John N. LaCorte
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John N. LaCorte | |
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| Born | Giovanni Nazareno LaCorte July 4, 1910 |
| Died | November 20, 1991 |
| Citizenship | American |
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| Known for | Founding the Italian Historical Society of America; advocacy for the naming of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge; promoting recognition of Antonio Meucci |
John N. LaCorte, Giovanni Nazareno LaCorte, (July 4, 1910 - November 20, 1991) was the founder of the Italian Historical Society of America and an advocate in the naming of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the suspension bridge that crosses the Narrows, connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn.[1] LaCorte was an Italian American historian and is credited with bringing wider recognition to Antonio Meucci as the inventor of the telephone, acknowledging Charles J. Bonaparte's role in establishing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for his work in promoting Columbus Day. LaCorte is also noted for his participation in supporting Italian immigrants in America.
Early life
Giovanni Nazareno LaCorte was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to Italian immigrant parents Giuseppe and Giuseppina. Originally from the Sicilian village of San Giovanni Gemini, Giuseppe and Giuseppina owned a small family farm, and Giuseppe presided over local cases as a judge, but he wanted more opportunities for his family. With their young daughter, they made the journey to America in the early 1900s,[1] during a time when the largest assemblage of Italian immigrants entered the country.
When LaCorte was a child, his family returned to San Giovanni Gemini. Discrimination against Italian immigrants made living in America difficult, and Giuseppe decided the family would have better opportunities in Sicily. Although an American citizen, LaCorte was immersed in the culture of his family's native land; but in his early teens, he learned he would lose his citizenship if he did not return to America. Against the wishes of his parents, LaCorte made the decision to return to America.[1]
Career
Shortly before his nineteenth birthday, in June 1929, LaCorte boarded a ship in Palermo and traveled to America. Bypassing Ellis Island because he was an American citizen, he lived with a cousin in Jersey City. LaCorte was honored that his birthday was July Fourth, and he Americanized his first and middle names to John Napoleon. While planning for his future, the American economy began to falter and several months later, October brought the start of the Great Depression.[1]
LaCorte began his career in America as a street peddler, selling pencils and shoelaces. Through selling, his limited knowledge of English improved and the job suited his outgoing personality. With vacuum cleaners becoming popular, he began to sell them door-to-door, providing demonstrations of their efficiency. He then started selling electric refrigerators, allowing the customer to use it for a week to ensure that upon his return to take back the refrigerator, the customer would keep it.[1]
LaCorte's skills as a salesman were noticed by others, and an acquaintance suggested that LaCorte sell policies (become an agent) for the New York Life Insurance Company. This offered the opportunity for LaCorte to revisit his previous customers and sell another product – insurance policies. He became one of the top producers for the company, and in 1937, LaCorte married and opened his own insurance agency in Brooklyn, New York. #6
Italian American actions
After establishing his business, LaCorte turned his attention to the Italian American community. Concerned about the treatment of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans, and inspired by Giovanni Schiavo's book Four Centuries of Italian American History, in 1949, LaCorte founded the Italian Historical Society of America (IHSA). Its mission: to educate all nationalities about "the names of those of Italian heritage who have contributed to the advancement of humankind and inspired others."[1]
LaCorte's first major project was advocating for the reinstallation of the statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano in Battery Park, NYC. The statue was first installed in the park in 1909, but when construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel began in the early 1940s, it was removed. Through LaCorte's efforts, the statue was repaired and reinstalled in the park in the early 1950s.[2] During the park's renovation, the statue was removed again in the early 2000s. Jonathan Kuhn of the New York City Parks Department oversaw the statue's renovations and installation near the North entrance of the park in 2015,[3] and was acknowledged by the IHSA.
