The Municipal Building, New York: McKim Mead & White

Around 1890, Manhattan’s population exceeded 1.8 million, and Brooklyn was more than one and a half million, making them the largest and fourth-largest cities in the United States.  In 1883, the

Brooklyn Bridge opened, binding them together, and fifteen years later, they formalized the marriage by incorporating.  Read more

The Marble Palace: AT Stewart and The New York Sun

AT Stewart, the first department store king of America, built the “Marble Palace” in 1846 as the centerpiece of his retail empire.  According to Forbes Magazine, Stewart died the 7^th richest man in American history.

Stewart’s featured a number of marketing innovations based on high volume and product standardization.  For example, he was one of the first to set fixed prices for his goods, to sell by catalogue across the country, and the first to target women with special sales and fashion shows.

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Fernando Wood and The Police Battle Royale

Elected mayor in 1855, Fernando Wood was so corrupt that the state legislature voted to shorten his term by two years.  Not that it helped—he recruited gangs like the Dead Rabbits to stuff the ballot box and got reelected.

Next the legislature created a new police force—the Metropolitan Police—to replace the thoroughly corrupt Municipal Police controlled by Wood and his cronies in

Tammany Hall.  Read more