AshcanArtists&LamartineBlocksChelseaW29W30NYC

"Ashcan Artists" & Lamartine Blocks, Chelsea W29 & W30 btwn 8Ave & 9Ave
In early 20th Century NYC, 317 West 29th Street(formerly Lamartine Place) was the address of the Petipas' sisters boardinghouse, where painter John Butler Yeats (father of the poet) lived. John Sloan painted "Yeats at Petipas", (1910)showing him dining there with artists and literary figures. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The boardinghouse and Chelsea district in general, was an unofficial center for the "Ash Can" group of artists.
William Glackens's "Chez Mouquin" (1905), showing Clement Clarke Moore the Third in presence of a "much younger lady of questionable repute" and John Sloan's "Yeats at Petipas'" (1910) are evidence of this trend in Chelsea.
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John Butler Yeats was also the father of four artistic children, including the poet W. B. [William Butler] Yeats, and the painter and illustrator Jack [John] Butler Yeats, as well as the daughters Susan Mary (Lilly) and Lolly also know for their creative endeavors.
In December, 1907, Yeats accompanied his eldest daughter, Susan Mary [Lily] Yeats, to an embroidery exhibit in New York City for what was intended as a short visit. However, Yeats remained there for the following 14 years and never returned to Dublin. He took up residence at a boarding house run by the Petitpas sisters at 317 West 29th Street, and participated in the literary and art communities of the city. ___________________________________________________________________ In New York, Yeats continued to paint portraits and sketch for commissions, as well as for friends and himself. He also wrote several essays on subjects that included art, Irish issues, and women, and was a public speaker at venues in the eastern United States. Within his circle of artistic friends in New York, Yeats was known as an exceptional conversationalist. During this time he nurtured friendships with Martha Fletcher Bellinger, the writer Van Wyck Brooks, Mary Tower Lapsley Caughey, the miniature painter Eulabee Dix [Becker], the painter John Sloan and his wife, Dolly, Ann Squire, the lawyer and art patron John Quinn, and several others.

Yeats maintained contact with his family in Europe and friends in America through extensive correspondence.

On February 3, 1922, Yeats died, leaving behind an unfinished self-portrait, commissioned by Quinn, that he had been working on for 11 years. He is buried in Chestertown, New York, near Lake George in the Adirondacks
___________________________________________________________________ The boarding house at 317 West 29th run by the three Petipas sisters is recounted by B. L. Reid in his fascinating biography ''The Man From New York -- John Quinn and his Friends'' (Oxford University Press, 1968, page 89)
John Butler Yeats, (father of the poet,William Butler Yeats and painter Jack B. Yeats) ''was to live out his days there, illuminating that place and making it locally celebrated. . . . When weather allowed, the boarders and their guests would dine in a sort of pavilion, an open roofed shed in the back garden. It is in this setting that John Sloan painted him in 'Yeats at Petipas' with a group of friends about the table.''
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In the 1870's and 1880's, the Chelsea Neighborhood had been at the center of New York City's Theater world.
Madison Square was the Times Square of it's day and
West 23 rd Street running westward to 8th Avenue was an
extention of it.


As late as 1910, when many Aschan Artists were active, Chelsea still had some lingering theatrical vestiges, although mostly of a vaudville kind and increasingly seedier in nature.







Many Aschan Artists, who favored the grittier aspects of city life, captured the fading glow of this leftover theater world.


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Orange Riots 1870 and 1871 and Lamartine Blocks,W29 & W30,Chelsea, NYC

The "Orange Riots" of 1871:

Lamartine Hall at the northwest corner of West 29th Street & 8Ave is in backround. At the time, it was headquarters of NYC-Chapter of the "Orangemen".

The building still stands and currently has a Deli on it's ground floor.
In the 1970's, When the area was an extention of the Fur District and still a Greek neighborhood ,the building housed an exotic bellydancing restaraunt .

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In 1871, in New York City, Mayor A. Oakley Hall and Superintendent Kelso, head of the New York Police Department, issued a decree on 10th July banning the upcoming 12 July demonstration/Parade of the NYC Chapter of Orangemen to prevent conflict.

At the parade of the previous year (1870) Nine people had been killed and more than a hundred injured (including children) when a riot broke out after the paraders had angered Irish Catholics with sectarian songs and slogans.

Thus, New York city Democratic mayor A.Oakley Hall thought the best solution was to pressure his police chief into canceling the parade at the last minute, on July 11.

