Yep, NYC had a well-known firecracker district in the late 19th and early 20th century. Firecracker Lane was a short row of fireworks businesses on Park Place between Broadway and Church Street. James Pain was famous for his pyrotechnic shows, particularly his extravaganza in Manhattan Beach which for two weeks each summer nightly recreated the blaze that burned down the city of Pompeii (while "rebuilding" the city each day). This spectacle was an annual Manhattan Beach excitement for more than 25 years at the end of the 19th century. And Pain's Fireworks stood at 12 Park Place until they filed for bankruptcy in 1927, which was blamed in part (by the company and the press at the time) on a movement called "safe and sane Fourth." This was an effort by municipalities to prevent injuries and death from the explosives and instead to focus the holiday on family time and picnics.