hours later, it has been relocated to Bowling Green.
2011 Occupy Wall Street Protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park bringing economic inequality into the national spotlight pawning a worldwide Occupy movement
2017 Fearless Girl Statue was a part of State Street Global Advisors campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards.
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