From John Strausbaugh’s The Village we learn that Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, spent his last days at 59 Grove Street. 59 Grove Street is located just around the corner from where the Stonewall Inn is located. I find it interesting the way history intersects on the streets of the West Village.
Marie’s Crisis Cafe currently occupies 59 Grove Street. The name “crisis” is in honor of Thomas Paine who wrote a work called The Crisis. The “Marie” is for Marie Dumont, the original owner. I love how the current occupant acknowledges the history in the name of the cafe. Even if you never step into Marie’s Crisis the name alone adds texture to the neighborhood prompting a passerby to wonder what was Marie’s Crisis.
How will property owner’s in Upland acknowledge the past of the properties they develop? Will Upland develop completely divorced from the history of the space or will folks interweave the past of the physical world with that of the metaverse? Most likely there will be a mix, a mix contingent on the interest of the owner, the history of the property, and the intended development. Savvy owner’s will likely promote the history of the physical place in some manner as Marie’s Crisis Cafe does on their website:
So if you find yourself strolling the streets of the West Village maybe you’ll stop in and raise a toast to Thomas Payne. Maybe in doing so you’ll read to your friends the part of the Crisis that George Washington quoted to inspire his soldiers:
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
Coincidentally, On March 8th, 1775 Thomas Paine anonymously published African Slavery in America in the Postscript to the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser. Slate has an open thread discussion this week on Thomas Paine: https://slate.com/briefing/2021/03/slates-open-thread-week-of-march-8.html
You can visit 59 Grove St in Upland for 60 UPX and if this bit of history grabs you then perhaps you can make an offer to the Upland owner Manymore and continue the thread of history with your own modern twist. How do you think the history of an address will play out in Upland? As a property developer will you research an addresses history?
