In the 19th century, the Fulton Fish Market in downtown Manhattan was to seafood what the Chicago stock yards were to the meat industry, the primary place where Americans got fish for their dinner tables.
Over the decades it went from a retail market to a wholesale business, distributing fish across the country – although as you’ll hear, that was a bit tricky in the days before modern refrigeration.
Today its former home is known by more familiar name -- the South Street Seaport, a historical district that has undergone some incredible changes in just the past half century. The fish market, once a awkward staple of this growing tourist destination, moved to the Bronx in 2005. But you can still find ghosts of the old market along these historic stone streets.
And you can still find delicious seafood at the Seaport -- lobster rolls, grilled octopus, steamed bass, buttery scallops and other offerings of the many fine restaurants of the Seaport area. And the Tin Building has taken dining in the neighborhood to the next level, literally in the architectural remains of a former fish market building.
Maybe you have parents or grandparents who once worked at the Market in the 20th century. They might have stories about rusty, old architecture or bizarre new sea creatures for sale. Or maybe they have tales about the mobsters who kept certain aspects of the market’s distribution process under their control.
On this show, we'll be joined by professor Jonathan H. Rees, author of the new book The Fulton Fish Market: A History. By the end of our conversation today, we're confident that you'll never look at the fish section of your local grocer in the same way.
MORE SHOWS SIMILAR TO THIS ONE:
-- South Street Seaport
-- Has Jack the Ripper Come to Town?
-- The High Line
-- Essex Street Market
Visit our website for more stories and images from New York City History.
Rewind: The Destruction of Penn Station
Rewind: The Construction of Penn Station
#348 Cheers! The Stories of Four Fabulous Cocktails
Rewind: Historic Vaccines -- The End of Polio and Smallpox
#347 Steam Heat! A Gilded Age Miracle
Rewind: The City in Flames - The Great Fire of 1835
#346 The Beatles Invade New York!
Rewind: The Curious Case of Typhoid Mary
#345 LaGuardia's War on Pushcarts: The Creation of Essex Street Market
Rewind: On The Radio: A History of the Airwaves
#344 Ghostbusters (Bowery Boys Movie Club)
#343 Literary Horrors of New York City
#342 Ghost Stories of Old New York (ALIVE at Joe's Pub)
#341 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rewind: The Mystery of the Central Park Obelisk
#340 The Real Life Adventures of Tom Thumb
Rewind: The Revolutionary Tavern of Samuel Fraunces
#339 James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal
Rewind: The American Museum of Natural History
#338 A New Deal for the Arts: Murals, Music and Theatrical Mayhem
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra