McGown's Pass Tavern
Encyclopedia
McGown's Pass Tavern was a refreshment house in Central Park
in New York City, near 104th Street west of Fifth Avenue. It was built in 1883-84 and closed in 1915.
Its proprietor until 1890 was Patrick H. McCann, brother-in-law to local Tammany Hall
leader Richard Croker
and sometime friend of Hugh Grant, Mayor of New York. During the Fassett Investigation
in 1890, McCann testified that he lost his lease to the tavern because he refused to provide Croker, Grant and their political associates with free entertainment; in retaliation for which Croker and Grant began to bad-mouth the restaurant as a disreputable house patronized by lowlifes. After McCann the tavern was leased by Gabriel Case, and finally by John Scherz.
Until the early 1890s the refreshment house was known as Mount St. Vincent's Hotel, carrying on the name of an earlier establishment that had burned down in 1881. The Park Commissioners ordered the name change to avoid confusion with the Academy of Mount St. Vincent, a convent school which had occupied the site in the 1840s and 50s, but had no further connection to the tavern. The tavern's new name hearkened back to a local watering-hole of a century before, the Black Horse Tavern, popularly known as McGowan's.
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
in New York City, near 104th Street west of Fifth Avenue. It was built in 1883-84 and closed in 1915.
Its proprietor until 1890 was Patrick H. McCann, brother-in-law to local Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
leader Richard Croker
Richard Croker
Richard Croker, Sr. was an American politician, a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall.-Biography:...
and sometime friend of Hugh Grant, Mayor of New York. During the Fassett Investigation
Fassett Investigation
The Fassett Investigation, or Fassett Committee, was an 1890 probe by the New York State Senate into political corruption in the City of New York. The committee was mainly looking for evidence of bribery among appointed officials and the Board of Aldermen...
in 1890, McCann testified that he lost his lease to the tavern because he refused to provide Croker, Grant and their political associates with free entertainment; in retaliation for which Croker and Grant began to bad-mouth the restaurant as a disreputable house patronized by lowlifes. After McCann the tavern was leased by Gabriel Case, and finally by John Scherz.
Until the early 1890s the refreshment house was known as Mount St. Vincent's Hotel, carrying on the name of an earlier establishment that had burned down in 1881. The Park Commissioners ordered the name change to avoid confusion with the Academy of Mount St. Vincent, a convent school which had occupied the site in the 1840s and 50s, but had no further connection to the tavern. The tavern's new name hearkened back to a local watering-hole of a century before, the Black Horse Tavern, popularly known as McGowan's.