The full day celebration will begin with a flag raising at Castle Clinton followed by a parade that will end at the Seaport. &nbsp;The afternoon will feature a symposium at Fraunces Tavern Museum.&nbsp;

 A bomb planted in the tavern exploded on January 24, 1975, killing four people and injuring more than 50 others. The Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization "Fuerzas Armadas de Liberaci&oacute;n Nacional Puertorrique&ntilde;a" (Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation, or FALN), which had executed other bomb incidents in New York in the 1970s, claimed responsibility. No one had been prosecuted for the bombing as of April 17, 2013. 

The Lower Manhattan Historical Association ("LMHA") holds a parade through Lower Manhattan every year starting 2015.This parade is part of a resurgence of patriotic activities in Lower Manhattan on July 4, after a long hiatus from 1976 to 2015. It is in recognition of the recent growth of Lower Manhattan as one of the City's fastest growing residential neighborhoods and as one of the City's major centers of historical tourism.The parade, which traverses Wall Street and passes many of the historic monuments in Lower Manhattan - is designed to provide marchers and spectators with an understanding of the tremendous historic importance of Lower Manhattan.

Castle Clinton

Fraunces Tavern Museum

July 4th, 2024: The 248th Anniversary of the Founding of America

Ambrose Madison Richardson III was born in Chicago, grew up in Illinois and Tennessee. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and attended graduate school at the Harvard University and the University of Virginia. He is a past president of the Sons of the RevolutionSM in the State of New York, which owns and maintains Fraunces Tavern® and Fraunces Tavern® Museum, and past General Secretary of the General Society of the Sons of the RevolutionSM. He is currently President of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association and the Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York.

Professor Kenneth Terry Jackson is the Jacques Barzun Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University. He is considered an urban, social, and cultural historian and has made contributions to understanding of the history of New York City and of American suburbanization. He is former President of the Organization of American Historians, the Society of American Historians, the Urban History Association, and the New-York Historical Society.&nbsp;He has been a Fulbright Lecturer in Germany, Australia, and Japan and a visiting professor at Princeton, UCLA, and the George Washington University.&nbsp; He has lectured at hundreds of colleges, universities, civic groups, and historical societies around the world, and he has been a featured guest on the NBC Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, ABC Nightline, CBS Evening News, CBS Up to the Minute, CNN, the History Channel, East West Television, and more than forty documentary productions.&nbsp;Professor Jackson is the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of New York City.

Pauline Toole, Commissioner at the New York City Municipal Archives is a senior executive with extensive background in government and nonprofits. An analytical problem solver with a proven track record of increasing organizational effectiveness, improving internal processes and experience in: civic engagement, public policy, consumer protection, health care, criminal defense, government operations and communication. She was initiated multiple new programs and has established and implemented an organizational vision through team-building. She has a lot of experience presenting complex topics to legislative committees, community groups and media.

Scott Dwyer manages the staff and operations of Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York (SRNY) and its Fraunces Tavern Museum. Scott has over 18 years of experience in the asset management industry and not-for-profit sector. Prior to joining the Museum in 2020, he was a relationship manager with Cohen &amp; Steers and a product marketing associate and RFP writer with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Scott also held leadership positions with 501(c)(3) organizations including the NYU Alumni Association, 6th &amp; B Community Garden, and ThePresent Theatre Company, producer of Fringe NYC. He has a BS in Business Administration from NYU Stern. His passion for history and historic preservation was instilled at an early age growing up in 19th-century houses in Pennsylvania and Connecticut and as a junior docent at the Square House Museum in Rye, New York. Scott lives in Manhattan’s East Village, a block from St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, New York’s oldest site of continuous religious practice where you can find a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of SRNY founding member Frederick S. Tallmadge.

