Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History
View our complete bibliography (800+ articles) here
Categories
- American Revolution
- Animals
- Antebellum & Civil War
- Arts & Culture
- British Era
- Bronx
- Brooklyn
- Built Environment
- Business & Labor
- Contemporary Era
- Crime & Policing
- Early Republic
- Education
- Excerpts
- Food & Drink
- Gender & Sexuality
- Gilded Age
- Great Depression & New Deal
- Housing & Realty
- Immigration
- Interviews
- Lenape
- Manhattan
- Media
- Medicine & Public Health
- Metropolitan Region
- Native Americans
- Nature & Environment
- New Amsterdam
- Parks
- Podcasts
- Politics
- Postwar New York
- Poverty & Inequality
- Progressive Era
- Queens
- Race & Ethnicity
- Religion
- Reviews
- Science
- Slavery & Antislavery
- Staten Island
- Transportation
- Urban Decline & Fiscal Crisis
- Urban Planning
- Waterfront & Islands
- Women
Gotham is a blog for independent and professional scholars of New York City history
We invite submissions and feedback
Meet our editorial team | See our past contributors
Distribution Partners
The Astor Place Riot: Setting the Stage
By Fran Leadon
Astor Place, though barely five hundred feet long, is a hectic street of cafes and stores, with the bustling Astor Place subway station as the centerpiece and Cooper Union at its eastern end. But 175 years ago this month, the state militia confronted an angry mob on Astor Place and blood was spilled. It was one of the deadliest riots in New York’s history. How did it happen, and why did it happen there?