94-825: The Bridge Apartments are four high-rise apartment buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York . Built between 1961 and 1964, they are notable for rising from concrete platforms directly above the Trans-Manhattan Expressway on its approach to the George Washington Bridge . Their proximity to the highway has led residents to complain of traffic noise and air pollution . The four buildings, each 32 stories tall, house about 4,000 people in total. The Bridge Apartments comprise four high-rise buildings, each 32 stories high and containing 240 apartments, for
188-572: A "transnational community", continually defined by its connection to the Dominican Republic . The majority of Dominican immigrants viewed their stay in the United States as purely economically motivated while they remained culturally attached to the D.R.; many also sent remittances home, imagining an eventual retirement to the island. During the 1970s, Washington Heights' School District 6 (including Inwood and Hamilton Heights)
282-447: A Teenage Drug Ring , many dealers from the pre- freebasing period put greater emphasis on knowing their customers and hid their operations more carefully from police, as opposed to dealers of the crack days who would deal openly and fight violently in the competition for the drug's high profits. Borough (New York City) The boroughs of New York City are the five major governmental districts that compose New York City . They are
376-536: A borough is an independent level of government, as well as with borough forms used in other states and in Greater London . New York City is often referred to collectively as the five boroughs , which can unambiguously refer to the city proper as a whole, avoiding confusion with any particular borough or with the Greater New York metropolitan area . The term is also used by politicians to counter
470-585: A climax in 1957, with the assault of two teenagers of European ancestry, Michael Farmer and Roger McShane, members of the majority-Irish "Jesters" gang. The incident took place in the Highbridge Pool , a Works Progress Administration -funded pool built in 1936 which had no racial restrictions but was nonetheless an environment of racial hostility in the changing landscape of the neighborhood. The assault, which ended in Michael Farmer's death,
564-509: A county in themselves, or are completely separate and independent of any county. Each borough is represented by a borough president . Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island each have a Borough Hall with limited administrative functions. The Manhattan Borough President's office is situated in the Manhattan Municipal Building . The Bronx Borough President's office used to be in its own Bronx Borough Hall but has been in
658-556: A decrease in overall population but an increasing presence in the neighborhood's northwestern corner. By the 1970s, evidence of the exodus of the broader Jewish community was present in the changing landscape of the neighborhood, where kosher stores and Jewish bakeries were gradually replaced by new small businesses with signs in Spanish. While some Dominican immigrants had been arriving in Washington Heights throughout
752-430: A diverse group of people of European descent. In 1920, nearly half were Protestant , most of whom had parents born in the United States; the remainder was split between Jews and Catholics , typically immigrants or born to immigrant parents. The next wave of urbanization for Washington Heights came in the 1920s, coinciding with the construction boom occurring across the city. The population increased significantly in
846-423: A drastic decrease in crime that continued through the 21st century. From 1990 to 2023, reported motor vehicle thefts, murders, and burglaries have each fallen by over 85%, felony assaults, rapes, and robberies by over 65%, and grand larcenies by around 45%. The 30th and 32nd precincts to the south of Washington Heights, which cover most of Harlem north of 133rd Street, experienced just as drastic crime drops during
940-477: A few modern castles. The first of these was Libbey Castle, built by Augustus Richards after he purchased the land from Lucius Chittenden in 1855. Located near Margaret Corbin Circle, this estate was once owned by William "Boss" Tweed but got its current name from William Libbey, who purchased it in 1880. Even more extravagant, Paterno Castle was situated on the estate of real estate developer Charles Paterno by
1034-695: A fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defend the area from the British forces during the American Revolutionary War . Washington Heights is bordered by Inwood to the north along Dyckman Street , by Harlem to the south along 155th Street , by the Harlem River and Coogan's Bluff to the east, and by the Hudson River to the west. Washington Heights, which before
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#17327799508451128-630: A frequent focus on Manhattan and thereby to place all five boroughs on equal footing. In the same vein, the term outer boroughs refers to all of the boroughs excluding Manhattan, even though the geographic center of the city is along the Brooklyn–Queens border. All five boroughs were created in 1898 during consolidation, when the city's modern boundaries were established. The Bronx originally included parts of New York County outside of Manhattan that had previously been ceded by neighboring Westchester County in two stages; in 1874 ( southern Yonkers , and