Seth Kaller is a distinguished authority in the acquisition, authentication, appraisal, and sale of rare historical documents and artifacts. His expertise has facilitated the creation of museum-grade collections for both individuals and institutions, as well as the establishment of legacy collections intended for philanthropic donations. His portfolio includes significant manuscripts, documents, and rare books pertaining to pivotal historical events and figures, such as the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Robert E. Lee.Over the course of nearly two decades, Kaller was instrumental in the procurement of 65,000 documents for Lew Lehrman and Dick Gilder. He also oversaw the management of the collection’s donation to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which is currently housed at the New-York Historical Society. The programs of the Gilder Lehrman Institute are now utilized by over 31,000 affiliated schools. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, their EduHam partnership with Broadway’s HAMILTON transitioned online, engaging 400,000 students nationwide in its inaugural year.Kaller is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Antiquarian Society, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, The Professional Autograph Dealers Association, and the Manuscript Society.

Peter Hein is the Immediate Past President of Sons of the RevolutionSM in the State of New York, Inc., owner and operator of Fraunces Tavern® Museum and owner of the Fraunces Tavern building complex. He is also the Secretary and a member of the Board of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association, among other affiliations. Mr Hein grew up in Wisconsin, but has resided in Manhattan for over 50 years. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law and a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Abby Suckle received her Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to opening her own architectural firm, she practiced architecture with Pei Cobb Freed &amp; Partners. She has an architectural practice in New York City with work ranging from residential to public buildings. As the President of cultureNOW, she leads the Museum Without Walls project, which is an attempt to expand beyond gallery walls to create an acoustiguide to the environment blending art architecture and history. She has curated two recent exhibitions on Mapping in New York and Boston. She has taught at Parsons, the Boston Architectural Center and Harvard where she is currently collaborating on a course about Design for Resilience post Sandy. Ms. Suckle is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2012 she received the AIA NY State President Award and the National AIA Collaborative Achievement Award. She also received the 2009 AIA NY State Fellows Award and serves on the board of the NY Chapter of the AIA.

A talk by Kenneth T. Jackson at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

A talk by Abby Suckle at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

A talk by Scott Dwyer at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

A talk by Seth Kaller at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York, on July 4, 2024

A talk by Peter C. Hein at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

Peter C. Hein, &nbsp;Past President, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1700’s Symposium: The Path to Liberty’ on July 4, 2025

Scott Dwyer, Executive Director, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York and Fraunces Tavern Museum, &nbsp;speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1700’s Symposium: The Path to Liberty’ on July 4, 2025

Scott Dwyer speaking at It Happened Here on July 4th, 2023 at Fraunces Tavern

A talk by Seth Kaller at the Museum at Eldridge Street, on June 23, 2024.

Presenter: Seth Kaller, Seth Kaller Inc., Historic Documents &amp; Legacy Collections

Seth Kaller of Seth Kaller, Inc, Historical Documents &amp; Legacy Collections, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1700’s Symposium: The Path to Liberty’ on July 4, 2025

Peter C. Hein speaking at It Happened Here on July 4th, 2023 at Fraunces Tavern

On Lenox Ave, between 125th Street and 124th Street, is the legendary Lenox Lounge. Another cultural institution nearby is the Hip Hop Cultural Center.

The end of the HarlemNOW walking tour of 125th Street.

Welcome to the HarlemNOW walking tour of historic 125th Street. This tour will visit various places of cultural and historical significance located on 125th Street.


Abby Suckle presents the Lower East River segment of the tour, beginning with Waterside and the Empire State Building and ending with Carl Schurz Park

At 258 Street Nicholas Avenue is the newest addition to Harlem's cultural scene, the Dwyer Cultural Center. James McCullar discusses this facility, which opened in June 2008, as the City's first cultural center dedicated exclusively to the culture, traditions, and history of Harlem.

 Across the street is the site of the former Blumstein's Department Store at 230 West 125th Street. Designed by architects Charles Kohn and Charles Butler in 1923, it was an amalgam of late Art Nouveau and Early Art Deco styles. In its day, it was one of the most elegant department stores uptown. 

