Kenneth Cobb
WPA Federal Art Project Photographs
Kenneth Cobb
“I Say Its Spinach!” - Robert Moses, Master ...
NYC Municipal Archives
Find of the Week: Central Park Topographical ...
Kenneth Cobb
We Shall All Be There: Dedicating Shea ...
Cynthia Brenwall
The Curious Case of the Lighting of the ...

Ticker-tape Parades

John Glenn, the First American to Orbit the Earth

On July 8, 1924, radio station WNYC made its inaugural broadcast from a studio at the top of the Municipal Building. During 2024, For the Record will celebrate the centennial of one of the nation’s first municipally-owned radio station with a series of articles featuring historical audio recordings from the WNYC collection in the Municipal Archives. 

In 1986 the Municipal Archives acquired a large collection of original WNYC lacquer phono discs and tapes dating back to 1937. These unique audio recordings capture the sounds of a city and a nation through decades of transformations, tribulations, and triumphs in the voices of presidents, dignitaries, world leaders, artistic revolutionaries, musical geniuses, luminaries of the literati, and cultural icons. Outside of the federal government, the WNYC Collection is the largest non-commercial collection of archival audio recordings and ephemera from an individual radio broadcaster. 

The Archives has collaborated with WNYC on a series of projects to reformat this material. Most recently, funding from the Leon Levy Foundation enabled digitization of thousands of hours of audio content that documented political, historical, scientific, and cultural events—both large and small.

John Glenn shaking hands with Mayor Wagner, March 1, 1962. Official Mayoral Photographs, NYC Municipal Archives.

This week’s article looks back to 1962 when WNYC broadcast NASA communications as well as chatter from Mission Control and various tracking stations around the world during astronaut Lt. Col. John H. Glenn’s orbit around the earth. We also feature records and photographs that document the city’s exuberant salute to Glenn and six fellow astronauts, Lt. Comdr. Alan B. Shepard, Capt. Virgil I. Grissom, Maj. Donald K. Slayton, Lt. Comdr. M. Scott Carpenter, Capt. Leroy Gordon Cooper and Comdr. Walter M. Schirra, Jr., that took place on March 1, 1962.

Planning for the celebration took place during the last week of February 1962 under the auspices of the Department of Commerce and Public Events. In 1954, Mayor Robert Wagner merged the Mayor’s Reception Committee, originally established by long-time City Greeter Grover Whalen in 1919, with the Department of Commerce set up by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1940, to form the new Department.

Astronauts leaving City Hall after tickertape parade, March 1, 1962. Official Mayoral Photographs, NYC Municipal Archives.

Program for Astronaut Day, 1962. Mayor Wagner papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Glenn event generated several folders of correspondence in Mayor Wagner’s Public Events sub-series. A typical item is the ten-page minutes of a planning meeting on February 24. The detailed document described the itinerary: “The official party will arrive at Marine Terminal, LaGuardia Airport, on Thursday morning, March 1st, aboard two planes... The official party will leave the Airport at 11:35 a.m. in order to be at Bowling Green in time for the start of the Broadway parade at 12:05.” After proceeding up Broadway, accompanied by marching bands, Mayor Wagner will meet the honored guests on the steps of City Hall. After brief remarks, the motorcade will travel to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. “Approximately two thousand people will attend the luncheon in the Grand Ballroom...” At the luncheon Mayor Wagner will confer on Glenn the Gold Medal of Honor, the City’s highest award.

Additional items in the correspondence folders point to the “no detail too small” aspect of event planning. An unsigned memo dated February 23, 1962, informs “Col. Barlett” that “Nobody is to be invited to sit on the dais unless the Mayor has personally approved the name.” And, “Governor Rockefeller is to be invited just like anyone else.” Another lengthy document lists the seating arrangements for each automobile in the motorcade, indicating make, model, and license plate number, e.g. astronaut Capt. Virgil Grissom and his wife were assigned to a bronze Cadillac, license IN 1826 NY. 

