The King of Oliver Street: Governor Al Smith and his Neighborhood

Governor Alfred E. Smith, one of the Lower East Side’s proudest sons, was indelibly shaped by his neighborhood. His roots in the old 4th Ward were deep. As he often said: “My mother, my father, my sister, my wife, and my five children, were all born within about 5 blocks of each other.”

The symbolic heart of this area is bounded by Oliver Street, St. James Place, James St., and Madison St., and Smith jokingly referred to himself as “The King of Oliver Street.” Our walking tour will include places that were major forces in Smith’s life—his home, his church, and his school, first and foremost. But we’ll also talk about the nearby Bowery, the local Tammany Hall Clubhouse, the old Fulton Fish Market, and the Brooklyn Bridge, all touchstones for Smith as he rose in New York politics and then became the 1928 Democratic nominee for President.