The Lost Luke Welsh House -- 86th Street and Riverside Drive

While the chickens in the yard give make a bucolic scene, Luke Welsh's house buzzed with activity.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

On July 28, 1868, The New York Sun reported on the benefit performance for former boxing champion Jem Ward.  The article opened saying, "There was a high old time at the Old Bowery last night.  The house was in all its glory."  The night started out with "mimicry, dancing club exercises by a lady, a comedietta, and truly wonderful gymnastic exercises by the Bulshay family."  Finally came the main event.  "Old Bill Tovee, the veteran manager at benefits, introduced Luke Welsh and John McGuire."

The two Irishmen boxed for four rounds to shouts like "bully for the young mosquito!" and "that's a stinger!"  The young mosquito was, by no means, Luke Welsh.  The newspaper later described the boxer as "gigantic."  

Like many boxers of the day, Luke Welsh soon turned from boxing to training and running a sports venue.  Sometime around 1875 he leased the property on Mount Tom at "Twelfth Avenue to Thirteenth Avenue, from 86th to 87th Street," from Ellen R. and Otis W. Randall.  Sitting on the property was a "two-story brick dwelling," as described by the Real Estate Record & Guide.   

Initially he partnered with Phineas Vize to open Hudson River Park.  An advertisement in the New York Evening Express on June 6, 1876 read:

Foot of Eighty-sixth Street, North River.  Magnificent Course for Yachting and Rowing, buoyed for Distances of from 1 to 25 Miles.  Every Accommodation and Facility for Anchorage of Yachts &c.  Accessible by Vehicles.  First-class Refreshments constantly on hand.  Boats to let for fishing or pleasure parties.

Welsh and his wife Mary occupied the house.  Patrons of the park could obtain light meals and refreshments in the first floor rooms.  

The couple nearly lost their venture in the summer of 1879.  On August 17, The New York Times reported, "A fire occurred shortly before 3 o'clock yesterday morning in the two-story and attic brick house at Eighty-sixth street and Twelfth-avenue, owned by Luke Welsh and occupied by him as a saloon and dwelling."  The damages to the house and contents amounted to $1,000 (about $31,500 in 2024 terms).  Unfortunately for the Welshes, while the building was insured, the "furniture and household effects" were not.

Welsh promoted and trained professional boxers.  On December 25, 1880, The National Police Gazette reported that he was one of "a large delegation of sporting men" who "invaded the sanctum" of the newspaper's offices to arrange a wrestling match between William Muldoon, "the modern Hercules of the Police Department" and Clarence Whistler of Kansas, the "wrestling demon."  The article referred to Welsh as "the noted boxer who is famous as one of Ned O'Baldwin's, the late Irish giant, pugilist backers."

The Columbia Yacht Club's clubhouse was on the waterfront, just south of Luke Welsh's Hudson River Park.  It made for a symbiotic relationship.  The yacht races sponsored by Welsh used the Columbia "triangular course," and spectators of the Columbia Yacht Club regattas took advantage of Hudson River Park.  Such was the case on July 12, 1881, the day of the "first Union Regatta of Columbia Yacht Club."  The Truth reported, "At Hudson River Park, Luke Welsh's towering form circulated among the gathering of yachting men and pleasure seekers.  Luke had just come in on the steamer New Orleans from a trip to Lake Ponchartrain, which he said was a pleasant journey, but a long ways to travel for the sake of getting beat."

The reciprocal relationship between Welsh and the yacht club was evidenced again a year later.  On October 14, 1882, The Spirit of the Times reported, "There is to be a sweepstakes match next week, from off Luke Welsh's place, Hudson River Park, foot of Eighty-sixth Street, N[orth]. R[iver].  If sufficient entries can be had at $25 each.  The course proposed is the triangular one of the Columbia Yacht Club."

Police suspected that Welsh had held a bare-knuckle fight on the property in the summer of 1883.  The World reported on July 17 that they "found near the Riverside Drive at Mount Tom on Sunday morning twelve stakes driven into the ground in the form of a square, with ropes complete as if for a fight."  The officers said, "In the ring were two shirts covered with blood and the grass was trampled as though a bloody fight had taken place in it."

In fact, as the newspaper's investigative reporter discovered, the police "had exaggerated the real facts."  The ring had been set up for a legal boxing match.  The "blood-covered shirts" were "two pieces of linen covered with iron-rust, and were found not in the ring but in the gutter of the drive."  The article explained,

It seems that on Saturday night, Mr. Luke Welsh, who keeps a well-known sporting resort near where the ring was pitched, was to have had a "opening."  Among the attractions to bring his friends from the city were to have been "wrestling and sparring matches in a 24-foot ring on the turf."  An ox roast was to wind up the attractions.  On Saturday evening, however, Mr. Welsh was sick, and his friends and the boxers and wrestlers returned to the city without the ring having been used.

On February 9, 1884, The National Police Gazette reported, "The fistic engagement which is now attracting the most attention in the sporting world is the prize fight between Tom Henry, of this city, formerly of England, and Jimmy Murray, of this city, formerly of Providence, R. I."   The article noted, "Jim Murray went into training at Luke Welsh's, at the foot of Eighty-sixth street, North river, on the 21st."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

At the time of the article, the end of the line for the Hudson River Park was near.  Luke Welsh's lease expired on May 1, 1884.  Ellen and Otis Randall had sold the property to Thomas H. Nally on February 25, 1882 for $32,500 (just under $1 million today).   Shortly after Welsh's lease expired, Nally sold the block on May 22, 1883.  Somewhat surprisingly, Luke Welsh sued Nally, but (not surprisingly) he lost in court.

The brick house was demolished and the block of land that had been Luke Welsh's "famous sporting resort" was quickly developed.

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