7. Fort Tilden’s Namesake, Samuel J. Tilden, Donated Most of His Fortune

National Arts Club


Fort Tilden’s namesake was Samuel J. Tilden, the former 25th governor of New York. Tilden lived in a mansion on Gramercy Park, now home to the National Arts Club. At the end of his life, Tilden had amassed a fortune of about $7 million, which is estimated to be about $176 million in 2014 dollars. He set aside $4 million for the building and maintenance of a free public library in New York City. The amount of money set aside for the library was later contested by his living relatives, and it became $3 million. In 1895, the money Tilden put aside was combined with the Astor and Lennox libraries, and the New York Public Library was born.