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 $ 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.