1222-529: A neighborhood of European Americans, the 1960s and 1970s featured full force demographic shifts. Washington Heights' upwardly mobile White residents began to leave in great numbers, and lower-income Latino population saw great increases. Apart from the allure of suburban homes and their economic capacity to buy them, White residents were spurred to leave by the demographic changes themselves, increasing negligence of residential buildings, and rising crime (having more than doubled between 1969 and 1982). Compared to
1316-637: A number of notable Black residents, such as Paul Robeson , Kenneth Clark , and Count Basie . The presence of middle-class Black people in 555 Edgecombe and other higher-class buildings in southeast Washington Heights led many to associate it with Sugar Hill , the Harlem sub-neighborhood spanning between Edgecombe Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue to its south. In addition to segregation, racism also manifested itself in gang culture, where youth often defined themselves by race or ethnicity and violently defended their respective territories. These tensions were brought to
1410-432: A situation of extreme chaos. Located in a grand building with a Works Progress Administration mural by Lucienne Bloch , the school was relatively prestigious in the decades after its 1925 founding, graduating people such as Alan Greenspan , Henry Kissinger , and Murray Jarvik . Although George Washington remained racially mixed through the early 1970s, the school had a tracking system that saw White students leave
1504-461: A smaller group, Cuban immigrants in the Heights had an outsized role in business, according to a 1976 estimate owning the majority of Latino-owned stores. The neighborhood's Black population also increased, by 1980 numbering over 25,000 and residing in all areas of the neighborhood while remaining a plurality in the southeastern section. While the overall trend was of exodus among White residents,
1598-409: A strategic location. Washington Heights also had a high level of unemployment and poverty in the 1980s and 1990s, providing ample economic motivation for young people to enter the drug trade. The effects of the crack trade extended beyond physical danger to a breakdown in trust and widespread fear provoked by violence in public places as well as murders of people uninvolved in the drug business. It
1692-523: A total of 960 units in the entire complex. The second floor has laundry and community rooms; the lowest floor of residences is the third. The water and heating systems for the buildings are located below the ground floor. The buildings are between 178th and 179th Streets on Audubon Avenue , St. Nicholas Avenue , and Wadsworth Avenue, in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in the New York City borough of Manhattan . They are built directly above
1786-459: A violent riot, causing multiple fires, fifteen injuries, and one death. Then-mayor David Dinkins , who had met with the Garcia family following the killing, pleaded for an end to the rioting: "There is much anger in the community about the death of José Garcia and other incidents, [but] you do not build a better city by destroying it." During the mid to late 1990s, Washington Heights experienced
1880-716: Is served by the 33rd and 34th Precincts of the New York City Police Department and Engine Companies 67, 84, and 93 of the New York City Fire Department . Politically, it is part of the New York City Council 's 7th and 10th districts. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area was traversed by American Indians from the Early Woodland Period , who left remains of shellfish and pottery at
1974-456: The 1964 school boycott and the 1968 teachers' strike – perceived this as an attempt to subvert teachers' authority, leading them to start a local strike after the administration reached a compromise with parents over the table. By the end of 1970, the high school had seen the resignation of three principals and multiple incidents of violence against students, teachers, and security guards; while many safety improvements were made throughout
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#17327799508452068-548: The British evacuation of New York in 1783, George Washington and his staff stood in front of the tavern as they watched the American troops march southward to retake the city. After changing ownership several times, the tavern moved to a new building in 1885, following the original structure's destruction for the widening of Broadway. In 1915, the tavern was demolished again to build the 3,500-seat Coliseum Theatre , which
2162-897: The Bronx County Courthouse for decades. Since the abolition of the Board of Estimate in 1990 (due to a 1989 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court ), the borough presidents have minimal executive powers, and there is no legislative function within a borough. Executive functions in New York City are the responsibility of the Mayor of New York City , while legislative functions reside with the New York City Council . The borough presidents primarily act as spokesmen, advocates, and ceremonial leaders for their boroughs, have budgets from which they can allocate relatively modest sums of money to community organizations and projects, and appoint
