Metropolitan museum of art

With increased economic prosperity after the Civil War, the American art scene burgeoned in New York City. One of the most important private picture galleries in the Village belonged to John Taylor Johnston. In 1870 he and a group of friends met there to found the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with Johnson as its first president. After opening briefly in temporary quarters, the museum was transferred in 1873 to No. 126 West 14th Street, where it remained until 1879, when it moved to its present home uptown on Central Park. Source: www.nyu.edu/greyart/information/Greenwich_Village/body_greenwich_village.html