Unknown participants at reception luncheon for Mercury astronauts, March 1, 1962. Official Mayoral Photographs, NYC Municipal Archives.

Luncheon menu for astronauts’ reception, 1962. Mayor Wagner papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Newspaper clippings in the file describe the triumphant day: “Glenn Tribute Greatest Ever - New York’s millions roared their welcome to Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr. yesterday in an outburst of enthusiasm and acclaim never before equaled even in this city of traditional tributes to heroes.” (Daily News, March 2, 1962.) The in-depth coverage of the day’s activities also informed readers that “A new $17,000 police horse van was used for the first time yesterday to bring about 40 horses to the lower Broadway area to handle the crowd. As usual, nobody argued with the horses and their mounted officers.”

More seriously, another big story on that day tempered reports of the Glenn celebration: “The early moments of the day’s activities were tinged with shock and sadness as word spread at the airport and among the assembled crowds along the route than an American Airlines jet plane had crashed on takeoff at [Idlewild] International Airport and that all aboard were killed.” The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation later determined that a manufacturing defect in the rudder system caused the accident. Among the 87 victims was Louise Sara Eastman, mother of Linda McCartney. 

Program and proclamation for Astronaut Day, 1962. Mayor Wagner papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Public Events files also include several folders of letters from school children (and their parents) urging the Mayor to close public schools for the day to afford students the opportunity to see the festivities. A short news clipping summed up the story: “There will be ticker-tape and brass bands for Lt. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. in New York on Thursday, but the city’s million school children will see none of it—except by way of the TV screens in their schools. Supt. of Schools John J. Theobald and the Board of Education today decided that the youngsters will get more out of the celebration at school than if they tried to elbow their way through the crowds along Broadway. They vetoed the suggestion that the schools be closed for the event.”

Press badges for Astronaut Day, 1962. Mayor Wagner papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

In the coming years, New York City continued to celebrate the nation’s space program. Two of the astronauts feted in 1962, had the honor of participating in a second ticker-tape parade. On May 22, 1963, Maj. L. Gordon Cooper Jr., received the city’s traditional welcome after orbiting the earth 22 times, and on March 29, 1965, the city feted Maj. Virgil I. Grissom along with Lt. Comdr. John W. Young. Their Gemini III mission was the first U.S. space flight in which two astronauts went into orbit in the same capsule. In 1969, the City celebrated the Apollo astronauts in two parades; Apollo 8 on January 10, 1969, and finally the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Col. Buzz Aldrin, and Lt. Col Michael Collins for the first manned moon landing, on August 13, 1969.

Not to be outdone, Lt. Col. John H. Glenn Jr., marched up Broadway in a parade one more time. On November 16, 1998, then Senator John Glenn and fellow crew members of the US Space Shuttle Discovery had their achievements celebrated in the traditional parade.

Look for future blogs featuring audio from the WNYC collection or visit https://www.wnyc.org/series/archives-preservation/archive-shows

The Queen and the City

Queen Elizabeth II visits New York City, July 6, 2010. Mayor Bloomberg Photo Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The late Queen Elizabeth II traveled to New York City three times during her 70-year reign as the British monarch. The first visit took place on October 21, 1957. Her majesty had expressed a lifelong desire to see the famous Manhattan skyline from New York harbor. Her wish was granted as she traveled by ferry from Staten Island across the bay to the Battery for the start of a ticker-tape parade that brought her to City Hall and a welcome from Mayor Robert Wagner.

Ticker tape parade Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, October 21, 1957. NYC Municipal Archives Collection.

Queen Elizabeth’s 24-hours in New York City was the culmination of a six-day visit to the United States. The details of her journey are well-documented in Mayor Wagner’s subject files. The records include a ten-page “Program for the Visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to the United States of America, October 16–21, 1957.” The program lists the fifteen members of the royal party as well as a minute-by-minute schedule, beginning with their 1:30 p.m. arrival at Williamsburg, Virginia on October 16. Other stops included the College of William and Mary, and three days of sightseeing and ceremonial luncheons and dinners in Washington D.C.

