The EAST VILLAGE, like many Manhattan neighborhoods, the East Village has attracted a diverse group of people over the years. In addition to an immigrant population, the wealthy (including the Astors and the Vanderbilts) have lived here as well as New York University students. During the early days of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, named Director General of the West Indies Company in 1647, built an estate in the East Village in the area at Fourth and Fifth Streets that extended all the way to the East River and up to 20th Street. In the hip 1960's, the East Village -- partially because of the available low rents -- was a mecca for hippies and the beat generation and during that period drug use and crime were prevalent.
Also in the sixties, the concept of Off-Off Broadway theater was born here in the East Village. Joseph Papp's Public Theater is at Astor Place. Papp was one of New York City's most active and successful producers and his numerous productions include the original musicals HAIR and A CHORUS LINE and an annual season of New York Shakespeare Festival at Central Park's Delacorte Theater. There are (and were) many small theater groups that had theaters and companies in this neighborhood.
The Cooper Union building, viewed here from the “Alamo” sculpture– also
known as the “Astor Place Cube” -- a 15-feet steel cube by Tony Rosenthal
installed in 1967, is one of the most prominent buildings in the East Village. PETER COOPER established the Cooper Union for the
Advancement of Science and Art in 1859 as the nation’s first free educational institution with full-tuition scholarships and
the first that provided adult education.
Mr. Cooper was a manufacturer (of iron works), businessman (President of
the North American Telegraph Company), an inventor (of the first operating steam
locomotive. "Tom Thumb," as well as gelatin/Jell-O) and a philanthropist. Cooper was once described as the most
beloved man in New York. In 1876 he would run for President. Designed by Frederick A. Peterson, the Cooper Union building
was originally five stories and one of the first buildings in the City with an
elevator. Rolled iron beams, manufactured at Cooper’s
own iron foundry in New Jersey,
were incorporated into the design.
Cooper was an early advocate of emancipation
and the enlistment in the Union army of Southern negroes and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln gained national
recognition following his speech on slavery at the Great Hall at Cooper Union
on February 27, 1860. Lincoln's speech was instrumental in leading to his nomination for President. Tickets to the event were 25 cents each. A photograph of Lincoln (before he had a beard) was taken by
photographer, Mathew B. Brady (1822-1896), at his Daguerria Miniature Gallery
(on Broadway near Cooper Union) that same afternoon. Brady, whose vivid photos and portraits are
such an important part of American Civil War’s history, died in-debt, penniless
and unappreciated.
Groups meeting at Cooper Union would form the NAACP, the International Ladies' Garment Worker Union, and the National Women's Suffrage Association.
