WONG SING BOW’S WHITE WIFE MINNIE (1877)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1886, the life that Wong Sing Bow had been building up for years began to crumble before his eyes. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Wong Sing had been born “a subject of the emperor of China.” But he had been in America “long enough to save considerable money and to appreciate the beauty of Irish girls,” said one paper of the time. Wong Sing spoke English fluently and was often called upon by the authorities to interpret. With all that Wong Sing had going for him, it had originally seemed likely that he was going to have a good life. But this was the 1800s. And Wong Sing was Chinese. ANTI-CHINESE PREJUDICE IN 19TH CENTURY BROOKLYN After Wong Sing’s arrival in the U.S. around 1870, according to one paper, “the celestial youth immediately fitted himself in the groove of circumstances. “He decided to become intensely American. He shaved his cue off, doffed his Chinese garb, proclaimed his intention to become a citizen, and went to Sunday school ‘all samme like Melican man.’” Apparently, the papers, like most Americans, had no politically correct bent in those days. But the Chinese were located squarely at the bottom of the social construct – just slightly beneath the Irish and the Germans – and so […]
BROOKLYN’S “GREAT WHITE HURRICANE” (1888)
“Brooklyn awoke this morning to find itself in the hands of the blizzard.” So read the morning edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle almost 130 years ago on Monday, 12 March 1888, about the record snowstorm that, over a day-and-a-half period, dropped up to three feet of snow on the city, produced sustained winds of 40 miles per hours, and created snowdrifts in some places in excess of 50 feet! Nearly all transportation was shut down completely and many Brooklynites were confined to their homes for up to a week. While the city slept the rain that had rendered last evening slightly unpleasant had turned to snow, the wind had increased to a tempest and all life was driven from the streets. Street cars were unable to proceed. The horses were detached and taken to the nearest place of shelter. The inmates of the cars saw the huge drifts of snow pile up above the window ledges, heard the shrieks of the wires above their heads and did not leave the cars unless an open house was very near at hand. It was about 1 o’clock when the storm became furious and it raged for ten hours with undiminished violence. Those who ventured out during the morning were treated to a view of the city unparalleled in its history. During the entire morning there was little concerted effort, except along the principle business part of Fulton Street, to open traffic or carry on any business. Half the city felt that […]
DID BROOKLYN GIRLS SMOKE? (1887)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** “There are more women in the City of Brooklyn who smoke cigarettes than any one…would ever dream of.” So floated the words of a Fulton street cigar store proprietor one evening in 1887, after a boy “of 12 or 13 years of age” entered and asked him for “a package of the same kind she got last night. “I was paid to find out why. So, going to the source, I found a few men who talked. Actually, they sang like canaries. And I kept good notes.” TRACKING A RUMOR TO ITS SOURCE The cigar store I walked into was doing a brisk business. But the customers were men. All men and, from time to time, a few boys. Playing the bored customer, I perused the tobacco boxes, fiddled with the cigar cutters, and then spotting the proprietor – rather he spotted me! – he struck up a conversation. Like most customers who either didn’t know what they were looking for or had ulterior motives, I told him that I was just browsing. Taking him into my confidence just then, I asked him where all of his female customers were. Arching an eyebrow, he shot me a knowing glance, patted the side of his nose, and waved a hand before me, […]
THE NO. 8 MACHINE OF FULTON STREET (1876)
The No. 8 Machine. Such a romantic honorific. The name literally rolled off the tongue and dazzled the listener with the rhythm of its mellifluousness and style… OK. I won’t lie. It really wasn’t the sexiest of names. It sounds like a government-designed and -built outhouse. And it smells just as bad. Buyers of sewing machine back in the late 1800s, though, were really not shopping for a sexy name. They were looking for dependability and speed. Stylish sewing machines, then, were like the hotrods of the day for garment producers. Just as for the marketers of the 20th century’s Mark VI or Chrysler 300, or even the Mercedes 190-E, present-day automobile manufacturers always knew that that they “had” their buyers with their brand. They didn’t need a sexy name for their cars. They simply had to tack on the latest model number to their speed machines to let their faithful customers know that it was a new year and that they were once again out of style and out of step with the times. One of the producers of the 19th century speedster sewing machines was the Wheeler & Wilson Company. Their hotrod was the No. 8. SELLING THE NO. 8 And so with the graceful design and the smooth functioning of their No. 8 Machine, Wheeler and Wilson’s creation was on the tongues of many a manufacturer. Garment designers and clothing manufacturers literally felt something move within their hearts when they heard the No. 8 name. Wheeler and […]