The program indicated that on the evening of October 20, the Queen and her party would depart from Union Station in Washington arriving at Stapleton, Staten Island the next morning at 10:10 a.m. to begin their day of festivities in New York City. A luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria hosted by Mayor Wagner followed the ticker-tape parade. Their itinerary included a stop at the United Nations and the Empire State Building and ended at 11:45 p.m. when the motorcade proceeded to Idlewild International Airport for a 12:45 a.m. departure by Royal Aircraft for London.

Waldorf Astoria program for a luncheon in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Mayor Wagner Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The folder in the Mayor Wagner collection also includes items such as a helpful memo issued by the Department of State, Office of the Chief of Protocol. The document specifies that “The Queen and Prince Philip prefer short, simple meals.” For beverages, “The Queen likes Rhine wine, sherry, and Canada Dry ginger ale. Prince Philip may ask for Scotch Whisky and Soda Water or Gin and Tonic Water.”

Queen Elizabeth II visited New York City again on July 9,1976, as part of a six-day tour of the United States marking the Bicentennial of America’s Declaration of Independence from Britain. Although Mayor Abraham Beame proclaimed her an honorary New Yorker, there is not documentary evidence of her visit in the processed records of his administration. However, the mayoral scrapbook series does provide a source of information. Beginning in 1904 clerks in the mayor’s offices clipped articles from local newspapers that referred to the mayor, or municipal events in general, and pasted them into scrapbooks. The practice continued through the administration of Mayor Edward I. Koch. Although many newspapers have been digitized in recent years, the scrapbooks contain clippings from all the daily newspapers. The scrapbooks also provide useful context for events and personalities that is not always apparent in on-line searching.    

Not every New Yorker was happy with the Queen’s 1957 visit. The Queens chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians sent Mayor Wagner a letter protesting “the use of taxpayer’s money to entertain a British Queen.” Mayor Wagner Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Mayor Beame’s staff clipped several articles documenting the Queen’s day in New York City. According to the New York Times, it began with her arrival at the Battery aboard a “sleek 44-foot motorboat—from the royal yacht Britannia.” The Daily News reported that Queen Elizabeth accepted a welcoming bouquet from Mayor Beame’s granddaughter, Julie, at Battery Park. From there she went to Federal Hall and then “strolled, with Beame and Mrs. Beame, the 100 yards up Wall Street to Trinity Church.” Their itinerary included a luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and a stop at the Morris-Jumel mansion in Harlem. Several articles detail her 30-minute visit at Bloomingdale’s department store: “A Bloomin’ Good Day for Queen Elizabeth,” proclaimed the Daily News. The Times reported that the excursion had been suggested by the department store executives, “… as a very American experience,” and agreed to by the Queen. The article went on to note that “…the Queen seemed slightly bewildered—and perhaps that was because what she was doing was not exactly part of her everyday routine. In Britain, the Queen seldom goes shopping—the merchandise comes to her.”

Queen Elizabeth’s third and final visit to New York City took place on July 6, 2010. The Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg photograph collection includes several images of Queen Elizabeth during her visit. Bloomberg administration records have not yet been completely processed and it is not known if there is other documentation of the one-day visit. But newspaper accounts tell the story. According to the New York Times, the Queen and Prince Philip arrived by private plane from Canada. Her majesty made a short address to the United Nations. Next her motorcade traveled down to ground zero where “…she solemnly laid a wreath in remembrance of the lost lives. Then, along with her husband, she greeted some of the families of the victims and first responders.” Her final foray was to nearby Hanover Square to officially open the British Garden, a triangular park that opened in 2008 as a memorial to the 67 British citizens who died on September 11.

Thank you letter from Buckingham Palace, October 24, 1957. Mayor Wagner Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

When Johnny Came Marching Home to Cheers

The only good thing about wars is that they end.

Because America and our allies were victorious in what some call our two “Good Wars” —World War I and World War II—ticker tape parades, elaborate welcome home events for our soldiers and the generals who led them, and often riotous celebrations followed.

To commemorate this year’s Veterans Day, we took a peek into the Municipal Archives, which holds pictures of the celebrations—from throngs of New Yorkers celebrating Armistice Day on Wall Street on November 11, 1918, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Commander in World War I, during a ticker tape parade in October 1921, raucous celebrations in Times Square and Central Park at the end of both wars and many proud, patriotic parades.

The Archives also holds letters, telegrams and memos to and from Mayor John Hylan at the end of WWI and correspondence from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia on the intricate planning for what he hoped would be respectful and prayerful celebrations.

This being New York, the correspondence is not without some political infighting, intrigue and squabbles about money, particularly at the end of WWI.

Parade of the 77th Division, Major General Alexander, commanding the Division, passing through the Victory Arch at Madison Square, at the head of the parade, May 6, 1919. Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

On October 29, 1918, with victory at hand, a Manhattan lawyer named John J. Hetrick wrote a letter to Hylan asking him to “give thought to a memorial of the deeds and valor and patriotism of its citizens,” and urged him, as chief executive of New York City, to “lead the way and not allow the war work of New York to be immortalized in a fragmentary way.”

Hylan soon appointed Deputy Police Commissioner Rodman Wanamaker to oversee construction of a temporary Memorial Arch to “welcome home the demobilized troops.” The city undertook a competition for ideas, ranging from the Arch, to a Victory Monument at Madison Square to a “Liberty Bridge” connecting New York and New Jersey.

But trouble quickly erupted when the mayor appointed William Randolph Hearst, the king of “yellow journalism,” who had close ties to Germany before the war and opposed U.S. entry into the fighting. The mayor was soon deluged with letters from several hundred prominent New Yorkers, including Henry Morgenthau Sr., who refused to serve on the committee, largely because Hearst would be on it.

Letter to Mayor Hylan declining appointment to the Reception Committee due to the presence of Mr. Hearst. Mayor Hylan Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

One letter, from Richard Henry Gatling, declared, that normally he would be honored to serve on the committee, but refused because, “His Honor the mayor has made the shameful mistake of appointing the unspeakable Hearst as a member."

Another, from lawyer Henry Clay, declared: “It was an insult to both the citizens of this city and the returning soldiers to give a prominent place on such a committee to a man of the character of Mr. Hearst.”

In any event, a Welcome Home Committee was formed, 50 memorials were eventually built and parades were held before crowds of up to 250,000 people, including ones for the 27th Infantry Division on March 25, 1919; for the 332nd Division on April 21, 1919 for the 332nd Division, and on May 6, 1919 for the 77th Infantry Division.

Parade of the 27th Division, Major General John F. O'Ryan and Brig. General Palmer E. Pierce reviewing the parade, 108th Infantry passing, March 25, 1919. Photograph by International Newsreel / Film Service, Inc., Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

332nd Infantry coming up Fifth Avenue on their way to the North Meadow in Central Park, April 21, 1919. Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Later that year, on September 8, 1919, General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, arrived in New York on a confiscated German ship, the Leviathan, to be honored for his leadership. His motorcade went under that temporary Victory Arch at Madison Square at 24th Street and Fifth Avenue. And on September 10, he mounted his horse and led a parade of soldiers from the First Division to Central Park, where a crowd of 50,000 people greeted him. That evening, he was honored at a 1,600-guest banquet at the Waldorf Astoria.

General Pershing welcomed home (left to right: Police Commissioner Richard Enright, General Peyton C. Marsh, General John J. Pershing and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker), September 8, 1919. Photograph by International Newsreel / Film Service, Inc., Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

General John J. Pershing, passing the Official Reviewing Stand in front of the Museum of Art and saluting Secretary of War Newton Baker and General March, Chief of Staff, September 10, 1919. Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The city also sponsored and paid for a variety of welcome home dinners for the troops at prominent restaurants, including the Astor, the Netherland, the Yale Club and the Knickerbocker. The archives holds letters from some of the restaurants claiming the city short-changed them.

