Radicals & Revolutionaries

Political activist and writer Emma Goldman lived here from 1903-1913. Goldman, a Jewish immigrant, became known by the FBI as “one of the most dangerous women in the country” for her controversial stances on issues like free speech, birth control, labor unions, women’s rights, and her anarchist philosophy. 

These two blocks, running between Broadway and Third Avenue and across Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Cooper Square, were named after aristocrat John Jacob Astor following his death in 1848. In May 1849 the street was the site of the Astor Place Riot, the result of a theatrical feud between American actor Edwin Forrest and British actor William Macready which reflected social and political tensions among the socioeconomic classes. 

On the afternoon for March 25, 1911 a fire broke out on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The fire spread trapping many immigrant women and children inside and within 15 minutes 146 workers died. The fire provided the necessary catalyst for the garment industry to organize and unionize, resulting in better working conditions for those in the trade.

This block-long apartment building of 1952 is deliberately deceptive in appearance:  it has a low red-brick portion fronting on Washington Square, designed to harmonize in scale and style with the 19th century townhouses it adjoins. Set back behind it, in glazed white brick, is the 22-story high-rise portion fronting on Fifth Avenue.  Notable tenants over the years include former three-term Mayor of New York City Edward I. Koch, Congresswoman Bella Abzug, photographer Andrè Kertesz and author and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest serving First Lady. While her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was in office she became active, engaged, and outspoken on controversial issues, including race and women’s rights. Following the death of her husband in April 1945 she moved into an apartment in this building, living here for five years before moving uptown. Roosevelt remained active in politics following her husband’s, becoming a delegate to the United Nations—including as Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—and chairing President John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.

On June 28, 1970 the first Gay Pride Parade began here, at Sixth Avenue and Washington Place.  It is now an annual event, grown in size and stature, that proceeds down Fifth Avenue, then turns west on 8th Street—the “Main Street” of Greenwich Village.

The Stonewall Riots are largely considered the catalyst for the Gay Rights movement in the United States. In the 1960s police raids of gay bars were a regular occurrence leading to frequent arrests. During the early morning of June 28, 1969 eight police officers attempted a raid on Stonewall Inn but local patrons fought back leading to riots and protests in throughout the area, sparking the current Pride Parades celebrated throughout the world. 

Urban writer and activist Jane Jacobs penned The Death and Life of Great American Cities, while living in this home. Her work and activism helped to halt the construction of a highway through Washington Square Park. Jacobs’ commitment and protest even led to her arrest and her work has since inspired generations of community-based urban activism.

This triangle is named after Brooklyn native Ruth Wittenberg, born in 1899. Wittenberg attended Hunter College and Barnard College, but was forced to dropout as a result of financial hardship. She was civil rights activist who walked along side Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. In addition to her activism Wittenberg served on Community Board 2 for 40 years. Her efforts helped close the Women’s Detention Center, where the Jefferson Market Garden stands today. As a result of her dedication to public service this triangle was named in her honor in 1990.

On March 6, 1970 this quiet street was rocked by the accidental detonation of dynamite killing three people. The site was home to the Weather Underground Bomb Factory, a student group which sought to violently overthrow the U.S. government.