The New-York Directory, published in 1786, was the first extant directory for New York City and the third published in the United States. It listed 846 names. A year earlier, the first two in the country were published in Philadelphia – the first, compiled by Francis White, was initially printed October 27, 1785, and the second, compiled by John Macpherson (1726–1792), was initially printed November 22, 1785.
Timeline and highlights 1624:New Amsterdam, a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan, in 1624, became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.1655:Arguably, the first New York City directory was A Directory for the City of New York in 1665, a list of mostly Dutch householders, men and women, in New Amsterdam, arranged according to the streets they lived on.1725:As a milestone in publishing, the first newspaper in the State of New York, the New-York Gazette, was published on November 8, 1725, in Manhattan.1752:January 1, 1752 – calendar reform – the Gregorian calendar, intended to more accurately reflect a solar year, replaced the Julian calendar throughout Britain. The first day of a new year changed from March 25 to January 1. In doing so, the calendar dropped 11 days, beginning September 14, 1752, the date that immediately followed September 2. For dates prior to 1752, historians henceforth added 11 days. For example, George Washington's birthday – February 11 on a Julian calendar – became February 22.1776:July 4, 1776 – U.S. Declaration of Independence1783:September 3, 1783 – End of the American Revolutionary War1786–1787:The New York Directory (republished 1851 copy) was compiled and published by David Franks (né David Carroll Franks) and printed by Shepard Kollock (1750–1839). The listings are categorized by profession and appear in alphabetical order by first name. By coincidence, on page 63, the listing of Alexander Hamilton immediately follows that of Aaron Burr, who, on July 11, 1804, mortally wounded Hamilton in a duel – famously reenacted in the Broadway musical Hamilton.
Franks was an accountant and conveyancer. In 1788, he petitioned for relief from creditors due to insolvency.1783:Book of Negroes () Sir Guy Carleton, who from 1782 to 1783 was Commander-in-Chief of all British forces in North America, kept careful records – names and descriptions of 3,000 Black Loyalists, most of whom had been freed in accordance with British proclamations. As Commander, in fulfilling the Crown's promise of freedom to slaves who joined the British during the Revolution, Carleton provided Washington with the list, which became known as the Book of Negroes. Of those listed, 2,800 were from New York City – 1,136 men, 914 women, and 750 children – most of whom were evacuated to points in Nova Scotia as free people of color. (related article: Black Nova Scotians)1788:No directory published.1789–1790:The New York Directory, and Register was published by Hodge, Allen & Campbell
Robert Hodge (1746–1813) (editor) immigrated to America from Edinburgh in 1770 and opened a printing office in New York in 1773.
Thomas Allen (1754–1826) (editor) was a bookseller in New York from 1786 to 1799. In 1789, he offered for sale the first Encyclopædia Britannica in America. Samuel Campbell (1765–1836) (editor) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He had been, from about 1785 to 1822, a bookseller in New York, his final location being at 124 Pearl Street.
His father, Samuel Campbell (1735–1813) acquired around 120 acres in Springfield, New Jersey (an area that has since become part of Millburn, New Jersey), about 16 miles from New York City, where he built a home and, in 1795, built The Thistle Paper Mill, the site on which, today, sits the Paper Mill Playhouse. Samuel Campbell, the son, married twice, to sisters – first, on December 14, 1886, to Eliza Duyckinck (1765–1798) – second, on July 24, 1799, to Euphame Duyckinck (1771–1847). Both were aunts of writers Evert Augustus Duyckinck (1816–1878) and George Long Duyckinck (1823–1863), who were brothers. Hodge, Allen, and Campbell, together, owned a bookstore, but Allen sold his interest to Hodge and Campbell in 1790. In 1792, Hodge and Campbell went their separate ways in bookselling – Hodge at 11 Water Street and Campbell at 37 Hanover Square. Campbell's brother, Robert (1767–1800) was a notable bookseller in Philadelphia. Robert is cited for having published texts that contributed to the American Enlightenment.1790:The first sidewalks were laid on Broadway, between Vesey and Murray Streets.1791–1795:The New-York Directory and Register published – William Duncan (–1795) (compiler); John McComb (1763–1853) (cartographer); Cornelius Tiebout (1777–1832) (engraver); T. & J. Swords (printer) () Thomas Swords (1763–1843) and James Swords (1765–1846), Albany-born brothers, founded and ran the firm in New York City from 1788 to 1832, when Thomas retired. A daughter of Thomas Swords, Elizabeth Davidson Swords (1804–1833), on June 8, 1824, in Manhattan, married John Evers (1797–1884), an artist and one of the founders of the National Academy of Design.1796:John Low (1763–1809)
John Buel (1768–1800) (printer), corner of Water Street and Fly Market (in the 17th century, located at the bottom of Maiden Lane)
John Bull (printer), 115 Cherry Street (1795–1797); 407 Pearl Street (1797)
In 1796, John Low published his directory and in 1797, he established his bookstore in New York, called "Shakespeare's Head" at 332 Water Street, later, at 33 (1804–1808) and at 17 (1813–1819) Chatham Street (now known as Park Row), and after that, at 48 Vesey Street (around 1825). When John Low Sr. died, his wife, Esther Prentiss (maiden; 1762–1816), and sons, John Low Jr. (1790–1829), and Thomas P. Low (1795–1818), continued operating the bookstore. Other imprints from his firm were used, including "E. Low," which reflects the name of his wife, Esther. One of John Low's granddaughters, Elizabeth Hannah Remington (maiden, never married; 1826–1917), was, until about 1897, one of the best known pastel artists in the country.1796–1817:David Longworth (1765?–1821) In 1805, Longworth's directory listed 291 shoemakers in New York City, second only to carpentry in total practitioners. Longworth's 1805 directory also listed a variety of men from other trades, including four each identified as bakers, carpenters, hairdressers, and tailors, three each as blacksmiths, butchers, printers, and sailmakers, and seventeen other crafts such as a wire-maker, stone-ware potter, a tin and copper worker, a venetian blind manufacturer, and a cooper. Only three non-skilled subscribers appeared: a cartman named Josiah Corrington and two laborers, Abraham Day, and Peter Winthrop. In a study of readership of The New-York Magazine, David Paul Nord found in a random sample of the 1790 New York Directory that shoemakers comprised 14.7 percent of the artisan population in New York City.
