1756 & 1773

In 1756, George Washington, age 24, made his first trip to New York City en route to Boston. He was put up by fellow Virginian Beverly Robinson, who had relocated there. While there appears to be no record of where Robinson lived, we know that Washington saw something of New York City, squiring Robinson‘s attractive sister-in-law around town to various sites, including an exhibition at the New Exchange of something called the Microcosm (apparently, a mechanical novelty of the day).

Seventeen years later, Washington, having married the widow Martha Custis, returned to New York City with his stepson, Jack, to enroll him in Columbia (then Kings) College.

1776

To say that George Washington’s 1776 New York sojourn did not go well is putting it mildly.  He barely escaped death or capture at the hands of the British army.

After defeating the British in the Siege of Boston in March 1776, Washington relocated the Colonial forces to Manhattan Island.  Arriving in New York City on April 13, 1776, Washington stayed initially in the vacated home of Tory William Smith on lower Broadway.  From there, he moved to the Richmond Hill mansion of Abraham Mortier, facing the Hudson River between Charlton and Hudson Streets.  For a few months before the fighting began, Washington was joined there by his wife Martha.  Finally, Washington moved to the Kennedy Mansion on Bowling Green, which also served as Washington’s army headquarters (and was so used by the British army after it ousted the American troops from New York City in September, 1776).

On July 9, 1776, on the site of what is now City Hall Park, Washington assembled his troops for a reading of the Declaration of Independence, which had been adopted by the Continental Congress five days earlier in Philadelphia.  A plaque commemorates the spot.

 In July, the British army, transported from Boston by the British fleet, landed in Staten Island, from which it was ferried to Brooklyn.  The initial clash in the New York City area, the Battle of Long Island, was fought mostly in the vicinity of Gowanus Creek in Brooklyn.  After suffering devastating losses, Washington succeeded in ferrying his troops back to Manhattan under cover of night, to the great surprise of the British.  Had he not done so, the Colonists’ bid for independence might have ended within a few days.

Retreating uptown, from September 14th to October 21st, Washington and his staff made their headquarters in northern Manhattan in the vacated summer home of British Colonel Roger Morris (now called the Morris-Jumel Mansion, between 161st and 162nd Streets and Edgecombe Avenue and Jumel Terrace).  The sweeping views from the hill on which it sits allowed Washington to observe British troop movements, which contributed to his army’s victory on September 16th in the Battle of Harlem Heights.  Despite this victory, on October 21st, General Washington was forced to retreat 25 miles northward to White Plains.

1783

Washington’s next New York sojourn was a triumphal return to the City at the end of the war.  Until the early 1900s (albeit to an ever-diminishing degree), the anniversary of November 25, 1783, the day the British evacuated New York City, was celebrated as Evacuation Day.  On that day, George Washington made a triumphal entrance into the City, stopping at the Bull‘s Head Tavern at 46-48 Bowery (then between Bayard and Pump Streets).  Washington installed himself at Fraunces Tavern at 54 Pearl Street, stopping there for ten days.  There, he delivered his famous farewell speech to his officers on December 4, 1783, before returning to Mount Vernon.

1789-90

Having been elected President several months earlier by the unanimous vote of the Electoral College, on April 16, 1789, Washington left Mount Vernon to begin his trip to the nation’s first capital, New York City.  By April 23rd, he had reached Elizabethtown Point, New Jersey, just a ferry trip across the Hudson River away.

Washington’s arrival in New York City later that day was celebrated with much pomp and circumstance. He was rowed across the Hudson to lower Manhattan in a specially constructed barge. When it docked at a pier at Murray‘s Wharf near the foot of Wall Street (also constructed especially for the festivities), Washington received a 13-gun salute. The procession including all the City’s and the new government’s notables took him to the substantial house on Cherry Street that would serve as the first President’s Mansion.  Washington’s first evening in New York, he was the dinner guest of Governor George Clinton.  Martha Washington arrived approximately one month later, bringing with her six slaves.

On April 30, 1789, Washington took the oath of office as the nation’s first President on the balcony of Federal Hall.  A statue of Washington sits on the steps of the 1842 Custom House built on the site (and now renamed Federal Hall after having served as a federal subtreasury building from the 1860s to the 1930s).  An inaugural ball was held five days later at the City Arms Tavern on Broadway, near where Wall Street meets it. 

The first Presidential Mansion was a 1770, red brick mansion at 3 Cherry Street facing St. George’s Square that had been the home of prominent New Yorker Walter Franklin.  Some thought it out of the way, as it was near the East River.  Washington resided there 10 months, from April 23, 1789 until February 23, 1790. 

From 3 Cherry Street, Washington moved to the larger Alexander McComb Mansion at 39-41 Broadway (a more central, fashionable part of town).  Washington lived there until he left New York City for the new (temporary) capital, Philadelphia, in August 1790.

What did Washington and his family do for recreation when he was not working at Federal Hall?  He kept a diary during the time that he lived in New York City, but it reveals little beyond walks in the Battery and regular visits to St. Paul's Chapel.  We do know that on September 14, 1789, the Washingtons visited Bowen’s Wax Works at 74 Water Street to view the likeness of him on display there.

Often, the Washington family took a 14-mile round-trip carriage ride up and down Manhattan.  One day, he and Vice President Adams went on a barge excursion to Prince’s Garden in Flushing, hooking up for dinner on the way back with the “wives,” Martha and Abigail, who had taken a shorter journey the same day to Harlem. 

In April 1790, Washington ventured out to several villages on Long Island.  Covering 27 miles the first day, he visited Flatbush, Utrecht, and Gravesend, ending up in Jamaica (all now neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens).  Washington continued all the way to the east end of Long Island, visiting “Smiths Town” (presumably current day Smithtown) and Oyster Bay.

Mr. and Mrs. Washington were regular theatergoers.  They had their own box at the John Street Theater at 15-21 John Street.  Upon his arrival at the theater, the orchestra would play the “President’s March,” later known as “Hail Columbia.” Washington’s patronage of the theater helped overcome local religious opposition to the theater from certain quarters.

 Washington was in New York long enough to need the services of a dentist.  He found one— John Greenwood at 24 Vesey Street—who made him a set of false teeth, though not, contrary to legend, from wood.

Religious observance was an important part of Washington’s life  Initially, he attended services at St. Paul’s Chapel.  After attending the reconsecration of the rebuilt Trinity Church on March 25, 1790 (the original edifice had burned down during the War), Washington began attending services there rather than at St. Paul's.

Of her time in New York City, Martha Washington wrote:

“I lead a very dull life here and know nothing that passes in the town. I never goe to any publick place,—indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is a certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from—and as I cannot doe as I like I am obstinate and stay home a great deal.”

Every Tuesday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., a presidential levee or reception was held in the Presidential Mansion, to which any respectable-looking person was admitted.

 On August 30, 1790, Washington left New York City to much the same fanfare that had greeted his arrival.  He lived another nine years—seven in Philadelphia for the balance of his two-term Presidential tenure—but never returned to New York City.