Matthew Henson Residence

Matthew Henson Residence is where Matthew Henson, the African American polar explorer, lived from 1929 until his death in 1955. Largely forgotten, he was arguably the first man to reach the North Pole in 1909, as he was assigned the task of breaking trail in explorer Robert Peary's expedition. That argument is somewhat tenuous, in part because the expedition did not have the means to exactly determine the location of the North Pole and its having reached the North Pole was a matter of declaration. His residence was apartment 3F within the 246 W. 150th Street building, which is part of the Dunbar Apartments, a NRHP-listed building. His residence was named a National Historic Landmark in 1975.