However, the ban angered many, who saw it as bowing down to the partisan wishes of the Irish Catholic immigrant community. It also reeked of politics, as many protestants viewed the situation as reeking of the corrupt Tweed ring that dominated city politics and that was viewed as an Irish Caholic political machine.

The New York Times launched a massive expose’ on Tammany Hall corruption just days before the 1871 Boyne Day Parade approached. With Democrats and reformers slinging mud at each other, tensions were high as the July 12 parade approached.

The New York Times headline of July 11 read: Terrorism Rampant. City Authorities Overawed by the Roman Catholics.

The ban was then revoked by State Governor Hoffman, after pressure from the city's elite. He promised the Orangemen protection by the state and Federal authorities if the city of New York could not provide it.

However, as it turned out, the fears of violence and it's provocation prooved all to accurate................

July 12,1871, the Orangemen were to march down Eighth Avenue from Twenty-Ninth Street. When the parade kicked off, all hell broke loose. A shower of tossed bottles,refuse,boots,kettles,stones,and other missiles rained down on the marchers. Tribal hatreds over 200 years old had made their way to New York City. A full blown Irish civil war had broken out on Manhattan’s West Side. Over 60 people were killed on July 12,1871, none of the dead were Orangemen.

The Orange Parade was never held after 1871, but the Orange Riots had the side-effect of also weakening Tammany from power. The political fallout from the back-to-back debacles- the Orange Riots and the Times disclosures, was too much for Tweed and Tammany to survive.

After an investigation by the Committee of Seventy, Tweed was arrested, and the city’s middle and upper classes breathed easier knowing these "violent-minded agents of Rome" no longer roamed the halls of power in New York.

An account of the bloody event is given in the below account from: "Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873, Including a Full and Complete Account of the Four Days' Draft Riot of 1863"

Around the Orange head-quarters a still deeper excitement prevailed. The hum of the vast multitude seemed like the first murmurings of the coming storm, and many a face turned pale as the Orangemen, with their banners and badges, only ninety in all, passed out of the door into the street. John Johnston, their marshal, mounted on a spirited horse, placed himself at their head.

In a few minutes, the bayonets of the military force designed to act as an escort could be seen flashing in the sun, as the troops with measured tread moved steadily forward. Crowds followed them on the sidewalks, or hung from windows and house tops, while low curses could be heard on every side, especially when the Twenty-second Regiment deliberately loaded their pieces with ball and cartridge. The little band of Orangemen looked serious but firm, while the military officers showed by their preparations and order that they expected bloody work. The Orangemen formed line in Twenty-ninth Street, close to the Eighth Avenue, and flung their banners to the breeze. A half an hour later, they were ready to march, and at the order wheeled into Eighth Avenue.

At that instant a single shot rang out but a few rods distant. Heads were turned anxiously to see who was hit. More was expected as the procession moved on. A strong body of police marched in advance. Next came the Ninth Regiment, followed at a short interval by the Sixth. Then came more police, followed by the little band of Orangemen, flanked on either side, so as fully to protect them, by the Twenty-second and Eighty-fourth Regiments. To these succeeded more police. The imposing column was closed up by the Seventh Regiment, arresting all eyes by its even tread and martial bearing. The sidewalks, doorsteps, windows, and roofs were black with people. The band struck up a martial air, and the procession moved on towards Twenty-eighth Street.
Just before they reached it, another shot rang clear and sharp above the music. No one was seen to fall, and the march continued. At the corner of Twenty-seventh Street, a group of desperate looking fellows were assembled on a wooden shed that projected over the sidewalk. Warned to get down and go away, they hesitated, when a company of soldiers levelled their pieces at them. Uttering defiant threats, they hurried down and disappeared. As the next corner was reached, another shot was fired, followed by a shower of stones. A scene of confusion now ensued. The police fell on the bystanders occupying the sidewalks, and clubbed them right and left without distinction, and the order rolled down the line to the inmates of the houses to shut their windows. Terror now took the place of curiosity; heads disappeared, and the quick, fierce slamming of blinds was heard above the uproar blocks away. The procession kept on till it reached Twenty-fourth Street, when a halt was ordered.