2256-746: The New York Campaign of the Revolutionary War , General George Washington 's Continental Army secured a small but much-needed victory over the pursuing British Army at the Battle of Harlem Heights , after a series of defeats in Manhattan. Not long after their victory, the Continental Army suffered one of its worst defeats at the Battle of Fort Washington , in which nearly 2,900 troops were captured. Fort Washington
2350-532: The New York metropolitan area as well as in other states, U.S. territories , and foreign countries. In 2011, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg referred to the city's waterfront and waterways as a composite sixth borough during presentations of planned rehabilitation projects along the city's shoreline , including Governor's Island in the Upper New York Bay . The Hudson Waterfront , in
2444-631: The U.S. state of New Jersey , lies opposite Manhattan on the Hudson River , and during the Dutch colonial era , it was under the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam and known as Bergen . Jersey City and Hoboken , in New Jersey's Hudson County , are sometimes referred to as the sixth borough, given their proximity and connections by rapid transit PATH trains to the city. Fort Lee , in Bergen County , opposite Upper Manhattan and connected by
2538-539: The White flight occurring in other neighborhoods such as the West Bronx, the process was much slower and less destructive as few buildings were outright abandoned or burned. While Puerto Ricans had been the dominant Latino group in the 1950s, by 1965 Cubans and Dominicans had overtaken them in number, and by 1970 native Spanish speakers were the majority group in central-eastern census tracts. Despite being
2632-414: The 12-lane Trans-Manhattan Expressway on its approach to the George Washington Bridge , on top of four concrete platforms that serve as the buildings' foundations. The spaces between the buildings above the expressway were left open for ventilation, as it would have been prohibitively costly to seal the highway completely and ventilate it through ducts running to the roofs of the buildings. Architecturally,
2726-614: The 1950s and 1960s, the pace increased drastically during the regime of Joaquín Balaguer , who took power in 1966 following the Dominican Civil War . The combination of the recent passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 , Balaguer's policy of freely granting passports, and the country's high unemployment rate created the conditions for growing emigration from the Dominican Republic. Some of
2820-468: The 1960s and 1970s, many White residents left the neighborhood for nearby suburbs as the Latino populations increased. Dominican Americans became the dominant group by the 1980s despite facing economic difficulties, leading the neighborhood to its status in the 21st century as the most prominent Dominican community in the United States. While crime became a serious issue during the crack cocaine crisis of
2914-457: The 1970s and 1980s. This was clear by 1990, when the proportion of Dominican New Yorkers living in households below the poverty line was 36%, more than double the citywide rate. In addition to service work, many residents found local jobs in the small-scale garment sector and factory work in New Jersey . During the late 20th century, other immigrant groups began to make their home in
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3008-600: The 1970s, its academic performance continued to decline. In 1999, the school took its present form as the George Washington Educational Campus composed of four smaller schools. For the remainder of the 20th century the Dominican community of Washington Heights continued to increase considerably, most notably during the mid to late 1980s, when over 40,000 Dominicans settled in Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights , and Inwood . Around
3102-789: The 1980s and 1990s, in the 2000s Washington Heights became a much safer community and began to experience some upward mobility as well as gentrification . Washington Heights is set apart among Manhattan neighborhoods for its high residential density despite the lack of modern construction, with the majority of its few high-rise buildings belonging to the NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center . Other higher education institutions include Yeshiva University and Boricua College . The neighborhood has generous access to green space in Fort Washington Park , Highbridge Park , and Fort Tryon Park , home to
3196-671: The 20th century was sparsely populated by luxurious mansions and single-family homes, rapidly developed during the early 1900s as it became connected to the rest of Manhattan via the Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue lines of the New York City Subway . Beginning as a middle-class neighborhood with many Irish and Eastern European immigrants, the neighborhood has at various points been home to communities of German Jews , Greek Americans , Puerto Ricans , Cuban Americans , and Russian Americans . Throughout
