Did you know…that the earliest known use of the term "New Yorker" in a published work is found in a letter that George Washington wrote in 1756? Washington spent considerable time in Lower Manhattan, notably when he led the defense of the City against the British in 1776. His headquarters was the Mortier House, at what is now Charlton Street between Varick and MacDougal Streets, just west of Soho. After the colonies' triumphant win against the British, Washington delivered his farewell address to his troops in 1783 at Fraunces Tavern, which still stands in the Financial District today. He was famously inaugurated the nation's first president at Bowling Green's Federal Hall in 1789, and, before the nation's capital moved to Philadelphia, he lived at 39 Broadway for seven months. This President's Day, Lower Manhattanites can remember with pride that their neighborhood was home to the command center for our nation's successful fight for independence as well as the first residence of the United States' first president.