The next moment a shot was fired from the second-story windows of a house on the north-east corner. It struck the Eighty-fourth Regiment, and in an instant a line of muskets was pointed at the spot, as though the order to fire was expected. One gun went off, when, without orders, a sudden, unexpected volley rolled down the line of the Sixth, Ninth, and Eighty-fourth Regiments. The officers were wholly taken by surprise at this unprecedented conduct; but, recovering themselves, rushed among the ranks and shouted out their orders to cease firing. But the work was done; and as the smoke slowly lifted in the hot atmosphere, a scene of indescribable confusion presented itself. Men, women, and children, screaming in wild terror, were fleeing in every direction; the strong trampling down the weak, while eleven corpses lay stretched on the sidewalk, some piled across each other. A pause of a few minutes now followed, while the troops reloaded their guns. A new attack was momentarily expected, and no one moved from the ranks to succor the wounded or lift up the dead. Here a dead woman lay across a dead man; there a man streaming with blood was creeping painfully up a doorstep, while crouching, bleeding forms appeared in every direction. Women from the windows looked down on the ghastly spectacle, gesticulating wildly. The police now cleared the avenue and side streets, when, the dead and wounded were attended to, and the order to move on was given. General Varian, indignant at the conduct of the Eighty-fourth in firing first without orders, sent it to the rear, and replaced it on the flank of the Orangemen with a portion of the Ninth. The procession, as it now resumed its march and moved through Twenty-fourth Street, was a sad and mournful one. The windows were filled with spectators, and crowds lined the sidewalks, but all were silent and serious. Not till it reached Fifth Avenue Hotel were there any greetings of welcome. Here some three thousand people were assembled, who rent the air with cheers. No more attacks were made, and it reached Cooper Institute and disbanded without any further incident.

In the meantime, the scene at the Bellevue Hospital was a sad and painful one. The ambulances kept discharging their bloody loads at the door, and groans of distress and shrieks of pain filled the air. Long rows of cots, filled with mangled forms, were stretched on every side, while the tables were covered with bodies, held down, as the surgeons dressed their wounds. The dead were carried to the Morgue, around which, as night came on, a clamorous crowd was gathered, seeking admission, to look after their dead friends. A similar crowd gathered at the door of the Mount Sinai Hospital, filling the air with cries and lamentations. As darkness settled over the city, wild, rough looking men from the lowest ranks of society gathered in the street where the slaughter took place, among whom were seen bare-headed women roaming about, making night hideous with their curses. A pile of dead men's hats stood on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street untouched, and pale faces stooped over pools of blood on the pavement. The stores were all shut; and everything wore a gloomy aspect. The police stood near, revealed in the lamplight, but made no effort to clear the street. It seemed at one time that a serious outbreak would take place, but the night passed off quietly, and the riot was ended, and the mob once more taught the terrible lesson it is so apt to forget.Two of the police and military were killed, and twenty-four wounded; while of the rioters thirty-one were killed, and sixty-seven wounded making in all one hundred and twenty-eight victims.
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Abigail Hopper Gibbons house:LamartineBlocksW29W30_NYC

Historic Hopper-Gibbons Home in Manhattan:
The Gibbons home in Manhattan, still stands at what is now 339 West 29Th Street, and was part of an elegant row of houses built as a piece in 1847,much of which survives,despite an apparant lack of any landmark protection. The row was once known as Lamaratine Place and was likely named for Alphonse De Lamartine, a French romantic poet and patron of Anti Slavery and liberal causes.) The house is alleged to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad,(eye witness accounts support this) and this would not be suprising given the family devotion to the Anti Slavery cause.

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MORE ABOUT: ABIGAIL HOPPER GIBBONS
Overview: Abigail Hopper Gibbons (7 December 1801 – 16 January 1893) was an abolitionist, activist, and a nurse during the American Civil War. Gibbons grew up in a Quaker family, and her father spent much of his time and money aiding runaway slaves. Abigail was to share her father's beliefs and spent much of her life working for social reform. Over the course of her life, Gibbons pushed for prison reform, welfare, civil rights, and care for soldiers returning from the Civil War. Eventually, a political shift in the Quaker organization resulted in Gibbon's father, as well as her new husband, James Gibbons, being disowned by the society for their anti-slavery activities. Abigail Gibbons left the organization, which she had been a leading member in, and never returned. Although a controversial figure, she was highly successful in her many efforts.

