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10 Insane Facts About New York City's History

New York City has perhaps more history than any other in the nation. But how much NYC history do you really know? Here are 10 tidbits that few have heard.

Mayday Moving

Think moving to a new apartment in New York City is tough today? Actually, it might be easier than it used to be. Up until the Second World War, every New Yorker who wanted to move had to do so on May 1.

Toilet Paper Breakthrough

Did you know the world's first toilet paper was created in New York City? Invented by Joseph Gayetty in 1857, it was a lot fancier than most TP we use today. Not only was it made from eco-friendly hemp fibers, it was also infused with aloe vera and dispensed from a box like Kleenex.

Tube Mail

Transit by pneumatic tube isn't as futuristic as you might think. In fact, it went out of fashion in NYC as early as 1957. Before then, up to 97,000 letters a day zipped around the city in subterranean tubes. It took just four minutes for a piece of mail to cross the East River between Brooklyn and the Church Street Post Office.

The Dangers of Gotham...

New York has long been a dangerous place. Even today, it's rare for a day to pass without some kind of violent crime. On November 28, 2012 not a single crime was reported.

Terrorism for Almost a Century

One of the first domestic terror attacks in the United States took place in New York City in 1920. It took place on Wall Street and involved the detonation of a horse-drawn carriage loaded with powerful explosives. The incident killed 30 people.

Misogyny at McSorley's

Women have been excluded from a lot of establishments over the years. But New York City's oldest Irish bar, McSorley's, banned women right up until 1970.

Necropolitan Parks

Never mind a metropolis; New York was once a necropolis. Some of the city's most thriving parks used to be little more than cemeteries. Madison, Washington and Union Square Parks, as well as Bryant Park, were all once assigned to the dead. Where did the bodies go, you ask? Nowhere. Washington Square Park, for example, still has 20,000 corpses underfoot. And unclaimed bodies are still buried in their hundreds of thousands on Hart Island off the Bronx.

Behind the Times

Times Square, perhaps the best known location of New York City and a hub for New York City information, was once called Longacre Square. The name was changed in 1904 when The New York Times relocated there.

New York City Weather Warning

New York City weather can sometimes be pretty severe. The hurricane of 1893, for instance, completely wiped Hog Island (a one-mile stretch south of Rockaway Beach) off the map. And in 1780, the winter was so cold that New Yorkers could walk between Manhattan and Staten Island on the ice of the frozen harbor.

Blaxploitation

New York City has a long history of some of the worst kind of racism. In 1906, for example, the Bronx Zoo exhibited an African man alongside other primates in the monkey house.

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