My grandmother, grandfather, and their 4 sons, one of whom was my father, were neighbors of "Libby" Elizabeth Custer on East 18th Street in New York City. I kid you not.
There's nothing we Americans like more than celebrating, or acknowledging a milestone anniversary. And even if that anniversary is about a massacre of U.S. calvary troops at a confluence of rivers in what is now Montana and at a place called Little Big Horn by an allied force of Native Americans against General George Armstrong Custer, who was only obeying his own ego rather than his orders, then it's still okay to think about it.
I think it was a Caleb Carr book, probably 'The Alienist', that I read that Custer's widow had been robbed during a fire. She lived in the Rutherford Stuyvesant Apartments, that at the time of their construction at 142 East 18th Street, New York City, introduced a ground breaking type of living in that multiple families lived in a single dwelling.
In the photo to the left you can see the Stuyvesant Apartments. Just to the left margin is my grandmother's building. I can't say I distinctly remember the Stuyvesant Apartments, but I certainly remember my grandmother's on the second floor, front corner, overlooking 3rd avenue and 18th Street, and of course he flower shop.
Rutherford Stuyvesant was wealthy, and was a direct descendent of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam. He was a great-great-great-great grandson on his mother's side.
There is a Rutherford Place that runs between 17th and 15th Streets, just north of Stuyvesant Park that is bisected by 2nd Avenue. Rutherford Place is between 3rd Avenue and the park. St. George Episcopal Church is on Rutherford Place, a church that J.P. Morgan worshiped at. Every morning on my way to high school at Stuyvesant High School on 15th Street I walked through Stuyvesant Park. There is of course a statue of Peter Stuyvesant in the Western portion of the park.
Additionally, there is the Friends Seminary and School on the corer of 15th Street. We supplied a small bouquet of flowers every morning for their Quaker services.
Did anyone in my family ever mention that Custer's widow lived next door until about 1924, when she moved to 71 Park Avenue where she passed away at 91. Seventy-one is still there, condominiums. I was in the city last Wednesday, and passed the building not knowing anything about a prior tenant. Next time I'll inform the doorman.
Did Libby buy flowers at the shop? Who knows? What we do know is that there was a fire in her apartment on September 7, 1884. It was reported in the NYT on September 8, Page 5 of an 8 page paper that cost 2¢ for the weekday edition; 3¢ for Sunday.
Some of the wording is quaint. The heading goes:
A PANIC IN A FLAT HOUSE
The sub-heading:
Slight Damage in the by Fire in the Rutherford Stuyvesant House
The Rutherford Stuyvesant flat house, on the south west corner of Eighteenth-street and Third-avenue was on fire at 4:15 o'clock yesterday morning, causing much alarm amongst the inmates...
Flat House for apartment house; Inmates for tenants.
The fire started in Mrs. Custer's apartment at the base of the air shaft, thought to have been caused by a match thrown from above, landing on rubbish.
There is tremendous detail in the reporting. All the people who were affected by the disturbance, what they lost in the fire, how they made their way out. They are all named, and the value of their losses is reported.
"Mrs. Custer laments the loss or partial destruction of many mementoes of the General. Mr. Calhoun lost a gold watch presented to her by her brother. It was stolen by some one who entered the apartment after the family left it. The thief also took a small morocco purse, which was empty. It is believed that the fellows snatched up the property in a great hurry, as in a case in plain view was solid silverware worth several thousand dollars."
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ChatGPT provides a further summary
The New York Times covered the fire the next day under the headline "A Panic in a Flat House" (September 8, 1884). The fire began in or near an air shaft connected to Libbie Custer's first-floor apartment and quickly spread upward through the building. Residents fled in panic, many climbing to the roof while firefighters battled the blaze. Fortunately, no lives were lost.
What made the story especially newsworthy was that Mrs. Elizabeth ("Libbie") Custer, widow of General George A. Custer, was among the tenants. During the confusion, thieves reportedly entered her apartment and stole valuables while everyone was focused on escaping the fire and saving property. Contemporary accounts described the theft as an example of opportunistic looting amid the chaos.
The Stuyvesant Apartments themselves were famous as one of New York City's earliest upscale apartment buildings. Libbie Custer used her apartment there as a base while writing and lecturing to defend and preserve her late husband's reputation after the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
One detail that struck newspaper readers at the time was how novel apartment living still was. A fire in a large "flat house" drew crowds and extensive press coverage because multi-family apartment buildings were still a relatively new concept for middle- and upper-class New Yorkers.
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ChatGPT provides background on the apartments.
The Rutherford Stuyvesant Apartments (also called the Stuyvesant Flats) at 142 East 18th Street, between Irving Place and Third Avenue, were demolished in 1958. They were replaced by a newer apartment building on the site. [ My grandmother's apartment house was also demolished in 1958. 150 East 18th Street, a "luxury" high rise was built on the site in the mid-60s.]
This building was historically significant because:
- It was built in 1869–1870 for Rutherford Stuyvesant.
- It was designed by the renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt.
- It is widely regarded as New York City's first apartment building designed specifically for the middle class, helping popularize apartment living in America.
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At some point I must have told my one of son-in-laws, whose father is retired New York Police Department, about the fire, and the theft.
No mystery to a retired NYPD: "The firemen took the goods."
NYPD and FDNY have always been a bit intolerant of the other. My son-law's father, if near a fire house will always tell you to, "keep quiet, because they're sleeping in there. We don't want to disturb them."
The NYT in yesterday's Arts Section ran a full two page spread with paintings, sculptures, and news articles about the massacre at Little Big Horn. Custer, with under 300, men attacked a Native American presence of over 4,000 from various tribes. He either got very bad intel, or ignored it.
Two nephews, two brothers, and a brother-in-law of General Custer were slain. A lot less seats were needed from then on at the family's Thanksgiving dinners.
The two-page spread is impressive, and even more impressive when viewed online. The color from the artwork really stands out. A clip from the 1912 silent movie about the massacre comes to life online. Amongst one of the pieces is a piece done by Standing Bear, who fought in the battle as a teenager.
The artwork he created was at least 40 years after the massacre on June 25, 1876. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I have only one older cousin left who could possibly reflect on what my family knew, or didn't know about a woman who lived next door to them. We're not in touch, so if there is knowledge, it's probably going to the grave.
I will see if I encounter the doorman at 71 Park Avenue and ask if he knew of the famous tenant Elizabeth Custer. I'm prepared for them to reply that they never heard of General Custer and the Battle of Little Big Horn.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
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