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MORE IN DEPTH

Abigail Hopper Gibbons was born in Philadelphia in 1801, the third of ten children. Abigail taught school for several years in Philadelphia and New York. In 1833, she married fellow Quaker, James Sloan Gibbons, who was also an ardent abolitionist. In 1836, Abigail and James moved to New York City, where they had six children. Two of their sons died in infancy, and a third died suddenly after an accident in which he was involved while attending Harvard University.

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"Abby"and her father founded the Women's Prison Association of New York City in 1845. She lobbied for improvements in the city's prisons, advocated the hiring of police matrons, and urged the establishment of separate prisons for women. She frequently visited the various prisons in and about New York. For twelve years, she was also president of a German industrial school for street children.In 1853, the Women's Prison Association separated from its parent, the Prison Association, and Abby obtained a New York State charter for her group. Under her leadership, the WPA undertook an aggressive program of legislative lobbying.

She protested jail overcrowding and demanded that women prisoners be searched only by female matrons.At that time, most of the WPA’s clients were Irish immigrants struggling with alcohol dependency, made worse by the extreme poverty in which they lived. Abby and her staff worked tirelessly to provide these women with a place to stay, a supportive community, and practical skills training. They created programs for these women, who had previously only known poverty and trouble in their lives.With the coming of the war, Abby knew that nurses would be needed to care for the wounded. She was immediately ready to give her all for the Union.
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The purpose of the commission was to recruit nurses and to provide adequate medical care to the Union soldiers-wounded. When the Commission set up a training base at David’s Island Hospital in New York, Abby was among the trainees.She traveled to Washington D.C., to help at the Washington Office Hospital, helping the wounded and distributing supplies. She also helped to establish two field hospitals in Virginia.At Point Lookout, Maryland, the government took over a hotel and 100 guest cottages and converted them into a hospital complex with accommodations for 1500 soldiers. It was named Hammond General Hospital.

Abigail vied with Dorothea Dix, the Union Superintendent of Nurses, for control of the hospital, and Abby was finally appointed its head matron. She left the hospital in 1863, when it was converted into Point Lookout Confederate Prison.

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Following the war, Abby was involved in several New York charities, including the "Labor and Aid Society," which helped returning veterans find work.She aided in founding the Isaac Hopper Home, named for her father, which helped former women prisoners to return to society. Today, the Women's Prison Association still provides programs through which women can acquire the life skills necessary to lead a productive life and to make good choices for themselves and their families. It is the nation’s oldest advocacy organization working exclusively with women prisoners.

Over the past 160 years, the WPA has adapted to the changing needs of its clients and offered them alternatives to their previous lives of crime.

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In January 1893, Abigail Hopper Gibbons died at the age of 92. She was eulogized in her obituary as "one of the most remarkable women of the century." She was not only one of the founders of the WPA, she was also the founder of the New York Diet Kitchen for infants and the sick and the poor, and president of the New York Committee for the Prevention and Regulation of Vice. A friend once said of the Hoppers and Gibbonses "they had a natural love for sinners."

An excellent account of the life and work of Abigail Hopper Gibbons is given in:

Abby Hopper Gibbons: Prison Reformer and Social Activist

By Margaret Hope Bacon

ISBN 079144497X

SUNY Press

Published 2000

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Historic Hopper-Gibbons Home in Manhattan:

The Hopper-Gibbons home in Manhattan, still stands at what is now 339 West 29Th Street, and was part of an elegant row of houses built as a piece in 1847,much of which survives,despite an apparant lack of any landmark protection. The row was once known as Lamaratine Place and was likely named for Alphonse De Lamartine, a French romantic poet and patron of Anti Slavery and liberal causes.) The house is alleged to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad(eyewitness accounts support this), and this would not be suprising given the family devotion to the Anti Slavery cause.

This 1840's townhouse was once the home of the prominent nineteenth century family of abolitionists/social reformers:that include Abigail Hopper Gibbons and her husband, James Sloan Gibbons as well as Mrs. Gibbons' father and mentor, Isaac T. Hopper. In Fall of 2007 a serious alarm was raised when a new owner of 339 West 29th Street, commenced remodeling with the intention of adding a penthouse, altering the uniform cornice and threatening the historic integrity of the building. Dilgent research, has shown that there is compelling evidence that the building was not only,home to the legendary Abolitionist family but was also specifically targeted during the Draft Riots of 1863 and can further be established through a contemporary eyewitness accounts as being a station on the Underground Railroad.

