Hamilton's home moved to new spot in Harlem

Two hundred and eighty tons of American history were on the move Saturday in Harlem.
The home of Alexander Hamilton, who conceived the country's banking system and was killed in a duel with a political rival, rolled inch by inch down a Harlem hillside to its new location overlooking a park.
"This was the only home Hamilton ever owned," said Steve Laise, a National Park Service official dressed in a vest, tie and pants typical of the 1800's. "It represented the consummation of Hamilton's lifelong dream — a successful social position for a man who came to the American colonies as a penniless 17-year-old born out of wedlock in the West Indies."
But the brilliant, charismatic Hamilton, who became a lawyer, helped pen the Constitution and served as the country's first treasury secretary, structuring taxation and government bonds. He eventually moved to New York, where he founded the New York Post and the Bank of New York.
Earlier this month, Hamilton's house — squeezed between a church and an apartment building — was hoisted 40 feet into the air, with steel beams and cribbings helping it clear the portico of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Starting at about 7 a.m. Saturday, it rolled slowly down West 141st Street, taking three hours to travel a block and a half to the northwest corner of St. Nicholas Park.
There, the 206-year-old structure will be secured into its third spot, overlooking the bucolic city-owned park.