A Piece of History Stands Hidden on Brooklyn Bridge

On an otherwise nondescript anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, a small brass plaque pays tribute to another era. As cars and trucks whiz by, observant passersby may notice the tarnished marker placed on the bridge more than a century ago to commemorate the site of George Washington’s first presidential mansion.They would have to look for it under years of grime and overlook the garbage strewn nearby, a fact that has upset a group of local residents who recently renewed their campaign to have the plaque moved. They say the location is too remote and that steelwork added to reinforce the bridge in 1998 has further obscured the historic landmark.“It’s a pretty historical spot, but nobody knows it,” the district manager of Community Board 1, Paul Goldstein, said. “This thing is basically not visible to the public.”The site in question is located at the intersection of Pearl and Dover streets near an entrance to the FDR Drive. The plaque is little more than a foot wide and half as tall. It is affixed to an anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, where historical documents indicate the presidential mansion once stood at 1 Cherry St.Although that portion of Cherry Street no longer remains and the area bears little resemblance to the “uptown” neighborhood once populated by Revolutionary statesmen, the mansion was rented by Congress for Washington’s use, according to New-York Historical Society papers. He lived there between April 1789 and February 1790, before moving to 39 Broadway. Later occupants included Samuel Osgood, DeWitt Clinton, a bank, and a piano shop.The white colonial building was razed in 1856 to make way for wider streets, and the subsequent construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883. The Mary Washington Colonial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution put up the plaque in 1899.Nowadays, even those who know what to look for say they have trouble finding the site. “You have to look to find it like you’re looking for a lost galaxy,” a member of Community Board 1, Victor Papa, said.A tour guide who leads groups to Revolutionary-era spots in Lower Manhattan, Karen Quinones, said she would bring her clients there if it were more accessible. “People really do like to stand where George Washington lived, but New York doesn’t really put much effort into that kind of stuff,” Ms. Quinones, the president of Patriot Tours, said. “I never noticed that there was a marker there commemorating the spot,” she said.Mr. Papa and others said they want to move the plaque to a more accessible site. Several weeks ago, the community board’s seaport committee agreed to renew the cause. After becoming concerned in the late 1990s, the issue fell by the wayside following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Now,some say, they feel ready to make good on earlier efforts. “This area is chock full of history, and we are losing it and homogenizing it,” a former neighbor who recently revisited his old stomping grounds, Peter Dans, said.In the post-September 11 world, the challenge of resolving the issue may be greater than it once was. The Department of Transportation has fenced off the area surrounding the bridge for security reasons, a department spokesman, Ted Timbers, said. In fact, the area is used as a prep site for ongoing bridge maintenance projects and as a DOT storage facility, he said.What’s more, local representatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution do not want to move the plaque, although a spokeswoman for the group declined to comment on reasons why. A longtime seaport resident, Gary Fagin, said he did not blame them. “The plaque is where it’s supposed to be,” he said.Mr. Fagin did mention the possibility of constructing another historical marker in the nearby Fishbridge Park, which would be more accessible than the current plaque.Ultimately, the fate of the plaque resides with the DOT, which has jurisdiction over the bridge. In a joint statement by the DOT and officials from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Mr. Timbers expressed willingness to accommodate the community’s concerns. “The Department of Transportation and the Landmarks Preservation Commission are working together to explore the possibility of moving the plaque to a publicly accessible location,” he said.Mr. Fagin, who was involved in earlier efforts to move the plaque, described why he hopes the effort will succeed this time around. “It speaks to the birth of the history of the nation,” he said. “It’s a piece of history that is among the most interesting pieces of history that reflect Lower Manhattan, and it has been pretty much lost.”

A Piece of History Stands Hidden on Brooklyn Bridge

A Piece of History Stands Hidden on Brooklyn Bridge

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