There exists an extremely important document indicating,irrefutably,that Abigail Hopper Gibbons and her husband, James Sloan Gibbons, provided refuge for runaway slaves.It was written by their close friend, the renowned lawyer Joseph M. Choate. Choate,who used to visit the Gibbons home after coming to New York in 1855,states:

"the house of Mrs. Gibbons was a great resort of abolitionists and extreme antislavery people from all parts of the land, as it was one of the stations of the underground railroad by which fugitive slaves found their way from the
South to Canada. I have dined with that family in company with William Lloyd Garrison, and sitting at the table with us was a jet-black negro who was on his way to freedom...Lucretia Mott the celebrated female preacher of that day was also a frequent guest."

[from Dorothy G. Becker, Abigail Hopper Gibbons (New York, 1989), pp. 6-7, citing Edward Sandford Martin, The Life of Joseph Hodges Choate: As Gathered Chiefly from his Letters (New York, 1920), 2 Vols. Vol.I, pp. 96,99.

As Underground Railroad Stations are supposed to be preserved by law, 339 West 29th St. (the Hopper-Gibbons' home) must be given landmark status. Similarly, as there are not a great many examples of 1840's architecture left in Manhattan, the Landmarks Preservation Commission should give this rare surviving example theroef, the landmark status it deserves, thus preserving the architectural integrity of this building.
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After the Battle of Gettysburg, Abby and daughter Sarah at the front lines nursing wounded Union sold iers and helping escaped slaves to survive and avoid recapture. Upon comencement of the first-ever military draft, Draft Riots engulfed New York City. At the Gibbons home at 19 Lamartine Place (now 339 W. 29th St.) were Abby’s husband, James Sloan Gibbons, and their two younger daughters, Julia and Lucy. The Gibbons home became one of the many targets of the angry mob.

Below are a few glimpses of what happened to their home on July 14,1863 from a letter (dated July 17) from daughter Lucy to her Aunt Anna:As for Bridget, the [Irish servant] girl, it was impossible to alarm her. Her sole consideration was getting through with the washing.... .... In fact, at about 5 o’clock,...I proposed taking a bath [after she and Julia had moved some clothing, personal papers, and portraits to their aunt and uncle’s home next door]. Fifteen minutes later, the mob appeared. .... Our neighbors behaved nobly. Judge Robinson entered with the mob and saved what he could--a portrait of Willie [their brother, who had died in a freak accident while a student at Harvard, a few years earlier], a drawer full of letters,...Mr. Horn stood in the parlor and threatened the mob with a pistol. He drove off the women (!!!) who were trying to set fire to the house with torches, but was finally obliged to retreat through the back window. Mr. Grey rescued a sheet full of wet clothes which were being carried off; and his wife had them re-washed and ironed. A lilttle boy from somewhere, only about twelve years old, helped like a little soldier, bringing buckets of water to put out the fire. .... Our butcher [probably an Irishman] went into the midst of the mob, and declared he would not have that house touched, for which he was badly beaten, but will recover. Father was at the Fifth Avenue Hotel making a last appeal for military to protect the premises..... Mr. [Joseph] Choate...[accompanied us] over the roofs to the end of the block, (by this time the mob was violent) out of a house there [owned by a Jewish man], procured a carriage which waited in 8th Ave., put us all into it, and brought us [to his family’s home on W. 21st St.]. The above item is Excerpted from “The Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons as Told Chiefly Through Her Correspondence,” By Sarah Gibbons Emerson (1896)

Introducing: The "Lamartine Blocks": W29th and W30th Streets,between 8th and 9th Avenues.

Introducing: The "Lamartine Blocks": W29th and W30th Streets,between 8th and 9th Avenues.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Recently (October, 2007) there has been heated discussion back and forth regarding efforts to stop alterations to 339 West 29 Street, the-former home of crusading abolitionist, activist, Abigail Hopper Gibbons. Rather than bickering, it would be more constructive to embrace all reasons for the houses importance in the hopes of preserving valuable remaining historic resource. There are many reasons that both 339 West 29Th Street (former home of Quaker Abolitionist Activist, Abigail Hopper Gibbons) and its related row of houses (once known as..Lamaratine Place) are important and worth preserving (in equal amounts) for historic,cultural and architectural reasons. All of which deserve celebration.
Lamartine Place was likely named for Alphonse De Lamartine, a French romantic poet and patron of Anti Slavery and liberal causes.

