West Side Rag
  • TOP NEWS
  • OPEN/CLOSED
  • FOOD
  • SCHOOLS
  • OUTDOORS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • ART
  • POLITICS
  • COLUMNS
  • CRIME
  • HISTORY
  • ABSURDITY
  • CONTACT
West Side Rag
No Result
View All Result

Get WSR FREE in your inbox

Search the site

No Result
View All Result

Get WSR FREE in your inbox

AVAILABLE NOW!


HERE

7 Walks in 7 Days: Alexander von Humboldt Was a Celebrity in His Day

June 4, 2020 | 12:54 PM - Updated on June 5, 2022 | 11:44 PM
in COLUMNS, HISTORY, POLITICS
4


Alexander von who? Read on. Photo by Anita Highton.

By Marjorie Cohen

As the weather improves, it’s a good time to explore some parts of the UWS that may be new to you. Whether you’re a solitary walker or you prefer to walk with friends, do be sure to get out and walk. Governor Cuomo does it so why shouldn’t you?

Over the next week, we will publish articles about walks to seven spots — including some of my favorites and some recommended by friends. Six involve grass and trees and other wonders of nature and one is on Broadway, the street that was once the crowded, energetic commercial center of our UWS lives.

Leave Zoom and your home “office” behind and get out and take a look at some of the splendors of our neighborhood. It will remind you of why you wanted to live here in the first place.

We’ll proceed from south to north, starting at 77th Street. Here is the first:

Alexander von Humboldt Statue/ West 77th Street and CPW 

Alexander who? You may not know who von Humboldt was but there was a  time when just about everyone on every continent knew his name and all about the amazing things he had done. Proof? There are 1600 locations around the world that honor him and Central Park is one of them.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Humboldt, a true Renaissance man, was a celebrity. Here’s what Ralph Waldo Emerson, pretty famous in his own right, wrote about him: “Humboldt was one of those wonders of the world, like Aristotle, like Julius Caesar… who appear from time to time, as if to show the possibilities of the human mind, the force and the range of the faculties–a universal man.”

In 1859, when Humboldt died, “the entire civilized world went into mourning”, according to Tom Miller, creator of the excellent blog A Daytonian in Manhattan.

Humboldt, a Prussian whiz-kid, was an explorer, naturalist and geographer who set out in 1799 on what would be a five year exploration of South America. Once back home, he dedicated 20 more years to writing and publishing his exhaustive and groundbreaking findings. An intrepid adventurer, he was indisputably the most famous scientist of his age who lived an action-pack life which included climbing volcanoes in the Andes and racing through anthrax-infected Siberia.

The Central Park statue of Humboldt was commissioned by a committee of prominent German-American New Yorkers and in 1869  was unveiled at the entrance to Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. The unveiling was a spectacular event.  The celebration lasted all day and included a parade and a banquet and when it got dark, a torchlight procession. A crowd of 25,000 gathered around the statue for the unveiling and Miller quotes one reporter’s description of that crowd of “thousands upon thousands” as a “sturdy mass of Teutons…right up front” with “the fair sex …numerically equal to the sterner half of mankind.”

That same reporter went on to note that the women were there to do more than just observe. When the German chorus sang, accompanied by a full orchestra, “even the ladies present joined heartily in the chorus.”

In 1983 Humboldt’s statue was moved to where it now stands, across from the street from the Museum of Natural History.

Share this article:
guest

guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Nancy Wight
Nancy Wight
2 years ago

I know who Humboldt is.

0
Reply
Nelson
Nelson
2 years ago

Thank you! I already love this series. Great history.

0
Reply
Rick
Rick
2 years ago

Great book about this genius. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_Nature

0
Reply
Nancy
Nancy
2 years ago

Great Idea! Look forward to the next one.

0
Reply

YOU MIGHT LIKE...

Pupper West Side: Champions of Fostering and Volunteerism
COLUMNS

Pupper West Side: Champions of Fostering and Volunteerism

March 21, 2023 | 7:19 AM
Stormy Daniels Gets More Yuks Than Yucks at Local Comedy Club
ABSURDITY

From Our Archives: WSR’s Coverage of Stormy Daniels’ 2019 UWS Standup Debut

March 20, 2023 | 12:59 PM
Previous Post

These Protests are Unpredictable and Sporadic; Here’s Where People are Expected to Gather on Thursday

Next Post

Detainment of Food Deliveryman on Central Park West Sparks Confusion and Fear

this week's events image

Explore Your Favorite Subject

20th precinct 24th precinct american museum of natural history animals art bicycling bulletin central park closings columns community board 7 coronavirus crash crime development dogs events fdny fire food gale brewer helen rosenthal history jcc lincoln center monday bulletin morning bulletin nypd openings pedestrian safety photography photos politics public schools pupper west side real estate restaurants retail riverside park silver stars fitness snow sponsored subway upper west side uws

CITY NEWS

Brick Underground
City Limits
Eater
Gothamist
NY Daily News
NY Post
NY Times

LOCAL RESOURCES

Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group
Central Park Conservancy
CB7
Community Education Council 3
Assembly District 67
The New York Historical Society
Riverside Park
West End Preservation

UWS Blogs

Bloomingdale History Central Park Blogger
North River Notes

Next Post
Detainment of Food Deliveryman on Central Park West Sparks Confusion and Fear

Detainment of Food Deliveryman on Central Park West Sparks Confusion and Fear

Cathedral Will Hold a Vigil for George Floyd and Other Victims on Friday

Photo of the Day: MTA Bus Driver Takes a Knee as Protest Streams Past

Photo of the Day: MTA Bus Driver Takes a Knee as Protest Streams Past

  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • NEWSLETTER
  • WSR MERCH!
  • ADVERTISE
  • EVENTS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • TERMS OF USE
  • SITE MAP
Site design by RLDGROUP

© 2023 West Side Rag | All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • TOP NEWS
  • THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
  • OPEN/CLOSED
  • FOOD
  • SCHOOLS
  • OUTDOORS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • ART
  • POLITICS
  • COLUMNS
  • CRIME
  • HISTORY
  • ABSURDITY
  • CONTACT US
  • WSR SHOP

© 2023 West Side Rag | All rights reserved.