Astor Place Opera House where the Forrest-McCready riots occurred, 1849.
AN OLD NEW YORK GUIDE BOOK
Amongst the literature of bygone New York it would
be hard to find more curious and out-of-the way matter
than one encounters in those little compendiums of fact
and hyperbole dignified under the name of "Guides to the
City." One of these ptiblished in 1853 "to meet the
exigencies of the many strangers who will doubtless be
attracted hither by the Exposition of the Industry of All
Nations," invites our present attention.
We note that the scene of the exposition—the New
York Crystal Palace—is erected on Reservoir Square and
"lies at the northern extremity of the City of New York,
and that the Sixth Avenue Railroad runs directly past it,
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