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The House is most worthy of individual landmark designation, and the larger context in which the house is situated, a two block oasis of 1847 rowhouses is worthy of preservation as a historic district. Specificaly, this refers to the north side of West 29th street from Eighth to Ninth Avenue (at one time known as "Lamartine Place") and both north and south sides of a similar block of West 30Th Street from Eighth to Ninth Avenue.These two blocks were developed in 1847 by Cyrus Mason,in partnership with William Torrey. Mason and Torrey were involved in the construction of Clement Clarke Moore's 1845 row house development, London Terrace, on the site of the present apartment complex of that name, 23d to 24Th Street between Ninth and 10Th Avenue. Both the29th Street block and the 30th street block show Moore's influence, with several row houses still preserving in varied degrees the the front "yard: setback characteristic of Moores' blocks to the south near the Episcopal seminary.
These two miraculously surviving blocks are both a lovely 19th Century Oasis and a sorely needed respite, wedged as they are, between Penn Souths huge "tower in park" complex and the "super-blocks" of the Farley Post Office and Madison Square Garden/PennStation.(not mention many mega projects to come!) This alone is worth preserving as large scale development pressures are encroaching from all sides these days. Perhaps it is not too late for the Chelsea community to create of these two blocks, a mini Historic District..this would be ideal (no doubt replete with "non contributing buildings" and the rowhouses in various states of alteration or not). ...Barring this, at least these historic "Lamartine Blocks" need a firm lowering of the attendant FAR from R8b to R6b which is more akin to certain West Village townhouse sidestreets.
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SOME INTERESTING COINCEDENCES THAT COMPLIMENT CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY:
Interesting coincedences abound: 8th Avenue from W23rd Street to W42nd Street was to be known as the Negro part of the "Tenderloin" district in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, and was home for New Yorks Negro population with middle class aspirations before the mass relocation of blacks to Harlem afterWW1. Black aspirations to stability and prosperity were repeatedly thwarted by the seedy charachter of the area and many despaired that city officials did nothing to relieve them. The situation took a tragic turn in August 1900, when the Tenderloin erupted into a terrible race riot prompted by an Eighth Avenue undercover police officers mistaken assumption that a black woman was “soliciting.” The womans husband promptly intervened outraged at this slight to his wife's dignity, unaware that the white man was a police officer. The officer Thorpe struck the husband with a club, and the husband retaliated with a penknife, fatally wounding the officer. The police officers subsequent funeral erupted into violence with police and white gangs wreaking havoc on black neighborhoods throughout the Tenderloin. In retaliation, blacks armed themselves, while the black elite formed the “The Citizens’ Protective League.” Although the CPL persistently solicited the protection and cooperation of Mayor Robert A. Van Wyck, the mayor placed all the authority of the investigation in the control of the Police board, who only legitimized their officers’ actions. In each case, the state—the police, the mayor, and the Police board—neglected to protect black citizens’ rights. As Frank Moss, the compiler of the affidavits of black victims, lamented, “The ‘investigation’ was a palpable sham.” __________________________________________________________________
After the construction of the Penn South in the 1960's, the important African American civil rights figures A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin settled in to the 28th Street buildings of the complex just to the south of the former Lamartine Place (29th Street). In addition to masterminding Martin Luther Kings' historic "Poor Peoples March" on Washington, Rustin was active in promoting strong bonds between Blacks and Jews and later in life, between gays and straights within African American communities.(He was always fairly open about his own homosexuality) He remained a devout Quaker from birth. A Chelsea high school is now named for him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX MORE ABOUT: ABIGAIL HOPPER GIBBONS :

Overview: Abigail Hopper Gibbons (7 December 1801 – 16 January 1893) was an abolitionist, activist, and a nurse during the American Civil War. Gibbons grew up in a Quaker family, and her father spent much of his time and money aiding runaway slaves. Abigail was to share her father's beliefs and spent much of her life working for social reform. Over the course of her life, Gibbons pushed for prison reform, welfare, civil rights, and care for soldiers returning from the Civil War. Eventually, a political shift in the local Quaker organization resulted in Gibbon's father, as well as her new husband, James Gibbons, being disowned by the society for their anti-slavery activities, which is somewhat perplexing given the Abolitionist stance of the Society of Friends, and this may reflect differences over tactics. Abigail Gibbons left the Society, which she had been a leading member in, and never returned. (although she probably kept Quaker values and form of worship at home).
Despite being a controversial figure, she was highly successful in her many efforts. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Historic Gibbons Home in Manhattan Needs official landmarking!:
The Gibbons home in Manhattan, still stands at what is now 339 West 29Th Street, and was part of an elegant row of houses built as a piece in 1847,much of which survives,despite an apparant lack of any landmark protection. The row was once known as Lamaratine Place and was likely named for Alphonse De Lamartine, a French romantic poet and patron of Anti Slavery and liberal causes.)The house is alleged to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad,which ia not suprising given the family passionate devotion to the Anti Slavery cause, and in fact yewitness accounts support this.

