Who is widely regarded as having established the first tattoo parlor in the United States in New York in the 1800s?

A Civil War tattooist, Martin Hildebrandt, established a shop on Oak Street in Manhattan in 1870 and worked there for 20 years, according to “Tattoo History,” by Steve Gilbert (Juno Books); the author believes that it was the first American tattoo studio.

Quietly Americans of all sorts were getting tattoos. Secret societies such as the Masons and Good Fellows had their members inked with special signs, and as Hildebrandt would tell the Times reporter, he’d worked on people from high and low society—from mechanics and farmers to “real ladies” and gentlemen. During the Civil War, when he’d served in the Union's Army of the Potomac, Hildebrandt had initiated at least a brigade’s worth of soldiers into the culture of ink, often as identification in case they were killed in action.

“During the war time I never had a moment’s idle time,” Hildebrandt told the reporter. “I must have marked thousands of sailors and soldiers.”