The ground at the junction of Astor Place and Eighth Street was made a public square in 1836. In the midst of it may now be seen a statue of Samuel S. Cox.
Scene of Forrest-Macready Riots
Astor Place Opera House, at the junction of Eighth Street and Astor Place, where Clinton Hall stands now, was built in 1847. It was a handsome theatre for those days, and contained eighteen hundred seats. It was opened on November 22nd with "Ernani." On May 7th, 1849, at this house occurred the first of the Macready riots. The bitter jealousy existing between William Charles Macready, the English actor, and Edwin Forrest, which had assumed the proportions of an international quarrel, so far as the two actors and their friends were concerned, was the cause. The admirers of Forrest sought, on this night, to prevent the performance of "Macbeth," and a riot ensued in which no particular damage was done. On May 10th, in response to a petition signed by many prominent citizens, Macready again sought to play "Macbeth." An effort was made to keep all Forrest sympathizers from the house. Many, however, gained admission, and the performance was again frustrated. The ringleaders were arrested. A great crowd blocked Astor Place, and an assault upon the theatre was attempted. Macready escaped by a rear door. The Seventh Regiment and a troop of cavalry cleared Eighth Street and reached Astor Place. The mob resisted. The Riot Act was read. That producing no effect, and the assault upon the building and the soldiers defending it becoming more violent each moment, the mob was fired upon. Three volleys were fired. Thirty-four persons were killed and some hundred injured. Over one hundred soldiers and many policemen were also hurt.
On August 30th, 1852, the name of the house was changed to the New York Theatre, under the direction of Charles R. Thorne. In a month's time he gave up the venture and Frank Chanfrau took it up. He also abandoned it after a few weeks.
Clinton Hall
In 1854 the Opera House was reconstructed and occupied by the Mercantile Library. It was given the name of Clinton Hall, which had been the name of the library's first home in Beekman Street. This building in time gave way to the present Clinton Hall on the same site.
Lafayette Place
Lafayette Place was opened through the Vauxhall Garden in 1826.
The Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, was completed in 1853, and was opened in 1854. The site cost $25,000.
The Middle Dutch Reformed Church was built in Lafayette Place in 1839, at the northwest corner of Fourth Street after its removal from Nassau and Cedar Streets. A new church was built at Seventh Street and Second Avenue in 1844. In the Lafayette Place building was a bell which had been cast in Holland in 1731, and which had first been used when the church was in Nassau Street. It was the gift of Abraham de Peyster, and now hangs in the Reformed Church at Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street.