A DIFFERENT WAR, A DIFFERENT TONE

The greetings and welcome-home plans for the end of WWII, under Mayor LaGuardia, were decidedly different. For one thing, almost all of those invited as sponsors accepted, including prominent people from the worlds of art, music, business, politics and the press—even though Hearst's son, William Randolph Hearst Jr., was on the official committee planning festivities for VE Day.

Mayor La Guardia took a solemn tone in all letters regarding plans for V-E Day, starting as early as nine months before victory was declared.

In an August, 2, 1944 letter to the secretary of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the mayor said City Hall and police were “fretful of wild and unbridled celebrations” and wanted to avoid a repeat of the “riotous celebrations” on Wall Street and around the City on Armistice Day in 1918.

Ticker Tape Parade for General Eisenhower, June 19, 1945. Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

On August 22, Walter White, secretary of the NAACP, suggested that the City hold “the biggest prayer service of thanksgiving in Central Park and perhaps in Prospect Park, ever held ... to remind all citizens of New York that their joy should find expression in thanksgiving rather than in drunkenness and vandalism.”

Two weeks later, La Guardia called White’s idea “a very splendid one and suggested the mall in Central Park. On September 9, a New York Times editorial called for a “thoughtful celebration rather to have people riot in the streets, throwing confetti and getting drunk.”

As the fall of Germany approached the City made plans for a thankful celebration in Central Park patriotic songs and musical performance.

When V-E finally arrived on May 8, 1945, the City erupted in both kinds of celebrations —two million people jammed Times Square, singing, dancing and drinking as confetti rained down on them and a huge replica of the Statue of Liberty. There were similar scenes on Wall Street, in the Garment District and in Rockefeller Center.

That night, La Guardia had his prayerful event, launched with a benediction from Episcopal Bishop William T. Manning and featuring musical performances, dramatic readings and a stirring speech from the mayor, which is in the archives, complete with handwritten edits.

It reads, in part: “The war has ended in Europe. There was no doubt as to the ultimate outcome. It was only a matter of fixing the day. This is not exactly a day of rejoicing. It is a day of great satisfaction. But there is still work to be done; there is still a great deal of fighting and dying yet ahead ... (But) it means that the evil forces of Nazism and Fascism are destroyed.”

Ticker Tape Parade for General Eisenhower, General Eisenhower, standing, waves at crowd from car (Mayor La Guardia seated), June 19, 1945. Mayors Reception Committee Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

It was just the beginning of the celebrations. On June 19, 1945, four million people—and a ticker tape parade—greeted General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who would be elected President a little more than six years later.

In January 1946, 13,000 men of the 82nd Airborne marched four miles up Fifth Avenue amid tanks and under flybys, and in March, 1946, Sir Winston Churchill got a ticker tape parade of his own.

Japan would fall three months after Europe, and similar celebrations were held in New York around the world. VJ Day would also yield perhaps the most famous of the time—Alfred Eisenstadt’s photograph of a Navy sailor kissing a woman in white in Times Square.

The Apollo 11 Ticker Tape Parade: August 13, 1969

New York City ticker-tape parade for the Apollo 11 Astronauts, and receptions at City Hall and the United Nations, with Mayor John V. Lindsay, August 13, 1969. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

On August 13, 1969, New York City welcomed Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Lt. Col. Michael Collins, Col. Buzz Aldrin with an exuberant ticker-tape reception to applaud their moon landing three weeks earlier on July 20. The City, and the nation, had to wait until the astronauts emerged from an isolation ward at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston before celebrating their triumph.

It would be a hectic day for the astronauts. New York City had three and a half hours for the ticker-tape parade; then it was on to Chicago for another parade. Their day ended with a state dinner hosted by President Richard Nixon in Los Angeles.

