1929

Manhattan: Union Square (East) - 17th Street (East).

The new Tammany Hall, Union Square East at the S.E. corner of 17th Street, newly erected on the site of the old Westmoreland Apartments (originally Hotel), which occupied the site from about 1877 to 1928. The bank is about to move into the ground floor. In the background may be seen the tower of the new Consolidated Gas and New York Edison Building, recently completed on 14th Street on the site of the old Tammany Hall and the Academy of Music. The Society of St. Tammany, or Columbian Order, was founded in Philadelphia and spread through New England, before a New York City chapter was established in 1789. It was originally a benevolent organization, and first identified itself with politics in the presidential campaign of 1800, when, under the leadership of Vice-Presidential candidate Aaron Burr, it supported the Jefferson-Burr ticket. The first Tammany Hall, built in 1801, stood on Frankfort and Nassau Streets. On July 4, 1868, the second Hall on 14th Street was opened with the Democratic National Convention of that year. In 1928 it moved into the present building. The Tammany Hall General Committee, with which it is practically identical in membership, has for a long time been in control of the Democratic Party in New York County, at times almost to the point of complete identification with it. This picture, for instance, is taken near the height of Mayor James J. Walker's popularity, the spring preceding his re-election. Tammany Hall is not only identified with the Party in Manhattan, but is working harmoniously with the leaders of the other four boroughs. May, 1929. Ewing Galloway.

Photo from the New York Public Library - Milstein Collection