OLD NEW YORK

An old friend has started a blog entitled Old New York. You can find it at:

http://yankee-167th.tumblr.com

It is well worth a look and a read. Such good writing is not easy to find.

As it happens, his birthday was yesterday the 20^th of September. I regrettably omitted to mention him amongst the various birthdays I highlighted for the entry JAZZ DAY AND THE AUTOMOBILE.

As to other New York moments of the 21^st September:

The Great Fire of New York was a devastating fire that burned through the night of 21^st September 1776, on the west side of what then constituted New York City at the southern end of the island of Manhattan. It broke out in the early days of the military occupation of the city by British forces during the American Revolutionary War.

The fire destroyed 10 to 25 percent of the city, and some unburned parts of the city were plundered. Many people believed or assumed that one or more people deliberately started the fire, for a variety of different reasons. British leaders accused rebels acting within the city, and many residents assumed that one side or the other had started it. The fire had long-term effects on the British occupation of the city, which did not end until the British left the city in 1783.

On  21^st September 1897, the New York Sun ran its famous editorial, written anonymously by Francis P. Church, which declared, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of an editorial appearing in the 21^st September  1897, edition of the paper. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States and Canada.

On the 21^st September 1938  The Great Hurricane of 1938 made landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.

Weather map from 21^st September

1938 featuring the storm