1858–1919

Theodore Roosevelt was born at 28 East 20th Street in 1858 to a prominent family; he graduated from Columbia Law School and took up a career in politics. He was the Civil Service Commissioner and then Police Commissioner for New York City from 1889 to 1897, and he gained fame and popular approval for his energetic efforts to reduce corruption in the government and to reduce crime on the streets. He is most famous for building the Panama Canal, fighting with the Rough Riders up the San Juan Hill in the Spanish–American War, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, trust–busting in the United States, and hunting big game in Africa. What is rarely realized is that he is the only native New Yorker to become President of the United States.