Who was "575 Broadway"?

Another mysterious figure alluded to by Mary Lincoln "revealed."

Mary Lincoln had a habit of referring to certain people by coded or abbreviated allusions, which has left scholars scrambling to discern the identity of certain figures who feature prominently in her published letters, especially those written later in her life, when less is known about her affairs.

In the past, I have revealed the identities of Mary’s Pau associates Louis de Bebian and Baron de Branneker, as well as that of her memoir ghostwriter William H. Reid. I have also speculated as to the identity of one of her press defenders, a newspaper correspondent who published under her initials, “C.E.L.,” and determined that Civil War-era references to "W.” referred to the controversial journalist/diplomat/spy Henry Wikoff.

In this post, I will reveal the identity of a man she referred to as “575 Broadway” during the year 1882, when she spent the last months of her life in New York City engaged in her final battle for a pension that she found suitable to her needs and station.

A man alluded to as “575 Broadway” in surviving letters from that time appears as a wealthy benefactor helping Mary stay afloat financially while Congressional action was pending.