Directories compiled by David Longworth began referencing the United States calendar (aka National calendar), from July 4, 1776. For example, a book published today, , would be expressed as "The Year of American Independence."1804:John Langdon and Son, 32 Vesey Street, grocers and directory makers (1804)
32 Vesey Street, office of Langdon's Early and Cheap Directory (1804) William W. Vermilye (1780–1849) (printer)1811:New York street grid system established (Commissioners' Plan of 1811)1817–1842:Thomas Longworth (1788–1855) New York City directories, commencing with Longworth's 1832 edition, provides lists of newspapers published in New York City. (Mercein's city directory of 1820 also provides a list of newspapers in New York City).1817–1842:The last slaves in New York City were freed1835:Great Fire of New York1837:Panic of 1837 (financial crisis)1830–1840:Edwin Williams (1797–1854) compiled two directories: (i) The New-York Annual Register (10 Volumes, from 1830 to 1845), and (ii) New-York As It Is (for about 3 years, beginning 1833).
One of his printers, Benjamin S. Collins (né Benjamin Say Collins; 1784–1857) – of Collins & Hannay – was a son of Isaac Collins, pioneering printer from New York City.
Benjamin S. Collins and Samuel Hannay were partners as booksellers from 1817 to 1831. Thereafter, the business continued by Hannay and George B. Collins (1807–1854), the only surviving son of Charles Collins (1774–1843), Benjamin's brother. Samuel Hannay had also been a corporate secretary for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, chartered on April 12, 1842, by Alfred Pell and Morris Robinson (1784–1849) (president). Hannay died in 1849.1833–18??:New York As It Is, first published in 1833, was in 1848 the namesake of a New York musical (re: New York As It Is), written by Benjamin A. Baker (1818–1890) and produced by Frank S. Chanfrau (1824–1884) at the Chatham Theatre on Chatham Street (now Park Row), starring Frank Chanfrau and Mrs. Junius Brutus Booth.1850–1855:In 1842, the Croton Aqueduct was completed, which supplied fresh water to New York City.1842–1849:John Doggett Jr. (1807–1852) 1845: Doggett issued a supplement, needed because of the Great Fire of July 19, updating address changes.
One of his printers, Seth Williston Benedict (1803–1869), was an influential member of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, for whom he published The Emancipator (1835: New York) and other publications.1850–1855:In 1849, after years of haphazard planning and a series of deadly cholera outbreaks in other countries, New York City started systematically building sewers. Between 1850 and 1855, New York laid 70 miles of sewers.See:1846–1860 cholera pandemic (global)1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak (London)High Bridge (New York City)1850–1851:Charles Rudolph Rode (1825–1865), of Doggett & Rode1852–1870:John F. Trow (1810–1886) () () () () Henry Wilson, compiler of the earlier Trow directories, was a bookseller and publisher of The Book Trade. His business address in 1852 was at 49 Ann Street. The 1879 Trow directory stated that Henry Wilson had no connection to the directory.1859:John Christopher Gobright (né Gobrecht) of Baltimore began publishing The New-York Sketch Book; and Merchants' Guide. He and John W. Torsch (1834–1898), also of Baltimore, earlier, in 1857, began publishing The Baltimore Illustrated Times and Local Gazette. ()White, Orr and Company, the principals being James H. White, John F. White, Michael White (brothers), and William B. Orr, allegedly purchased the Phillips directories business. But the three brothers and Orr were indicted by a New York County grand jury and arrested on December 30, 1921, on charges of grand larceny (or second degree larceny) for collecting advertising fees for directories never published, other than the two published. The alleged amount that they swindled reached four million dollars. () names of business directories, nationally, under which defendants allegedly conducted fraudulent collections included:
Randall's Commercial Register Lockwood's Reference Directory Cushing's Directory Livermore's Lexicon of Financial Firms Howard's Handy Guide Lloyd's Industrial Record Parker's Annual Business Manual McMillan's List of Manufacturers Norcross Reference Book Plymouth List of Jobbers (see jobber) Odell's Official Directory