The Book of New York Firsts - Unusual, Arcane, and Fascinating Facts in the Life of New York City (Paperback, 1st Syracuse University Press ed)

Everything you wanted to know about the unusual, arcane, and fascinating in the life of New York City. The term "only in New York" takes on new meaning in page after page of this intriguing survey of firsts in one of the world's greatest cities-from extraordinary people to ghosts and graves, from troubles and aspirations to crimes and disasters. For six years, the City had a governor who dressed in his wife's clothes and paraded along Broadway until his soldiers dragged him home. The City's first subway, dug in secret under Broadway in 1870, had elegant cars propelled by wind from a big fan. The City's first settlers were not Dutchmen, but French-speaking Protestant Belgians in 1624 who were followed by African Blacks in 1625. The first City Hall had a tavern on the premises to quench the thirst of City Fathers with beer and schnapps. The City's first bagel was produced in Clinton Street in 1896, but its ancestors date back to fourteenth-century German boar hunts.