Bettmann Archive
This isn’t one for the history books.
An educational nonprofit organizing events around the 400th anniversary of New York City’s founding is ripping City Hall’s preparation for the monumental milestone.
Plans were underway for Quadricentennial events to unfold throughout 2025 — with a launch event at Gracie Mansion set for Jan.1, a City Hall source told The Post
These celebrations, including free concerts, street fairs, and museum events, would represent “our very rich history” and “highlight the city’s different landmarks,” the source said in October.
During his State of the City address in January, Adams said 2025 “will be a year to look back on how far we have come in four centuries and celebrate the enduring spirit of our city.”
But since then, Hizzoner’s team has gone mum.
“They’re not really organized, for whatever reasons,” said retired Army Col. Adrian T. Bogart, III, a direct descendant of the original Dutch settlers, and director of the New York Quadricentennial Commission, which has been preparing for the anniversary since 2022 and trying to coordinate the effort with City Hall.
“We’ve been in touch with [Adams’] office, to see if we could merge efforts, and we are not getting anything back,” he said. “I think it was a missed opportunity.”
The Commission held its first 400th-birthday event this year, on Sept. 14, to commemorate the Dutch settling on what is now Governor’s Island in 1624 — what many historians considered the “real” founding.
New York City’s founding date has been debated over the decades.
Until the 1970s, the city’s flag displayed 1664 as the year of its founding. That’s the year New Amsterdam was renamed New York City. But in 1974, City Council President Paul O’Dwyer proposed changing the founding year to 1625, when New Amsterdam was designated the seat of government for the New Netherlands province.
Historians have said Dutch settlers arrived on Governor’s Island perhaps as early as 1623 and didn’t purchase Manhattan from the Native Americans until 1626.
A city hall spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment Friday.