In the early 1960s, LaCorte took on the task of bringing recognition to Charles J. Bonaparte, founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1908. Bonaparte served under President Theodore Roosevelt, as U.S. Attorney General from December 1906 to March 1909. In 1961, at the first annual Charles J. Bonaparte Ceremony, LaCorte presented a monument to the Department of Justice honoring Bonaparte. LaCorte and several officials of the federal government, including U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, were speakers at the event. The annual ceremony continued each year up to 2013.[4]
In 1971, a section of Cadman Plaza, across from the New York State Supreme Court Building, #15 on the west side near downtown Brooklyn, was named Columbus Park. #16 LaCorte worked with New York City Mayor John Lindsey #17 to have the statue of Columbus, sculptured by Emma Stebbins in 1867, relocated to the newly dedicated park. #18 LaCorte was also active in his support of Columbus Day as a national holiday.[5]
Peter Caesar Alberti is recognized as the first Italian immigrant to settle in America. Born in Venice in 1608 he arrived in New Amsterdam on June 2, 1635. He lived on Broad Street and later moved his family to Brooklyn. In 1958, LaCorte in collaboration with the City of Venice, dedicated a granite memorial stone to Alberti, placed in Battery Park near the Verrazzano monument. After the original memorial stone was stolen, a replacement plaque was set into a granite boulder. The rededication ceremony was held in 1985, on June 2, and declared Peter Alberti Day.[6][7]
LaCorte is noted for his participation in supporting the Italian heritage of William Paca, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Although Paca's lineage has been questioned, evidence has been presented for further research.[8][9]
LaCorte was also a proponent of Antonio Meucci, an Italian immigrant who moved with his wife to Staten Island in 1850, and was the inventor of the telephone.[10] In southern Brooklyn, about a mile from Coney Island three intersecting roads form the Meucci Triangle, a small plaza dedicated to the inventor. In 1989, the IHSA sponsored the installation of a granite memorial stone for Meucci within the small enclosure.[11][12]
Naming of the Verrazzano Bridge
When LaCorte learned that a suspension bridge was going to be constructed across the Narrows to connect Staten Island and Brooklyn, he endorsed naming it after the first European to explore the area, Giovanni da Verrazzano. He initiated a program to educate book publishers, librarians, and learning institutions about Verrazzano, and in 1954, he succeeded in his request to New York City Mayor Robert Wagner to declare April 17th, the day Verrazzano discovered the New York Harbor, Giovanni da Verrazzano Day. In 1957, New York State Governor William Averell Harriman agreed to support the name recommendation.[13] Seventy years after the first celebratory day honoring Verrazzano, in April 2024, the New York City Council passed a bill commemorating April 17th each year as Giovanni da Verrazzano Day.[14]
LaCorte's initial recommendation in 1951 for naming the bridge was rejected, but he continued with his mission. He contacted the governors of Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, all states where Verrazzano landed, and requested a proclamation from each certifying Verrazzano was the first European to explore the coastlines of those states. With historical facts and other documents in hand, LaCorte presented his findings to the commissioner of the Triborough Bridge Authority, Robert Moses; but Moses was not convinced naming the bridge for Verrazzano was appropriate, claiming the name would be too difficult to pronounce. In 1959, Nelson Rockefeller became Governor of New York, and in 1960 he approved LaCorte's request to name the bridge in honor of Verrazzano.[13][15]
The bridge was close to opening when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The name of the bridge was now in jeopardy as suggestions emerged for naming it after the slain president. LaCorte strongly believed the bridge should be named for Verrazzano, and contacted Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who he met at a Charles J. Bonaparte ceremony, to discuss his concerns. Kennedy assured him that the bridge would remain named after Verrazzano.[13] In 1964, the bridge opened, officially named the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. In 2018, after a campaign to change the spelling of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, it officially became the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, with a bill signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.[16] Shortly after the name change, the Italian Historical Society of America, under the direction of John J. LaCorte, the senior LaCorte's son, provided an explanation regarding the original spelling of the name.[17]
Death and legacy
LaCorte died from heart complications on November 20, 1991, in Brooklyn, New York. In October 2004, a memorial service was held at the John N. LaCorte Commemorative Garden in John Paul Jones Park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.[18] The curved monument, set close to the ground, features a bronze medallion of Verrazzano in the center and includes the Latin phrase "Inspiratio per Exemplum," translated in English to "Inspiration through Example." The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is within view of the memorial.[19][20][21]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 LaCorte, John. "John N. LaCorte". Italian Historical Society of America. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ Shapiro, Julia (December 31, 2009). "100-year fight to honor Verrazzano in Battery Park". amNY. Schneps Media. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ Kuhn, Jonathan. "Giovanni Da Verrazzano With Jonathan Kuhn". Culture Now. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "At Bonaparte Ceremony, Lisa Monaco Talks About Traditions". Ciao Washington. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Columbus Day Celebration and the efforts of John N LaCorte". Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "1st Italian settler in America". Culture Now. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Peter Caesar Alberti Marker". YC Parks. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "William Paca, Signer of the Declaration of Independence". Wiley Online Library. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "The Elusive Founder". Italic Institute of America. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "Who was Antonio Meucci?". The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Meucci Triangle History". NYC Parks. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Antonio Meucci Memorial". NYC Parks. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "THE NAMING OF THE VERRAZZANO BRIDGE". Italian Historical Society of America. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Milestones: April 17, 2024". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. EagleUrban Media. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "The Verrazzano Bridge - How it was named by John N LaCorte". YouTube. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ Alexa, Alexandra (February 6, 2020). "After 55 years, the Verrazzano Bridge gets a second 'Z'". 6sqf New York City. City Reality. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "One Z or Two". Italian Historical Society of America. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Jonh Paul Jones Park". NYC Parks. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Inspiratio per exemplum – Inspiration through example". The Historical Market Database. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "John N. LaCorte Commemorative Sculpture". NYC Parks. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ↑ "John N. LaCorte Commemorative Sculpture". Italian Historical Society of America. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
External links
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