March 24

1664 – Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburg Concerts 1765 – Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers 1832 – Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio 1883 – First telephone call between New York...
John Harrison with H-4 his Chronometer

Remembering Rockefeller: A Personal Appreciation

(Editor’s Note: The passing of David Rockefeller earlier this week struck a personal chord for one person who helped create Lower Manhattan in its modern form — Charles J. Urstadt, who, as State Commissioner of Housing and County Renewal in the 1960s and 70s, founded and built Battery Park City, along with several other government-sponsored...
David Rockefeller presents plans for a revitalized Lower Manhattan in the mid-1960s. Visible at lower left is an early mockup of Battery Park City, while a preliminary rendering of what would become the World Trade Center can be seen in the upper left. Both were projects that Mr. Rockefeller championed.

March 23

1540 – Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – “Give me liberty, or give me death!” – at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia. 1801 – Tsar Paul...
Otis' free-fall safety demonstration in 1854.

Holding Back the Tide

At its Wednesday board meeting, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) shared the preliminary findings of its two-year resiliency study, conducted by consulting firm Parsons Transportation, as part of an effort to formulate plans that will make the community more resistant to future extreme weather events, such as 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, which flooded much of...
Gwen Dawson, the Battery Park City Authority's vice president for real property: "We are projecting in the future a more severe storm event, with inundation throughout Battery Park City."

March 22

238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors. 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire. 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags. 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown,...
Intel Pentium A80501 66 MHz SX950 Die Image The chip contained 3.21 million transistors! And it worked on the 32-bit address bus (same as the 486). It had a 64-bit external data bus which could operate at roughly twice the speed of the 486. Remember those days!

Reading Time

Battery Park City Day Nursery is offering FREE Story Time while the BPC Public Library is undergoing renovations. Preschool Story Time (children ages 3 – 5 years) Tuesdays: March 28, April 4, April 11, April 25, May 2 at 4:00 pm Toddler Story Time (children ages 1 – 3 years) Wednesdays: March 29, April 5,...