This photo, from John Gruen’s The New Bohemia, shows a snow-covered, placid Tompkins Square Park in the early 1960s. No hipsters or crusties; no playgrounds or dog runs either.
There’s St. Brigid’s Church on Avenue B in the back. The statue of post-Civil War Congressional Rep. Samuel Cox is in the foreground. And you can just make out the shadows of the then-new housing projects on Avenue D.
Tompkins Square is quiet and lovely these days, but it’s been the scene of some pretty bloody riots since it opened in 1850. Food shortages and unemployment prompted demonstrations in 1857; the deadly 1863 Draft Riots spilled into Tompkins Square as well.
Then came the Tompkins Square Riot. In 1874, thousands of workers gathered at the park to protest poor economic conditions brought on by the Panic of 1873. Police on horseback fought back the crowds by beating them with clubs, as illustrated below.
A new round of Tompkins Square riots pitting cops against protesters started up again in the late 1980s and early 1990s—another period of economic recession.
Tags: Avenue D, Draft Riots, Panic of 1873, Samuel Cox, St. Brigids Church, Tompkins Square Park, Tompkins Square Park riots
January 17, 2009 at 3:45 pm |
I remember in the ’50s the area around 9th and 10th Street was locked in the evenings, the Ukrainian park man, just as the visitors were, used to come around blowing a whistle that the part of the park was closing, and the old folks used to grumble but leave peacefully for the night or go to the park that was staying open.
January 19, 2009 at 6:33 pm |
I wonder if Abraham Lincoln did anything to quell these riots or punish those who took part in them. 🙂
January 19, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
That’s covered in Kevin Baker’s novel ‘Paradise Alley’ about Lincoln’s role in calling for a draft yet at the same time in trying to quell the riots, not only in Tompkins Square Park but the rest of NYC
June 26, 2009 at 4:08 pm |
[…] Tompkins Square Park has a pretty colorful history going back a century and a half. […]
November 6, 2010 at 5:36 pm |
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August 13, 2012 at 12:19 am |
[…] Senseless riots have always broken out in the city: Astor Place, the Draft Riots, Tompkins Square. […]