Samuel O'Reilly's tattoo shop, 11 Chatham Square

11 Chatham Square | also 12 Chatham Square | Chinatown | built 1915

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.

1904
Tattoo pioneer Samuel O'Reilly moves his shop to 11 Chatham Square
Samuel O'Reilly, born in Waterbury, Connecticut, received a patent for the first electric tattoo machine on December 8, 1891. He first kept a shop at 5 Chatham Square on the Bowery, then relocated to number 11 in 1904. He died in April 1909 after falling while painting his house.
Source: Wikipedia
1904
A twelve-foot-wide shop here anchors the Bowery's tattoo trade
The Bowery Historic District nomination places O'Reilly's twelve-foot-wide shop at 11 Chatham Square. It says Charlie Wagner began working out of it during the 1890s tattoo craze and in 1904 refined the machine into a dual-coil design still widely used. Tattooing on the Bowery thrived until a 1960s health ban, and the trade stayed illegal in New York City until 1997.
Source: National Register nomination

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