3290-619: The Amsterdams. After continual charges of police negligence, a committee was created to combat the violence and many members of the Irish gangs were arrested. By 1944, the local Catholic Clergy were pressured to speak out against the prejudice, and Jews, Catholics, and Protestants began working together on solutions to ease the tensions. Around this time, Washington Heights also gained its first substantial population of Black residents, by 1943 numbering around 3,000 and concentrated mainly in
3384-541: The Bronx , Brooklyn , Manhattan , Queens , and Staten Island . Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of the State of New York : The Bronx is Bronx County, Brooklyn is Kings County, Manhattan is New York County, Queens is Queens County, and Staten Island is Richmond County. All five boroughs of New York came into existence with the creation of modern New York City in 1898, when New York County (then including
3478-456: The Bronx), Kings County, Richmond County, and part of Queens County were consolidated within one municipal government under a new city charter . All former municipalities within the newly consolidated city were dissolved. New York City was originally confined to Manhattan Island and the smaller surrounding islands that formed New York County. As the city grew northward, it began annexing areas on
3572-452: The Dutch to drive them out, including the bloody Kieft's War (1643–1645), some Wecquaesgeeks managed to maintain residence in Washington Heights up until the Dutch paid them a settlement for their last land claims in 1715. For the greater part of the next two centuries, Washington Heights would remain a home to wealthy landowners seeking a quiet location for their suburban estates. During
3666-558: The Hudson River at 181st Street. Built in 1907, the mansion was demolished thirty years later for Paterno's Castle Village complex, where pieces of the original structure still remain. The neighborhood's largest estate was the property of industrial tycoon C. K. G. Billings , taking up 25 acres (10 ha) in the southern part of Fort Tryon Park. Although the Louis XIV -style mansion at present-day Linden Terrace burned to
3760-623: The IRT prompted a rapid increase in density through the proliferation of five- and six-story New Law Tenements , the vast majority of which remain. Many of the new residents came from crowded immigrant neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side , which saw its density halved between 1910 and 1930. As a result of the development of new housing, the total population of Manhattan north of 155th Street grew from just 8,000 in 1900 to 110,000 by 1920. The incoming residents of Washington Heights were
3854-416: The apartments housed 4,000 people, the majority of whom were working-class. Residents continued to complain of air and noise pollution, although the buildings remained popular. They were reported to be in a deteriorated state. Washington Heights, Manhattan Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the northern part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City . It is named for Fort Washington ,
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3948-559: The arrival of Mexicans and Ecuadorians , who together numbered over 6,000 by 2000 and over 10,000 a decade later. Smaller communities of Central Americans , Colombians , and Chinese immigrants had also developed. The neighborhood's African American population began to decrease from its height in the 1970s, by 2000 making up less than one-tenth of the neighborhood. In the present day Washington Heights also has an Orthodox Jewish community served by numerous synagogues , many of which have noticed more young Jewish families move into
4042-444: The buildings on December 20, 1961. Designed by the architectural firm Brown & Guenther, they were some of the first aluminum-sheathed high-rises in the world. At the time of construction, the total cost was estimated at over $ 19 million, of which more than $ 17 million came from a loan from the state's Mitchell–Lama Housing Program , under which the owners agree to limit rents in exchange for government subsidies. The air-rights scheme
4136-645: The buildings' placement over an expressway have a precedent in the early 20th century work of Le Corbusier and Antonio Sant'Elia . The air rights of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway were transferred from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (which manages the George Washington Bridge ) to the city in 1960. The rights were purchased from the city by the Kratter Corporation for $ 1 million. Construction began on
4230-504: The central area west of Broadway, and drastically in the area north of 181st Street, populating the last of the undeveloped areas just south and west of Fort Tryon Park. Transit for new residents was improved with the construction of the Independent Subway System (IND)'s Eighth Avenue Line in 1932, with stops at 175th Street , 181st Street , and 190th Street along Fort Washington Avenue . The demographics of
4324-555: The city. In some document collections the boroughs used to be designated with a one-letter abbreviation: K for Brooklyn, M for Manhattan, Q for Queens, R for Staten Island (Richmond County), and X for the Bronx. The term "sixth borough" is used to describe any of a number of places that have been metaphorically called a part of New York City because of their geographic location, demographics (they include large numbers of former New Yorkers), special affiliation, or cosmopolitan character. They have included adjacent cities and counties in