For many decades the New York City ticker-tape parade had been recognized around the world as the ultimate accolade for a job well-done. But by the 1960s, there had been so many parades (130 between 1945 and 1965 alone), that they came to be viewed as synthetic and routine. In lieu of building tenants throwing ticker tape, the City had to deliver confetti and shredded paper to buildings along Broadway to ensure an appropriate cascade of paper. Businesses in lower Manhattan complained of disruptions. When Mayor John Lindsay took office in 1966, he announced that his administration would discontinue the ticker-tape parade in favor of more informal receptions tailored to the special interests of the guest. However, the spectacular success of America’s Apollo space program in 1969 cried out for ticker-tape celebrations and Lindsay couldn’t say no.

L-R: Lt. Col. Frank Borman, Lt. Col. William A. Anders, Mayor Lindsay, Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., Governor Nelson Rockefeller on the steps of City Hall, January 10, 1969. Mayor Lindsay Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

L-R: Lt. Col. Frank Borman, Lt. Col. William A. Anders, Mayor Lindsay, Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., Governor Nelson Rockefeller on the steps of City Hall, January 10, 1969. Mayor Lindsay Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Lindsay’s first parade, on January 10, 1969, hailed Apollo 8 Astronauts, Lt. Col. Frank Borman, Lt. Col. William A. Anders, and Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., the first men to see the far side of the moon. Riding with the astronauts in the motorcade, Mayor John V. Lindsay was reported in The New York Times to have overheard them say, “It’s a forbidding place… gray and colorless… It shows the scars of a terrific bombardment… certainly not a very inviting place to live or work.” Thinking they were talking about New York, he broke in and told them, “If you’re going to talk like that you’re not going to get your gold medals.” They’d been describing the moon. And they got their medals.

Just seven months later, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 promise to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, giving Lindsay another opportunity to host a ticker-tape celebration. For both Apollo parades, Lindsay broke with tradition and rode with the honorees in their motorcades. Previous mayors had waited at City Hall to greet the guests, who were escorted up Broadway by the City’s chief of protocol.

For the Apollo 11 astronauts their busy day started with a flight to New York from Houston aboard the Presidential Jet, Air Force One. They landed at Kennedy Airport at 9:45 a.m. where a marine helicopter met them for a quick trip to the Downtown Heliport on South Street. From there, a motorcade brought them to Bowling Green and the start of the parade. Thousands of spectators cheered the astronauts along the traditional parade route up Broadway to City Hall where they received the City’s Gold Medal. 

After the City Hall festivities, the motorcade continued uptown stopping in front of the General Assembly Building at the United Nations for an 11-minute ceremony. And finally, right on schedule, at 1:15 p.m., the astronauts reached Kennedy Airport for the flight to Chicago and another parade. 


Seated on the custom-built Chrysler Imperial parade limousine, L-R: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Col. Buzz Aldrin, Lt. Col. Michael Collins, wave to onlookers. Mayor Lindsay is seated at right, August 13, 1969. Department of Sanitation Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Press trucks lead the Apollo 11 Astronaut motorcade along Broadway approaching City Hall Park, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Press and security personnel jog alongside the Apollo 11 Astronaut motorcade as it turns into City Hall Park, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Spectators waiting for the Apollo 11 Astronauts, City Hall Park, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

City officials, Apollo 11 Astronauts, and their families recite the pledge of allegiance on the steps of City Hall, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Following the City Hall reception, the Apollo 11 Astronaut motorcade continued uptown along Centre Street on their way to the United Nations, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Spectators and more confetti greet the Apollo 11 Astronaut motorcade on Centre Street, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Apollo 11 motorcade arrives at the United Nations for a brief ceremony, August 13, 1969. NYPD Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Sanitation workers in front of Pier A preparing to clean up after the parade, August 13, 1969. Department of Sanitation Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Sanitation workers cleaning the parade route along Broadway, August 13, 1969. Department of Sanitation Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

NYC Celebrates Olympic Athletes

For almost a century, with receptions, special medals, gala dinners, and for some, the ultimate accolade—a ticker-tape parade—New York City has recognized American athletic achievement in the Olympic Games. The Municipal Archives and Library collections, notably the mayoral series and photographs, provide rich documentation of this happy tradition.