Where in Manhattan did Washington sleep? Where was Teddy Roosevelt born? Where did James Monroe die? Where is the birthplace of the Twist? Where was Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff's multi-million dollar penthouse? Where is the site of the country's first traffic fatality? These tidbits are among the more than 2,000 fascinating entries comprising All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities, the definitive guide to historic New York.All Around the Town brings the city's history to life, street by street, building by building, in all its diversity. The entries, organized in an...

William Seraile uncovers the history of the colored orphan asylum, founded in New York City in 1836 as the nation's first orphanage for African American children. It is a remarkable institution that is still in the forefront aiding children. Although no longer an orphanage, in its current incarnation as Harlem-Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Services it maintains the principles of the women who organized it nearly 200 years ago.

The agency weathered three wars, two major financial panics, a devastating fire during the 1863 Draft Riots, several...