4418-403: The corner of 160th Street and Broadway for their widely publicized undercover crack purchase, and in 1989, The New York Times called the neighborhood "the crack capital of America". By 1990, crack's impact on crime was evident: 103 murders were committed in the 34th Precinct that year, along with 1,130 felony assaults, 1,919 robberies, and 2,647 burglaries. The causes behind the severity of
4512-410: The corner of 162nd Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue . Although evidence later supported that the killing was a reaction to violence initiated by Garcia, many residents quickly suspected wanton police brutality . The suspicion was not unfounded, as O'Keefe already had several civilian complaints of unnecessary aggression in arrests. What began as a peaceful demonstration for Garcia's death turned into
4606-519: The counties are considered to be arms of the state government), rather than officials of the city government, they are not subject to the term limitations that govern other New York City officials such as the mayor, the New York City Public Advocate , members of the city council, or the borough presidents. Some civil court judges also are elected on a borough-wide basis, although they generally are eligible to serve throughout
4700-452: The crisis for Washington Heights, however, were more intricate. One was the neighborhood's location: the George Washington Bridge and its numerous highway connections made for easy access from the New Jersey suburbs. Another contributing factor was that as Dominican dealers such as Santiago Luis Polanco Rodríguez brought the group higher status in cocaine operations, the heavily-Dominican Washington Heights became increasingly important as
4794-470: The dangerous gas. In 1972, 300 tenants went on a rent strike to protest a planned increase in annual rent. The tenants were able to negotiate a smaller increase. The provisions of the Mitchell–Lama program expired after 20 years, allowing the development to be privatized, and in 1987, the buildings were purchased by a group of real-estate investors led by Mendel Schwimmer and David Bastricer. As of 2004,
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#17327799508454888-603: The extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s first subway line (now part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ). The IRT built the 157th Street , 168th Street , 181st Street , and Dyckman Street stations between 1904 and 1906 (the 191st Street station opened as an infill station in 1911). Although skyrocketing land values sparked early predictions that upper-class apartment buildings would dominate
4982-471: The first half of the 20th century, tensions broke out between Catholics and Jews, who were not very segregated residentially but remained in separate social spheres. Around the start of World War II Irish groups such as the Christian Front arose, drawing large crowds to their antisemitic rallies, coupled with the vandalism of synagogues and beating of Jewish youth by Irish youth in gangs such as
5076-657: The ground in 1925, Billings Terrace remains, supported by the elegant stone archway that originally led to the Billings mansion. Initial residential development in Washington Heights began in the late 19th century with the construction of row and wood-frame houses in the southern portion of the neighborhood, particularly near Amsterdam Avenue . In 1886, the Third Avenue Railway was extended from 125th Street to 155th Street along Amsterdam Avenue. However, higher residential density would not be supported until
5170-888: The historical landmarks the Little Red Lighthouse , the High Bridge Water Tower , and the Cloisters respectively. Other points of interest include Audubon Terrace , the Morris–Jumel Mansion , the United Palace , the Audubon Ballroom , and the Fort Washington Avenue Armory . Washington Heights is part of Manhattan Community District 12 , and its primary ZIP Codes are 10032, 10033, and 10040. It
5264-553: The incident illustrated the effects of the neighborhood's demographic shift: the Jesters defined themselves as fighting against Black and Latino occupancy of the neighborhood even as they included newly arrived Black people in their ranks (similar diversity was seen in the membership of the Dragons and Egyptian Kings). While signs were slowly appearing for the first half of the 20th century that Washington Heights would not forever be
5358-547: The initial migrants were left-wing revolutionaries exiled by the Balaguer regime, theorized to have been granted visas through an unwritten agreement with the United States, but the majority of arrivals came for better economic opportunities. In Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights, Jorge Duany describes how Washington Heights developed as
5452-465: The mainland, absorbing territory from Westchester County into New York County in 1874 ( West Bronx ) and 1895 ( East Bronx ). During the 1898 consolidation, this territory was organized as the Borough of the Bronx, though still part of New York County. In 1914, Bronx County was split off from New York County so that each borough was then coterminous with a county. When the western part of Queens County
