Clement Clarke Moore estate in what became known as the residential neighborhood of Chelsea. Before this, the urbanized part of the city ended at Houston Street on Manhattan island. For 10 years, Moore also served as a board member of the New York Institution for the Blind. He is credited and is most widely known as the author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", first published anonymously in 1823. It later became widely known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and has been published in numerous illustrated versions in various languages. Scholars debate the identity of the author, calling on
A Visit from St. Nicholas composer Alma Deutscher (b. 2005). Four hand-written copies of the poem are known to exist and three are in museums, including the New-York Historical Society library. The fourth copy, written out and signed by Clement Clarke Moore as a gift to a friend in 1860, was sold by one private collector to another in December 2006. It was purchased for $280,000 by an unnamed "chief executive officer of a media company" who resides in New York City, according to Dallas, Texas-based Heritage Auctions which brokered the private sale. Moore's connection with the poem has been questioned by Professor Donald Foster,