# Patrick H. McCarren

Patrick Henry McCarren (July 8, 1849 in East Cambridge, Massachusetts – October 23, 1909 in Brooklyn, New York City) was an American politician from New York.

## Life

The family removed to Brooklyn when Patrick was still a child. He attended Public School Nr. 17 in Brooklyn. Then he became a cooper, and later an oil inspector. He married Kate Hogan (died 1883), a school teacher, and they had five children who all died in infancy.
He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Kings Co., 6th D.) in 1882 and 1883. Then he studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but did not open a law office, and very rarely appeared in court.
He was again a member of the State Assembly in 1889; and a member of the New York State Senate (4th D.) from 1890 to 1893, sitting in the 113th, 114th, 115th and 116th New York State Legislatures.
He was again a member of the State Senate (7th D.) from 1896 until his death in 1909, sitting in the 119th, 120th, 121st, 122nd, 123rd, 124th, 125th, 126th, 127th, 128th, 129th, 130th, 131st and 132nd New York State Legislatures.
In 1900 he proposed another bridge across the East River, between the existing Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge.
During the 1904 presidential campaign, Boston millionaire Thomas W. Lawson charged that McCarren, a prominent support of Democratic candidate Alton B. Parker, was on the payroll of Standard Oil at the rate of twenty thousand dollars a year. Lawson offered Senator McCarren $100,000 (equivalent to $3.4 million today) if he would disprove the charge. According to one account, "No denial of the charge was ever made by the Senator." One paper even referred to McCarren as "the Standard Oil serpent of Brooklyn politics."
McCarren was considered the Boss of Brooklyn's Democratic organization by 1909, and Brookyln's Democrats were known for guarding their independence from that of Tammany Hall in Manhattan. Their motto under McCarren was, "The Tiger Shall Not Cross The Bridge".
Patrick McCarren owned and raced Thoroughbred horses.
He died on October 23, 1909, in St. Catherine's Hospital, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Greenpoint Park in Brooklyn was renamed McCarren Park in his honor.

## Sources

* ↑ "In 1911, A Bridge That Was To Replace The Brooklyn Bridge". Stuff Nobody Cares About. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
* ↑ "E. V. Debs: The Socialist Party and the Working Class". Archived from the original on September 22, 2002. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
* ↑ "The Bowery Boys: New York City History". Theboweryboys.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
* ↑ Allen, Oliver E. (1993). The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. p. 218. ISBN 0-201-62463-X.
* ↑ "Gift Horse First Again". New York Times, page 10. 1902-11-06. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
* The New York Red Book compiled by Edgar L. Murlin (published by James B. Lyon, Albany NY, 1897; pg. 160f, 403f, 501f and 507)
* M'CARREN IS DEAD in NYT on October 23, 1909
New York State Assembly :
| Preceded byPatrick J. Tully | New York State Assembly Kings County, 6th District 1882–1883 | Succeeded byThomas F. Farrell |
| Preceded byThomas F. Magner | New York State Assembly Kings County, 6th District 1889 | Succeeded byWilliam Emmet Shields |
| New York State Senate |||
| Preceded byJacob Worth | New York State Senate 4th District 1890–1893 | Succeeded byGeorge A. Owens |
| Preceded byMartin T. McMahon | New York State Senate 7th District 1896–1909 | Succeeded byThomas C. Harden |