On this date in...

1776...American general Charles Lee takes control of New York City. His army makes camp in City Hall Park and begins barricading the town against an expected British attack.

1849...City College opens on East 23rd Street. It offers a free college education to graduates of New York City's public schools.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, born in 1926.