5546-405: The media, they are technically and legally the district attorneys of New York County and Kings County, respectively. The same goes for Staten Island. There is no such distinction made for the district attorneys of the other two counties, Queens and the Bronx, since these boroughs share the respective counties' names. Because the five district attorneys are, technically speaking, state officials (since
5640-522: The members of the 59 largely advisory community boards in the city's various neighborhoods. The Brooklyn and Queens borough presidents also appoint trustees to the local public library systems in those boroughs. Being coextensive with an individual county, each borough also elects a district attorney , as does every other county of New York State. While the district attorneys of Manhattan and Brooklyn are popularly referred to as "Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance, Jr. ", or "Brooklyn D.A. Kenneth P. Thompson " by
5734-420: The name of the county unchanged. There are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of New York City, many with a definable history and character to call their own. Since 1914, each of New York City's five boroughs has been coextensive with a county of New York State – unlike most U.S. cities , which lie within a single county or extend partially into another county, constitute
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#17327799508455828-499: The natives frequently reciprocating. The Dutch referred to the elevated area of northwestern Washington Heights as "Long Hill" while the Fort Tryon Park area specifically carried the name "Forest Hill". None of the land in present-day Washington Heights was under private ownership until 1712, when it was parcelled out in lots to various landowners from the village of Harlem to the south. Even after repeated attempts by
5922-415: The neighborhood as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s a moderate influx of Soviet Jews occurred following a loosening of the country's emigration policy, predominantly professionals and artists pushed out by antisemitism and drawn by economic opportunity. The makeup of the neighborhood's Latino population also began to diversify beyond an exclusively Caribbean background, most prominently through
6016-510: The neighborhood during the 2000s. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Washington Heights was severely affected by the crack cocaine epidemic , as was the rest of New York City. Washington Heights had become one of the largest drug distribution centers in the Northeastern United States , bringing a negative reputation to Dominican Americans as a group. Then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani and Senator Alphonse D'Amato chose
6110-540: The neighborhood were undergoing significant change. While the Protestant population remained stagnant, first- and second-generation Irish and Eastern European Jews continued to move in. By 1930, nearly a quarter of Manhattan's Jewish residents lived north of 155th Street. The neighborhood also saw an influx of German Jews escaping Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s, a history documented by Steven M. Lowenstein's book Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson (a nickname referencing
6204-499: The neighborhood, such development was limited in the pre- World War I period to the Audubon Park area west of Broadway and south of 158th Street. Buildings such as the 13-story Riviera included elaborate decor and generous amenities to attract higher-paying tenants. The southern and eastern parts of Washington Heights experienced a construction boom in the years leading up to World War I . The downtown access provided by
6298-577: The neighborhood. This attitude was expressed in a phrase heard in the time period: "Washington Heights begins where Harlem ends." In fact, many of the neighborhood's new Jewish arrivals had left from Harlem as it became increasingly populated by Black people from the South during the Great Migration . Despite the growth of the Black population, racial segregation remained very rigid. While in
6392-588: The newly consolidated city . Under the 1898 City Charter adopted by the New York State Legislature, a borough is a municipal corporation that is created when a county is merged with populated areas within it. The limited powers of the boroughs are inferior to the authority of the government of New York City , contrasting significantly with the powers of boroughs as that term is used in Connecticut , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , where
6486-578: The northwest corner of 181st Street and Broadway (then Kingsbridge Road) was the Blue Bell Tavern, built in the early-mid 18th century as an inn and site of social gatherings. When New York's Provincial Congress assented to the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776, the head of the statue of George III ended up on a spike at the Blue Bell Tavern, broken off by a "rowdy" group of civilians and soldiers at Bowling Green . During
6580-580: The old Wecquaesgeek trail which travelled along the Hudson Valley from Lower Manhattan all the way through Albany . On the plateau west of Broadway between 175th and 181st streets, the residents had been cultivating crops in a field known to Dutch colonists as the "Great Maize Field". Arriving in 1623, the Dutch initially worked as trade partners with the American Indians but became more and more hostile as time went on, with
