Postcard Thursday: The New York Aquarium in Battery Park

Believe it or not, hiding underneath the old New York Aquarium in Battery Park was Castle Clinton, a fort from the War of 1812.

Notice that this entrance, with the four pilasters, is easily visible in the aquarium postcard, above.

Built starting 1807 by then-mayor Dewitt Clinton, the fort was one of the many defensive positions that guarded the harbor. It later became a theater known as Castle Garden and then the nation's first immigrant processing station, which functioned from 1855 to 1889. Ellis Island opened the next year and Castle Garden was converted by McKim, Mead & White into the aquarium.

James will be talking in much greater detail about Castle Clinton and the War of 1812 on his Memorial Day Walking Tour. Sign up now at this link!

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We have an entire chapter on Dewitt Clinton and the War of 1812 in
Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers

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And, of course, Inside the Apple is available at fine bookstores everywhere.