News

8+ Rediscovering the Iconic Fire Hydrant Cool-Downs of 1952 in New York City

I’m not sure exactly when the first New York City fire hydrant was wrenched open so neighborhood kids could play in the cool rush of water on a hot summer day.

But this very New York way to chase away the heat may have caught on and been officially sanctioned in the late teens, when John Hylan was mayor (below, in 1921, in a NYC Municipal Archives photo).

“The mayor is particularly good to children,” the Queens borough president was quoted saying in a New York Times article from 1925.

“It was his great heart that ordered the streets closed so that children could have a safe place in which to play, and it was his heart that ordered the policemen and firemen in summer to give the children baths from fire hydrants so that they might keep cool.”

Since then, the spray—or trickle, as this NYPL photo of some boys on the Bowery in 1919 shows—from fire hydrants has cooled off millions of little New Yorkers, legally or otherwise.

This AP photo was taken on Mulberry Street in 1936, the year of an exceptionally brutal heat wave.

Turning Mulberry Street into a river looks a lot more exciting than hanging out under a giant shower at Lexington and 85th Street of “Croton surf,” as the caption to this 1920 NYC Municipal Archives photo calls it.

New York in the 1960s could be pretty gritty, but at least the hydrants worked. Photographer Bruce Davidson captured this photo in 1966 of a boy on 100th Street.

A 10-day heat wave gripped the city in 1953, and Life magazine photographers captured some wonderful images of kids opening a hydrant (and then a police officer putting a stop to the fun).

Related Posts

They say cash is king – but a rare coin from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II could be worth a pretty penny if you are lucky enough to possess one.

They say cash is king – but a rare coin from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II could be worth a pretty penny if you are lucky enough to possess one. According to one TikTok user with an interest in old and valuable coins, a 1954 penny has achieved an estimated value of £90,000 – and could fetch in excess of £100,000 when it goes under the hammer this month. In a video posted to his nearly 210,000 followers, user @CoinCollectingWizard gives an overview of the valuable coin, which is set to be sold under auction by Sovereign Rarities on 19 November.

David Lammy has refused to back down on branding US President-elect Donald Trump a ‘neo-Nazi sympathiser’ in the past, as he insists it’s ‘old news’.

David Lammy has refused to back down on branding US President-elect Donald Trump a ‘neo-Nazi sympathiser’ in the past, as he insists it’s ‘old news’. The Foreign Secretary has come under intense scrutiny for comments he made in 2018 when he described Trump as a ‘woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath’. Among the other barbs directed at Trump by Mr Lammy on social media include the quip: ‘If Trump did GCSEs he wouldn’t make it to sixth form.’

Tumbbad 2 – Hindi Trailer | Ranveer Singh | Mohammad Samad | Sohum Shah | Tumbbad Full Movie Trailer

Folklore of Tumbbad: The story revolves around a village legend where a character named Haster resides in a well, captivating the imagination of locals since childhood. Haster’s Gold:…

Liam Payne’s close friend Rogelio Nores last night denied abandoning the former One Direction star in the hours leading up to his death.

Liam Payne’s close friend Rogelio Nores last night denied abandoning the former One Direction star in the hours leading up to his death. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline Mr Nores – known a ‘Roger’ – denied being a suspect in the 31-year-old’s death and rubbished claims police had raided his home in his native Buenos Aires. It comes as Argentinian prosecutors probing Liam Payne’s death confirmed the arrests of three suspects who are now under formal investigation, with one being an unnamed ‘friend’ of the late pop star.

A desperate farmer spent his final hours writing down his thoughts on how to protect the future of his business from the government’s inheritance tax raid before taking his own life, it can be revealed.

A desperate farmer spent his final hours writing down his thoughts on how to protect the future of his business from the government’s inheritance tax raid before taking his own life, it can be revealed. John Charlesworth’s son found a handwritten note where the Yorkshire farmer had jotted down his ideas for how best to leave the farm to his children. The musings, left on a clipboard immediately beneath a suicide note, included questions for the family’s solicitor covering costs, capital gains tax, protected agricultural exemptions and what gifted assets could be sheltered from inheritance tax under the seven-year rule.

Kamala Harris has been slammed for waiting hours to concede the 2024 election to Donald Trump as the results painted a bleak picture at the scale of her loss.

Kamala Harris has been slammed for waiting hours to concede the 2024 election to Donald Trump as the results painted a bleak picture at the scale of her loss. The vice president finally called the president-elect just before 2pm Eastern Time on Wednesday and told him about the importance of the ‘peaceful transfer of power’. As it stands, the vice president is on track to do worse than Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential election. She could even be on pace to have the worst Electoral College result of any Democrat since the 1988 race.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *