From Baseball to Houdini

This site was closely tied to the early history of baseball when the Gotham Inn, an 18th century farmhouse turned tavern, stood here and by the mid-1800s served as headquarters of the Gotham Base Ball Club. According to baseball historian John Thorn, the Gothams, formed in 1837, were America’s first organized baseball team and the first to write down the rules of the game. The first conventions of the National Association for Base Ball Players were held here in 1857-1858 before moving up the street to Cooper Union as the gathering grew larger, and the Association’s rules committee still met here as late as 1865. From 1879 to 1898, the present four-story building became a popular dime museum, the Globe Dime Museum, offering inexpensive exhibits and stage shows that included giant snakes, magicians, and curiosities such as Trimuta, the Three-Headed Songstress. It featured future film comedian W.C. Fields in his first New York City appearances, premiered Weber and Fields’ famous Dutch routine portraying German immigrants, and in 1894 hosted the first solo performance of Harry Houdini, the Hungarian rabbi’s son who later became world famous for death-defying feats and illusions.

New York, New York · United States