It's E-Day!
We have finally arrived at the last day of what seems like the longest presidential
campaign in history. Americans will make a decision about who will serve as president for the next four years; Barack Obama or John McCain. Hopefully, we will know by tomorrow morning and not have a replay of November, 2000. I don't think I can stand another election like that one. Its all about turning out the vote, and supposedly the Obama campaign has a ground organization the likes of which hasn't been seen in Democratic circles in decades.
Hall in 14th Street building, NYPL Digital Gallery /Artwork: designslinger]
Of all the political organizations in history, there is only one instance I know of where
the name of a building became synonymous with a political powerhouse. The New York branch of the Tammany Society (which derived it's name from the Delaware Indian chief Tamanend) was founded in 1789 and served as a benevolent society, like the Elks organization. Aaron Burr, a potent force in the early days of our nation's history, is the person credited with turning the good-works club into a political operation. By the time the group moved from their Federal style building on Nassau Street in lower Manhattan, to a modern Victorian building on 14th Street in 1868, the name Tammany Hall was the euphemism used to describe the most powerful, big-city Democratic Party machine in the country. When the club moved into the 4-story building designed by Thomas R. Jackson, William "Boss" Tweed controlled the political fortunes of elected officials from New York City to Washington D.C. Part office building, assembly hall, and center of New York's political universe, the structure could house entertainments in the second floor hall that would accommodate 4,500 people. In honor of Tamanend, a statue of the chief was prominently displayed in an upper story niche inscribed with the words "Tammany Hall" in the arch overhead. By the time the club moved into a new facility on 17th Street in the early 20s, Tammany Hall's power was diminishing. The election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 moved a lot of political patronage jobs from New York to the nation's capital, and the election of reformer Fiorello LaGuardia as mayor in 1934, turned Tammany Hall from a political force into a memory.
josepha via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
In the history of the city and the Tammany Hall machine, another building associated
with Tweed and his cronies may claim the title as the most expensive government building ever constructed. In 1862, ground was broken for a new County Courthouse on a plot of land directly behind City Hall. The building would serve as the replacement for a courthouse that was destroyed by fire a few years earlier. Tweed was made the president of the Board of Supervisors, the group charged with oversight of the construction of the building. It took almost 20 years to complete, and by the time it was finished, Tweed had died in prison in 1878, the architect John Kellum died in 1871, and the total cost had skyrocketed from $800,000 to just over $11,000,000. The building cost more than 4 times the Houses of Parliament in London which were under construction during the period, and twice the purchase price of the Alaska Territory. Tweed is estimated to have walked away with $9,000,000 for himself and his associates. One carpenter was paid $350,000 for a month's work, and a bill for 3 tables and 4 chairs came to a grand total of $179,729.60! It served its purpose for a short time before a new courthouse was built in the 1920s. In spite of its association with corruption, the "Tweed Courthouse" as it's commonly referred to, is a handsome, nicely designed Victorian civic building. After sitting empty for the past few years it is now the home of the Department of Education and is a National Historic, as well as New York City, Landmark.
When we wake up tomorrow morning, we will know which presidential candidate's
ground organizations turned out enough of a vote which lead to victory. We will either have future courthouses, airports, libraries or schools named for President Barack Obama or John McCain. I just hope it isn't an agonizingly long night, we have to post first thing in the morning and need some sleep.
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