New York City – Sharing History

Nearly 60 years ago on the Fourth of July, four-year-old George D’Angelo, Jr. became separated from his parents while celebrating near West 12th Street at Coney Island in New York.

As reported by the New York Times, a massive search was undertaken including both police and federal agents as they sought to find young George. The search went on through the night and into the next day when a call came into an emergency line claiming that George was alive and well in the apartment of a Brooklyn woman some 25 blocks away.

When police arrived at the address provided by the caller, they found a 54-year-old woman, her 26-year-old daughter and young George in flowered pajamas. George’s first words to the police were, “I want my mommy.”

Apparently the woman, Elizabeth Bermudez, found George wandering in the streets and led him back to her apartment where she took care of him until her daughter came for a visit the next day.

After questioning, it was confirmed that Mrs. Bermudez did try to reach out to two different police officers on the street while she led George back to her apartment, but was told to call the station. She then became “confused” and took George home to wait for her daughter who did not arrive until the next day.

When her daughter encountered the strange child in her mother’s apartment, she immediately asked him if he was “Georgie,” having heard about his disappearance on the news.

What is remarkable about this story is not only that George was recovered, but also that his parents, Elaine and George D’Angelo, did not wish to press charges against Mrs. Bermudez.

“I’m glad that she did not hurt him and that she kept him safe,” Elaine D’Angelo told the NYT. George D’Angelo Sr. echoed his wife’s sentiments, however, he added “I’m just hoping that they take care of her and give her some help so that she won’t do this thing again to someone else’s child.”

This story would have likely been very different had it happened today. How do you think it would have turned out?

Sources: The New York Times Archives

On October 27, 1904, the New York City subway ran for the first time. After four years of construction, during which New York streets were dug up, the subway was built, and then the streets were covered up again, the way the city moved changed irrevocably. Today, about 2.4 million people ride the New York City subway each day. The NYC subway has the most stations of any subway in the world and is one of the only metro systems to be open 24/7/365.

The original subway system was built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). They hired contractor John McDonald on a $35 million contract to build the first line. Engineer William Barclay Parsons worked on the design. This line covered 9.1 miles and took passengers from City Hall to Harlem. On October 27, 1904, the line was opened with great fanfare by Mayor George McClellan. He ceremoniously stood at the controls and started the first train, enjoying the task so much that he drove the train all the way to 103^rd St. The passengers were 15,000 invited guests, many of whom had worked on the completion of the metro line. According to a New York Times (NYT) reporter, “there were a great many who did not make the round trip from City Hall Park to One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street and back again, but got off at their own stations on the return trip in the most natural and matter-of-fact way, as if they had been doing it all their lives,” and New Yorkers have been riding the subway thus ever since.

At 7:00 that evening, the subway opened for public use. Over 150,000 people rode the subway between 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. that first day, each of them paying a nickel for the privilege. The same NYT reporter wrote, “it was astonishing, though, how easily the passengers fell into the habit of regarding the Subway as a regular thing . . . the men on the trains were quietly getting out at their regular stations and going home, having finished what will be to them the daily routine of the rest of their lives. It is hard to surprise New York permanently.”

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Tag: New York City

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