Harry Hill (1827 – August 27, 1896) was an English-born American businessman, sportsman and saloonkeeper whose establishments were regular meeting places for sportsmen, gamblers and politicians as well as members of the criminal underworld of New York City during the late 19th century.
The most famous of these was his Bowery gambling resort located on West Houston Street east of Broadway and was long considered "one of the sights of the metropolis" from the 1850s until its close in 1886.
Spending his childhood at the local Epsom Downs Racecourse, his uncle was a prominent gambler and served as the betting commissioner of Lord George Bentinck for a number of years.
In 1850, he became acquainted with George M. Woolsley, part owner of the sugar manufacturing firm Howland, Aspinwall & Woolsey, and later hired him to run his horse stable in Astoria.
This establishment soon proved a successful and popular resort among sportsmen, gamblers and members of the criminal underworld for almost thirty years.
Legitimate fights did take place however, most notably, when Harry Hill himself defeated champion middleweight wrestler Lieutenant Alnsworth of New Britain, Connecticut.
Another incident took place with Felix Larkin, the financial backer of the "Irish Giant" Ned Baldwin, when he accused Hill and William E. Harding of causing him to lose a horse race.
He was also one of the backers of Billy Edwards in his 1868 match against Sam Collyer for the American lightheavyweight championship and a $2,000 purse at Cone River, Virginia.
He had mortgaged his property in Flushing and was also forced to close his steamship line, losing both his hotel and shipping businesses largely due to mismanagement.