6674-410: The origin city of many in the diaspora). One attractive aspect of Washington Heights for German Jews was likely its Eastern European Jewish presence, but an economic pull was its abundance of housing stock from the 1920s construction boom. Although rents were higher than average, many landlords offered some free rent to draw new tenants, and apartments were nonetheless spacious for their cost. In
6768-501: The owner cancelled all the tenants' leases and began renting exclusively to Black people. While organizations like the Neighborhood Protective Association of Washington Heights had kept the neighborhood virtually all-White throughout much of the 20th century, the overcrowded conditions of Harlem led to growth in demand for apartments outside the neighborhood. Throughout the 1940s, the building had
6862-559: The past decades. The crime drop, which was felt across all major U.S. cities, owed itself largely to the decrease in new users and dealers of crack cocaine, and the move of existing dealers from dealing on the streets to dealing from inside apartments. In Washington Heights, this meant a move back to the established cocaine dealing culture that had existed before the introduction of crack. As Terry Williams observes in The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of
6956-575: The pollution issue. Kennedy proposed building a "vaporproof barrier" over the roadway. The towers were cited in the debate over the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway in the late 1960s, and a 1973 study commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency found that the level of carbon monoxide exceeded federal guidelines and recommended sealing the lower levels of the building to keep out
7050-467: The public school system and the broader trend of White flight, while the Black and Latino student population rapidly increased. This resulted in a stark gap between the district's few racially integrated schools, which enjoyed better academic reputations and access to resources, and the remainder of schools with very few White students and serious overcrowding problems. Fierce competition between different factions for educational funding and new schools
7144-472: The rate of this trend varied among different groups. One of the most pronounced changes occurred with Greek immigrants, who had reached their peak in the 1950s with the establishment of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and an accompanying school, only to see that in two decades nearly all of the congregation had left for the suburbs. On the other hand, the German Jewish exodus was characterized by
7238-515: The same year. In 1776, the house was commandeered as a headquarters by George Washington, and after changing hands a few times was purchased by Stephen and Eliza Jumel in 1810. In 1903, the City bought the mansion and it became a museum, the oldest surviving house in Manhattan. With a picturesque view of the Palisades , the elevated ridge of northwest Washington Heights became the site of
7332-532: The school better prepared for college, and violence frequently broke out among gangs identifying by race. Discontent with academics and school policy led to a wave of student demonstrations, supported by a group of parents who pushed to set up an information table in the school's lobby in order to answer questions and hear complaints regarding the school. However, the United Federation of Teachers – which had also clashed with students and parents over
7426-528: The site of the present-day Little Red Lighthouse . Washington Heights is part of the section of northern Manhattan that was settled by the Wecquaesgeeks (originally a name for the area meaning "birch-bark country"), a band of the Wappinger and a Lenape Native American people. The winding path of Broadway north of 168th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue to its south is living evidence of
7520-409: The southeastern part of the neighborhood. The Black population of Washington Heights was dwarfed, however, by that of Hamilton Heights , where White residents were 63% of the population in 1943. It was in this period that the popular boundary of Washington Heights shifted from 135th Street to 155th Street, as many residents of European descent refused to include African Americans in their conception of
7614-406: The three eastern towns of Queens County that had not joined the city the year before—the towns of Hempstead , North Hempstead , and Oyster Bay —formally seceded from Queens County to form the new Nassau County . The borough of Staten Island, coextensive with Richmond County, was officially the borough of Richmond until the name was changed in 1975 to reflect its common appellation, while leaving
7708-487: The towns of Kingsbridge , West Farms , and Morrisania ) and then following a referendum in 1894 (towns of Westchester , Williamsbridge , and the southern portion of Eastchester ). Ultimately in 1914, the present-day separate Bronx County became the most recent county to be created in the State of New York. The borough of Queens consists of what formerly was only the western part of a then-larger Queens County. In 1899,
