Between 1863 and 1935, approximately 6,000 to 7,000 people lived in 97 Orchard Street. Starting this month, we will periodically present profiles of some of the people who called 97 Orchard home.
German-speaking immigrant Heinrich Dreyer and his wife Frederica were among the first people to live in 97 Orchard. They moved in in 1864, when the building and Lower East Side were dominated by German immigrants.
A real estate broker, Dreyer often placed advertisements for properties in the New Yorker Staatszeitung, the city’s most widely-read German newspaper. On July 1, 1865, Mr. Dreyer ran the following ad:
“Must be sold: A Ladies boarding house, 10th ward, with bathroom. Owner Lives alone and is female. Above a large, beautiful saloon (wirtschaft) very close to the Bowery. Interior and good location for restoration. Price $1100, details at H. Dreyer, 97 Orchard Street.
In 1872, Dreyer placed another notice in the New Yorker Staatszeitung. Seemingly stirred by the corruption scandals of William M. "Boss" Tweed and Hall, the local Democratic party political machine, Dreyer offered his fellow German New Yorkers a reform-minded New Years greeting:
Reform is the cry of the whole country,
Reform must be embraced by the public servants!
Everyone should be working toward reform with all his strength in his own field:
Only then will honesty come to politics and business,
But no one should bother for the perishable Mammon,
This I wish for everyone with German blood in his veins
A year later, Dreyer joined a meeting of the German American Reform Club that was held at John Schneider’s saloon in 97 Orchard Street. The club attempted to mobilize support for the mayoral candidacy of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner-editor of the Staatszeitung. Ottendorfer ran as an Independent in 1874, but soundly lost to William Wickham.
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Manhattan clam chowder was created by Italian immigrants who adapted the recipe from a Neapolitan fish dish. According to the
New York Cookbook, the combination of tomatoes and fish struck some--especially New Englanders--as a "notable heresy." Eleanor Early, a Massachusetts-born travel writer, clucked that "tomatoes and clams have no more affinity than ice cream and horseradish." By the 1930s, however, Manhattan clam chowder was a staple of New York restaurants and cookbooks.
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Here's a sample question: which New York immigrant group invented Manhattan clam chowder?