On the corner of 125th Street and Fifth Avenue is the National Black Theater. Founded in 1968, the NBT is a non-profit organization and center for research and development. Also known as the National Black Theatre Workshop, it now promotes African Americans in the arts. It also houses a large collection of art. 

On the next block on the North side of the street is the famous Apollo Theater. First opened in 1914, it was originally known as The Hertig and Seaman New Burlesque Theater. It took nearly twenty years for it to open its doors to African-American patrons for the first time on Friday, January 26, 1934. Amateur Night began that year, and one of its first performers was a young Billie Holiday.

A few doors east of the Apollo Theater stands another grand vaudeville house, the former Loew's Victoria Theater. Designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, it had nearly 2,394 seats and an organ costing almost $250,000 to build at the time. In 1987 it was converted into a multi-screen movie complex before being shuttered in 1989. There have been several proposals for redevelopment for the building, most notably in 2005. 

If you walk towards the river, you can see the Cotton Club on your right at 656 West 125th Street. The site you see, though, is not the original which occupied such a unique cultural place in Harlem during Prohibition. The Club first stood at 142nd Street, then moved to 48th Street in Midtown, before being reincarnated on 125th Street a few years ago.

On Seventh Avenue, between 125th Street and 124th Street stands the Hotel Theresa, designed by George and Edward Blum in 1913. Once Harlem's most prestigious hotel, the "Waldorf of Harlem" hosted celebrities and world dignitaries, including Cuban President Fidel Castro. It also contained the offices of A. Phillip Randolph's March on Washington Movement (MOWM) and Malcolm X's Organization of Afto-American Unity. Now an office building and rechristened the Teresa Towers, the site was designated a city landmark in 1993. 

Across the street is the Harlem State Office Building. This is where President Clinton has his office and also where the Clinton Foundation is housed. In front is a memorial to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., sculpted by Branly Cadet in 2005.


Across the street is The Studio Museum of Harlem. The Museum features the work of African-American artists and works that have inspired and influenced Black culture. It offers a wide range of public programs as well as an artist-in-residence program. Architecturally, the museum was renovated several years ago by Rogers Marvel Architects. It was one of the first cultural works they did in New York City.

Every American President passed through New York City. Some were born here such as Theodore Roosevelt. Some lived here including Herbert Hoover who spent his post Presidential years residing in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Some were married here. In 1844, for instance, John Tyler wed Julia Gardiner at the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue &amp; 10th Street.&nbsp; Some worked here.&nbsp; Chester Arthur practiced law in New York ﬁrst before he was appointed the Collector of the Port of New York, a position which actually paid more than the presidency. Some received medical care here.&nbsp; Grover Cleveland was operated on for cancer of the jaw on a yacht oﬀ of Pier A. Some like Ulysses S Grant went bankrupt here. Some launched their candidacy here.&nbsp; Abraham Lincoln gave the famous speech at Cooper Union that launched his candidacy and sadly returned a few years later in a casket to City Hall to terminate it. The appropriate place to celebrate President’s Day is, of course, Federal Hall, our ﬁrst capital whose balcony was the site of Washington’s inauguration. &nbsp;

Federal Hall National Memorial on Presidents Day 2026.

The podcast tells the story of how the building was commissioned and shares a couple of stories about events at the Club as well as the zoning battle with the Fisher Brothers in the late 70's that netted them a $5 million fee.

Lever House considered the 1st modernist skyscraper in New York was commissioned by Charles Luckman who was President (and trained as an architect). &nbsp;Rather than make a wedding cake tower as the 1916 New York Zoning Code required for tall buildings, Gordon Bunshaft's act of genius was to set the the building back and only utilize a quarter of the available site area. &nbsp;Other Innovative features included the curtain wall, lack of retail on the ground floor, plaza art program and other employee amenities. &nbsp;It has been renovated several times (all by SOM).

July 4th, 2024: The 248th Anniversary of the Founding of America

Keynote Speaker

Speaker

Other participants

ABOUT

EVENT IMAGES AND DRAWINGS

IMAGES

DOCUMENTS, PROGRAM