Murray Hall

Who is Murray Hall?

Murray Hall was a New York City bail bondsman and Tammany Hall politician made famous upon his death in 1901, when it was revealed that he had been a female-bodied person living as a man.

Born Mary Anderson, Hall "passed" as a man for nearly 25 years, able to work as a politician and vote in a time when women were denied such rights. At the time of his death he resided with his second wife and their adopted daughter.

His last home was an apartment in Greenwich Village, half a block north of the Jefferson Market Courthouse. The apartment is still there, above a noodle shop. The building was renumbered in 1929, when Sixth Avenue was extended south, and is now 453 6th Avenue; walking tours sometimes stop there and listen to his story.

Hall was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.