did you know?

1. That the world-famous Rockettes, long associated with Radio City Music Hall, were actually formed in St. Louis, and were originally named the Missouri Rockets? 2. That when construction started in 1834 on the first buildings of New York University, the contractors used prisoners from Sing Sing to cut the marble. This hiring was the catalyst for the famous Stonecutter's Riot. 3. That the Nation's first presidential mansion, "The Palace," stood at 3 Cherry Street in New York City. The mansion was demolished in 1856, and a granite support of the Brooklyn Bridge now occupies the site. 4. That when the Harlem ship canal was being dug, a workman discovered the tusk of a prehistoric Mastodon. The tusk was found twelve feet beneath present day Broadway and 14th Street. 5. That years after his death, the ghost of the last Dutch Governor of New York Peter Stuyvesant, had supposedly been seen roaming throughout his former mansion at 3rd Avenue and 10th Street, and in the chapel of St. Mark's Church, where his crypt is. Rumor has it, Stuyvesant's appearance was in anger over the paving of the church's yard to make 2nd Avenue. 6. In 1808, John Randall, Jr. laid out the plans for New York City's street system, he designed a gridiron system of north-south avenues crossed at right angles by east-west streets. His gridiron spanned the area of east Houston Street to 155th Street. This system is still in use today. 7. The first local bus line in America ran from the corner of Houston Street and Broadway to Wall and William Streets. It was started by Abe Brower in 1827. 8. In 1836, approximately 187 Texan revolutionaries died at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, eight of these men were from New York. Ironically, General Santa Anna, commander of the Mexican forces at the Alamo, was later overthrown from his dictatorship and exiled from Mexico to Staten Island, NY. 9. The first coins ever issued by the United States as a nation were struck by a private contractor in New York City. These coins were called the Fugio Cent, because the word fugio, meaning "I fly" appeared on the head side. 10. Worth St. in downtown Manhattan and Fort Worth, Texas are both named for the same man. Major General William J. Worth, a resident of Columbia County, NY and a veteran of the War with Mexico.