Dilgent research, has shown that there is compelling evidence that the building was not only,home to the legendary Abolitionist family but was also specifically targeted during the Draft Riots of 1863 and can further be established through a contemporary eyewitness accounts as being a station on the Underground Railroad.

There exists an extremely important document indicating,irrefutably,that Abigail Hopper Gibbons and her husband, James Sloan Gibbons, provided refuge for runaway slaves.It was written by their close friend, the renowned lawyer Joseph M. Choate. Choate,who used to visit the Gibbons home after coming to New York in 1855, states:

"the house of Mrs. Gibbons was a great resort of abolitionists and extreme antislavery people from all parts of the land, as it was one of the stations of the underground railroad by which fugitive slaves found their way from the South to Canada. I have dined with that family in company with William Lloyd Garrison, and sitting at the table with us was a jet-black negro who was on his way to freedom...Lucretia Mott the celebrated female preacher of that day was also a frequent guest."

[from Dorothy G. Becker, Abigail Hopper Gibbons (New York, 1989), pp. 6-7, citing Edward Sandford Martin, The Life of Joseph Hodges Choate: As Gathered Chiefly from his Letters (New York, 1920), 2 Vols. Vol.I, pp. 96,99.

As Underground Railroad Stations are supposed to be preserved by law, 339 West 29th St. (the Hopper-Gibbons' home) must be given landmark status. Similarly, as there are not a great many examples of 1840's architecture left in Manhattan, the Landmarks Preservation Commission should give this rare surviving example theroef, the landmark status it deserves, thus preserving the architectural integrity of this building.

ACCOUNTS OF DRAFT RIOTS :
After the Battle of Gettysburg, Abby and daughter Sarah at the front lines nursing wounded Union sold iers and helping escaped slaves to survive and avoid recapture. Upon comencement of the first-ever military draft, Draft Riots engulfed New York City. At the Gibbons home at 19 Lamartine Place (now 339 W. 29th St.) were Abby’s husband, James Sloan Gibbons, and their two younger daughters, Julia and Lucy. The Gibbons home became one of the many targets of the angry mob.

Below are a few glimpses of what happened to their home on July 14,1863 from a letter (dated July 17) from daughter Lucy to her Aunt Anna:

"As for Bridget, the [Irish servant] girl, it was impossible to alarm her. Her sole consideration was getting through with the washing.... .... In fact, at about 5 o’clock,...I proposed taking a bath [after she and Julia had moved some clothing, personal papers, and portraits to their aunt and uncle’s home next door]. Fifteen minutes later, the mob appeared. .... Our neighbors behaved nobly. Judge Robinson entered with the mob and saved what he could--a portrait of Willie [their brother, who had died in a freak accident while a student at Harvard, a few years earlier], a drawer full of letters,...Mr. Horn stood in the parlor and threatened the mob with a pistol. He drove off the women (!!!) who were trying to set fire to the house with torches, but was finally obliged to retreat through the back window. Mr. Grey rescued a sheet full of wet clothes which were being carried off; and his wife had them re-washed and ironed. A lilttle boy from somewhere, only about twelve years old, helped like a little soldier, bringing buckets of water to put out the fire. .... Our butcher [probably an Irishman] went into the midst of the mob, and declared he would not have that house touched, for which he was badly beaten, but will recover. Father was at the Fifth Avenue Hotel making a last appeal for military to protect the premises..... Mr. [Joseph] Choate...[accompanied us] over the roofs to the end of the block, (by this time the mob was violent) out of a house there [owned by a Jewish man], procured a carriage which waited in 8th Ave., put us all into it, and brought us [to his family’s home on W. 21st St.].

The above item is Excerpted from “The Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons as Told Chiefly Through Her Correspondence,” By Sarah Gibbons Emerson (1896)