Happy Mother's Day from Landmark West!

Eleanor Roosevelt with three
of her six children.

Eleanor Roosevelt

We're starting out this celebration of motherly love with a very recognizable lady, a born and bred New Yorker who went on to change the world. Former First Lady and humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in 1884. After the death of her parents, Eleanor enrolled at the Allenswood School in England. She returned to the big city at age 18 to make her debut in New York society. She married Franklin D. Roosevelt, her 5th cousin, on St. Patrick's Day in 1905, and from 1906 to 1916 gave birth to six children. Her life changed irrevocably after her husband contracted polio in 1921. She became increasingly involved in politics and public service, focusing on humanitarian efforts even after her husband was elected president. Today the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial statue by Penelope Jencks (1996) in Riverside Park at 72^nd Street pays tribute to her life, proving that the memory of this larger-than-life lady will live on forever.

Ida Straus with her husband Isidor.

Ida Blun Straus

Located at 106^th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue, Straus Park offers busy New Yorkers a quiet place to escape the hustle and bustle of the Upper West Side. Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy's, and Ida Blun were married in 1871. They had seven children together, one of whom died in infancy, and were known for their philanthropic ventures. Coming back to the United States from a trip to Germany, the couple elected to travel aboard the RMS Titanic. As the ship sank, Isidor Straus was offered a place alongside his wife in a lifeboat but refused to accept it when there were still women aboard the ship. Ida Straus gave up her spot to remain with her husband, reportedly telling him "we have been together a long time. I will not leave you. Where you go, I shall go." (Thousands Mourn at Straus Memorial) Thousands of people attended their memorial service, celebrating the couple's love and devotion.

Illustration of Julia Rice.

Julia Barnett Rice

Excessive tug tooting? Incessant jangling of milk jugs? Not on Julia Rice's watch! A passionate defender of peace and quiet, a noted community activist, and a feisty mother of six, Julia Barnett Rice was an early twentieth century Superwoman! Born in New Orleans, she received her MD from the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary. Julia and her husband moved to the Upper West Side in 1903, when they built their home at West 89^th Street and Riverside Drive. Angered by the excessive tooting of tugboat horns on the Hudson River and concerned for the suffering it was causing hospital patients, Julia founded the Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise in 1905. (Progress Toward Quiet) Not only did her efforts attract the attention and support of such society notables as Mark Twain and Thomas Edison, but also resulted in the passage of a bill to regulate boat whistles and the establishment of quiet zones around city hospitals. In addition to her philanthropic work Julia raised five children, including decorated aviatrix and author Marion Rice Hart, the first woman to graduate in chemical engineering from MIT. Quirky, committed to her causes, and very capable- Julia Rice was our kind of lady!

Augusta Stetson

Augusta Stetson

Mrs. Augusta Stetson- ambitious, dedicated, and a mother to her followers- was one of the major figures in the development of religious life on the Upper West Side. After receiving her Doctorate of Christian Science from the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, Augusta Stetson became one of Mary Baker Eddy's most trusted pupils. She was sent from Boston to New York in 1887, where she founded and was appointed pastor of the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Augusta raised the funding for the erection of the First Church at 96^th Street and Central Park West, designed by Carrere and Hastings. In his "Streetscapes" column, Christopher Gray describes her as being "contentious"- she attempted to block the construction of the Second Church at 68^th and Central Park West, and was excommunicated from the Mother Church in 1909 on charges of insubordination. This was one mother you would not want to mess with!

Elizabeth Scriven Clark

A love of art and a passion for architecture was all in the family for the Clarks, in no small part because of mother Elizabeth! As the matriarch of the Clark family and a major collector and patron in her own right, Elizabeth Scriven Clark was involved with some of the most important art and architecture of the nineteenth century. Elizabeth's first husband was Alfred Corning Clark, son of Edward Clark. Her father-in-law commissioned Henry J. Hardenbergh to design the Dakota Apartments, making her family among one of the earliest high-society residents of the Upper West Side. Elizabeth and Alfred had four sons, all of whom inherited and developed whole blocks on the Upper West Side. Elizabeth was a major art collector, favoring Impressionist and Early Modern paintings and passing her love onto her sons.

Peaches Browning

Frances Heenan "Peaches" Browning

One of the wildest characters on our list is Peaches Browning, Roaring Twenties "It" Girl and Tabloid Queen. (Peaches Sobs Story of Wedded Life). In 1926, 15-year-old Frances Heenan married Edward "Daddy" Browning, 36 years her senior, and a tabloid star was born. Marked by scandal before they were even wed, Daddy and the newly-christened Peaches captured the public's attention almost as much as for their lavish lifestyle as for their age difference. (Peaches Browning Engulfed by Curious New York Crowd) Based on the Upper West Side, the couple was married for just six months before Peaches left Daddy and returned to her mother. The divorce proceedings became international news; sensational reports of gifts of baby dolls and teddy bears, thousand-dollar shopping sprees, and a honking African gander that lived in their bedroom were splashed across reputable newspapers and tabloids alike. Though the couple never had any children of their own, Peaches was stepmother to Daddy's 10 year old adopted daughter Dorothy "Sunshine" Browning.

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"Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear,

to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt.

Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, 'It can't be done.'"

-Eleanor Roosevelt

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