Owney Geoghegan's Bowery dive

103 Bowery | Chinatown | built 1915

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1880

    Former prizefighter Owney Geoghegan opens a rough dive at 103 Bowery beside Billy McGlory's

    Owney Geoghegan, a noted prizefighter, opened his dive at 103 Bowery in 1880, next door to a rival dive run by Billy McGlory. Both places offered dance bands and low comedy, but the National Register nomination for the Bowery district warns that attending a show meant risking your life. A newspaper obituary later called him a prizefighter, a dive keeper and a typical New York rough.

    Source: National Register nomination

  2. 1884

    The children's society gets Geoghegan jailed and his Bowery den closed over a boy selling oranges

    The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children went after Geoghegan for letting a 10-year-old boy sell oranges in his dive through the night. He was convicted in the Court of Special Sessions, served a month in the penitentiary, paid a $500 fine and then closed the place. The imprisonment was later credited with shattering his health.

    “Geoghegan was brought down by the SPCC for allowing a 10-year-old boy to peddle oranges in the dive at all hours of the night.”

    Source: National Register nomination

  3. 1885

    Owney Geoghegan, bare-knuckle champion turned Bowery club owner, dies at 45 after prison and bankruptcy

    Irish-born Owney Geoghegan stood 5 feet 6 inches and weighed under 140 pounds, yet held the U.S. lightweight title from 1861 to 1863. He then opened sporting clubs, including one at 103 Bowery, and went into local politics. Arrests ranged from letting a minor into his club to murdering a local thug. After prison and bankruptcy he died in 1885, and the New York Times obituary described him as broken down.

    Source: Ephemeral New York

Further reading

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