7802-469: The vast majority of blocks less than 2% of housing units were occupied by non-White residents, nearly every block east of Amsterdam Avenue and south of 165th Street was over 90% non-White by 1950. The process underlying this segregation is exemplified in the history of one of Washington Heights' most famous apartment buildings: 555 Edgecombe Avenue . Built in 1914, the fourteen-story building rented to various relatively affluent White people until 1939, when
7896-537: The victory; its lesser fortification at present-day Fort Tryon Park was renamed for Sir William Tryon , the last governor of New York before it was taken back by the Continental Army. The park holds a plaque dedicated in 1909 to Margaret Corbin , an American who took over at her husband's cannon after his death in the Battle of Fort Washington; she was also honored with the naming of Margaret Corbin Drive in 1977. At
7990-430: The year 2000, the Dominican community reached its peak and became a slim majority of Washington Heights and Inwood, propelling the neighborhoods' combined population to 208,000, the highest level since 1950. Even as they arrived in great numbers, Dominicans who came to the neighborhood faced a difficult economic situation, with many of the manufacturing jobs they disproportionately occupied having disappeared throughout
8084-468: Was a group of fortifications on the high points of Washington Heights, with its central site at present-day Bennett Park (known then as Mount Washington) built a few months prior opposite Fort Lee, New Jersey to protect the Hudson River from enemy ships. Under British control, the position was renamed Fort Knyphausen for the Hessian general Wilhelm von Knyphausen , who played a major part in
8178-487: Was common for police and detectives to note unresponsiveness from residents during murder inquiries. Overall distrust of the police may have stemmed from the perception of corruption, which was alleged numerous times concerning the 34th Precinct overlooking drug crimes for bribes. Tensions between residents and the NYPD came to a head on July 4, 1992, when José "Kiko" Garcia was shot by 34th Precinct Officer Michael O'Keefe on
8272-457: Was compounded by the disproportionate representation of the majority-White northwestern Heights on the board, creating an environment in which public meetings were plagued by incivility and at times even violence. George Washington High School, located on 193rd Street and Audubon Avenue near Highbridge Park , faced numerous issues representative of the changes and conflicts of the neighborhood's public schools, which intersected in 1970 to produce
8366-494: Was considered innovative at the time. The buildings opened in 1964, with the first tenants moving in in February, and their 960 middle-income apartments were quickly filled. Rents ranged from $ 92 to $ 179 a month. Soon after opening, residents complained of air pollution from the 150,000 vehicles that passed underneath the buildings each day. In 1967, Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited the apartments to speak with residents about
8460-423: Was consolidated with New York City in 1898, that area became the Borough of Queens. In 1899, the remaining eastern section of Queens County was split off to form Nassau County on Long Island , thereafter making the borough and county of Queens coextensive with each other. The term borough was adopted in 1898 to describe a form of governmental administration for each of the five fundamental constituent parts of
8554-445: Was deconstructed and moved to a city lot to make room for new development in 1931, only for its remnants to vanish without a trace. On the eastern side, by Edgecombe Avenue between 160th and 162nd streets, the Morris–Jumel Mansion has been successfully preserved to this day. The land of the estate had been owned by Jan Kiersen and her son-in-law Jacob Dyckman before it was bought by British colonel Roger Morris in 1765 and completed
8648-455: Was demolished in 2021 after denial of its landmark status. Before the apartment development of the 20th century, many wealthy citizens built grand mansions in Washington Heights. The most famous landowner in the southwest part of the neighborhood was ornithologist John James Audubon , whose estate encompassed the 20 acres (8.1 ha) from 155th to 158th Street west of Broadway. A mystery surrounds his family home by Riverside Drive , which
8742-816: Was perpetrated by an alliance of the African American Egyptian Kings and the Puerto Rican Dragons, both based in West Harlem just south of the Heights. The supposed motive for the attack was to counter the perception that Highbridge Pool was "owned" by the Jesters, and Black and Latino youths were often called racial slurs and chased away from the surrounding blocks. As Eric Schneider analyzes in Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York,
8836-525: Was the scene of numerous conflicts over de facto racial segregation and unequal resource distribution within the district's schools. The School Decentralization Act, passed by the New York State Legislature in 1969, set up elected boards for New York City's school districts with limited hiring power and control over Title I funds. At the time, District 6's demographics were rapidly changing due to White students' withdrawal from
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