Radio City Music Hall, one of the world’s most celebrated and architecturally significant entertainment venues, opened in the
heart of midtown Manhattan amid great fanfare on this day in
history, Dec. 27, 1932.

The Radio City Rockettes, the iconic high-kicking dance
troupe that performs at the theater.

SANDY KOZEL

The Canal connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via
the Hudson River. Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, the
driving force behind the project, led the opening ceremonies
and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York
City.

Work began on the waterway in 1817. Teams of oxen plowed the
ground, but for the most part the work was done by immigrants,
among them Irish diggers who had to rely on primitive tools. They
were paid $10 a month, and barrels of whisky were placed along
the canal route as encouragement.

A painting at the Syracuse Canal Museum depicts Governor Dewitt Clinton bringing water from Lake Erie to New York
City, in the ceremony known as the “Wedding of the Waters.”

The Erie Canalway today.

On June 7, 1972, the production opened at the Broadhurst
Theatre on Broadway, and on November 21, it moved to the
Royale Theatre there, where it ran until January 27, 1980.

For the five final weeks of the run, the show moved to the
larger Majestic Theatre. By the time it closed on April 13,
1980, it had run 3,388 performances.

On April 30, 1939, the New York World’s Fair opened in New York
City. The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ( above) and New York Governor Herbert
Lehman, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New
York (below).