HOW CASEY THE COP SPELT “KOSCIUSZKO” (1904)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish military officer who helped the U.S. to gain independence from the British during the Revolutionary War. Because of his dedication there are numberous public locations named after him – including a street in Bed-Stuy. Even more numerous, though, are the tales about the difficulty in spelling the man’s name. The best tale, though, involves a tail – and a horse and a policeman. SPELLING KOSCIUSZKO “There was once an Irish policeman who was responding to the presence of a dead horse on Kosciuszko Street. Upon arriving at the scene of the dead horse, Casey began to write his report. When he got to the part where he was supposed to write the location in which the horse was discovered, the policeman faltered. “He did not know how to spell the street name. “So, Casey looked at the horse and then at his report, and he thought. A few moments later, he shoved the half-finished report in his cap, grabbed the horse by its tail, and began dragging it down the street to the corner of Marcy Avenue. Once there, he stopped, pulled the report out from his cap, and added the ‘location’ of the dead horse – ‘Marcy Avenue.’” By the way, back in […]
BROOKLYN’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (1916)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** At the beginning of the school year in 1916, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a set of cartoons, in its Sunday, 17 September edition, lampooning the first day of school for children, janitors, teachers, and parents, alike. We faithfully reproduce the graphics and the accompanying musing here: “Funny things really happen on the first day of school, though most of us don’t like laughing just then We have to wait until we are in a happier frame of mind. Do you remember the boy who always starts the year by being late? He wouldn’t make an exception of the first day – that would be against his principles. You see, he has only had three months to get to school on time, so you can’t expect him to do it on such short notice. In the last five minutes of those three months he suddenly realizes that he is late. Then he rushes and gets to class just three minutes overdue, and very much out of breath. “There are girls like this, too, but they are not so numerous as the boys. Girls as a rule get to school on a much more regular time schedule than boys. There are four reason for this; they like school better; they fear teacher […]
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN BROOKLYN (1916)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** For those of your sending children off to school these days, we leave you with a picture story of the first day of school back in 1916. It appears that school children had it very much the same as they did more than 100 years later. Check out the outfits, the books, the toys, the football uniforms, and….the Crokinole? Follow @BrownstoneDetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
THE SINGING DOG OF LINCOLN PLACE (1915)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Nothing makes front page news like the ridiculous or the sublime. Just over 100 years ago, the stage was certainly given over to the ridiculous. That year – 1915 – produced the first-ever crooning canine. And “Bunny,” the French bulldog was its name- or, rather, was it “Gaby,” the French bulldog – but, perhaps, it was “Bunny”? This confusion, it seemed, was the apex upon which would spin the entire ever-dizzying melodrama concerning the ownership of said dog – and to obscure matters even slightly further, there was a total of three individuals who seemed to be quite certain that each was the master to this now-famous dog. The contest, thus, was set, the curtains prepared to be drawn, and the public waited impatiently to review every detail of the salacious tragedy in an effort to determine the eventual players of the parts – in particular, who would emerge before the footlights in the precious and coveted melodramatic role of supporting actress to Bunny (or Gaby), the singing dog. And the newspapers covered it all, down to its last partially accurate detail. SETTING THE STAGE The Bunny-Gaby trial was certain to provide some good pieces for the newspapers for at least a week as the case weaved its way through the […]
SNIDELY WHIPLASH IN THE BRONX (1921)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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 1921, a “picture actor” by the name of Paul W. Panzer had gone broke. Panzer, recently flush with cash, had filed a “voluntary petition in bankruptcy” for liabilities totaling approximately $2,500. The debts appeared to be to a number of sources – a loan to a recently formed Long Beach production company of which Panzer was a trustee, money loaned to him and several other “film people” (possibly also to the same production company), as well as, amongst others, a loan that was endorsed by two very well-known and successful actors of the time, Sheldon Lewis and King Baggot (Baggot, an international movie star, was referred to – at various times – as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon”). In the petition, Panzer, gave his address as “2257 Walton avenue,” where he rented a 2-story and basement rowhouse and, according to the 1920 Federal Census, lived there with his wife, their 8-year-old daughter, and their 6-year-old son. Panzer’s bankruptcy was certainly a low-point for the actor who rose to fame just half a decade earlier as the infamous villain of the smash 1914 serial silent film, The Perils of Pauline, a […]
DITCHING YOUR HOME’S OUTDATED GAS (1916)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Every winter, old house owners hear the same old conversations that they heard the winter previous: “I’m thinking about making the switch from oil to gas.” “O, man, you’re going to love it. We did it and it saved us a ton on energy last winter.” “But it’s so expensive.” “But so worth it – you’ll see.” Back in the 1910s, though, no one was converting TO gas – they were converting AWAY from it. NO HOUSE TOO OLD TO BE ELECTRIFIED There is an irony to a 1916 ad which claims that no home was “too old to be electrified.” It begs the question: “How old is too old?” Did people believe that only new homes could be electrified? Did they think that if theirs had not been wired for electricity when it was built that it could not be electrified after the fact? Or maybe they just thought that the house would not be standing long enough for the owner to get any enjoyment out of getting it wired. All good questions. Perhaps they lead to misconceptions that the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn (a forerunner to “ConEd”) was trying to correct – so that they could sell more homeowners their services. WHEN WERE HOUSES ELECTRIFED? If your […]
