136-456: Union Square is a historic intersection and surrounding neighborhood in Manhattan , New York City, United States, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century. Its name denotes that "here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island". The current Union Square Park is bounded by 14th Street on
272-534: A citizen of the United States , a resident of the state of New York for at least five years, and a resident of the district for at least one year prior to election. The Assembly consists of 150 members; they are each chosen from a single-member district . The New York Constitution allows the number of Senate seats to vary; as of 2014 , the Senate had 63 seats. The Assembly is headed by the speaker , while
408-595: A 1981 article in Rolling Stone magazine calling the stretch of West 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues the "sleaziest block in America". By the late 1990s, led by efforts by the city and the Walt Disney Company , the area had been revived as a center of tourism to the point where it was described by The New York Times as "arguably the most sought-after 13 acres of commercial property in
544-467: A bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the Legislature if there is a two-thirds vote in favor of overriding in each House. Furthermore, it has the power to propose New York Constitution amendments by a majority vote , and then another majority vote following an election. If so proposed, the amendment becomes valid if agreed to by the voters at a referendum . The legislature originated in
680-878: A corresponding plaque installed nearby, as a monument to victims of the Armenian genocide . In 1976, the Council on the Environment of New York City (now GrowNYC) established the Greenmarket program, which provided regional small-family farmers with opportunities to sell their fruits, vegetables and other farm products at open-air markets in the city. There were originally seven farmers at the first Greenmarket, and their selection sold out by noon. That summer, two more markets opened in New York City. Despite some backlash from local merchants and supermarkets who believed
816-526: A day celebrated as Evacuation Day , marking when the last British forces left the city. From January 11, 1785, until 1789, New York City was the fifth of five capitals of the United States under the Articles of Confederation , with the Continental Congress meeting at New York City Hall (then at Fraunces Tavern ). New York was the first capital under the newly enacted Constitution of
952-618: A firefighters' memorial near the northern end of the park. The same year, there was a failed proposal to construct a courthouse within the park. As part of the Dual Contracts , workers began constructing the 14th Street–Union Square station , on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company 's Broadway Line , under the park in 1913. The station was built using an open cut method, and a 120-foot-wide (37 m) strip of land, running diagonally through Union Square Park,
1088-460: A gathering point for many of the city's socialist and communist groups. The centennial of Union Square was seen as a thinly veiled effort to displace those elements with its draping of the square with flags and police demonstrations of anti protester drills. The Villager , a local newspaper, reported in 2013 that most of the street chess players at Washington Square Park —where Bobby Fischer had played—had moved their games to Union Square because
1224-563: A growing number of Indian restaurants and spice shops along a stretch of Lexington Avenue between 25th and 30th Streets which has become known as Curry Hill . Washington Heights in Uptown Manhattan is home to the largest Dominican immigrant community in the United States. Harlem , also in Upper Manhattan, is the historical epicenter of African American culture. Since 2010, a Little Australia has emerged and
1360-930: A language other than English at home. Points of interest on Manhattan Island include the American Museum of Natural History ; the Battery ; Broadway and the Theater District ; Bryant Park ; Central Park , Chinatown ; the Chrysler Building ; The Cloisters ; Columbia University ; Curry Hill ; the Empire State Building ; Flatiron Building ; the Financial District (including the New York Stock Exchange Building ; Wall Street ; and
1496-515: A multibillion-dollar rebuilding plan was unveiled to restore the historic grandeur of Penn Station, in the process of upgrading the landmark's status as a critical transportation hub . The 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m ) Moynihan Train Hall , developed as a $ 1.6 billion renovation and expansion of Penn Station into the James A. Farley Building , the city's former main post office building,
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#17327871737741632-511: A patriotic fundraiser by being auctioned across the country repeatedly. In the summer of 1864 the north side of the square was the site of the Metropolitan Fair . Union Square has been a frequent gathering point for radicals of all stripes to make speeches or demonstrate. In 1865, the recently formed Irish republican Fenian Brotherhood came out publicly and rented Dr. John Moffat's brownstone rowhouse at 32 East 17th Street, next to
1768-535: A series of spontaneous, violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights . In
1904-553: A wall sculpture and digital clock titled Metronome . Union Square Park also contains an assortment of art, including statues of George Washington , Marquis de Lafayette , Abraham Lincoln , and Mahatma Gandhi . Union Square is part of Manhattan Community District 5 and its primary ZIP Code is 10003. It is patrolled by the 13th Precinct of the New York City Police Department . The New York City Subway 's 14th Street–Union Square station , served by
2040-467: A wildlife sanctuary, and several lawns and sporting areas, as well as 21 playgrounds, and a 6-mile (9.7 km) road from which automobile traffic has been banned since 2018. While much of the park looks natural, it is almost entirely landscaped; the construction of Central Park in the 1850s was one of the era's most massive public works projects, with some 20,000 workers moving 5 million cubic yards (3.8 million cubic meters) of material to shape
2176-562: A year. In 1961, the struggling Pennsylvania Railroad unveiled plans to tear down the old Penn Station and replace it with a new Madison Square Garden and office building complex. Organized protests were aimed at preserving the McKim, Mead & White -designed structure completed in 1910, widely considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style and one of the architectural jewels of New York City. Despite these efforts, demolition of
2312-598: Is a name from the Dutch colonial era after Haarlem , a city in the Netherlands. Some have simple folkloric names, such as Hell's Kitchen , alongside their more official but lesser used title (in this case, Clinton). Some neighborhoods, such as SoHo , which is mixed use, are known for upscale shopping as well as residential use. Others, such as Greenwich Village , the Lower East Side , Alphabet City and
2448-762: Is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and the East River to the east. To the north, the Harlem River divides Manhattan Island from the Bronx and the mainland United States. Early in the 19th century, land reclamation was used to expand Lower Manhattan from the natural Hudson shoreline at Greenwich Street to West Street . When building the World Trade Center in 1968, 1.2 million cubic yards (920,000 m ) of material excavated from
2584-508: Is growing in Nolita, Lower Manhattan. Manhattan has two central business districts, the Financial District at the southern tip of the island, and Midtown Manhattan . The term uptown also refers to the northern part of Manhattan above 72nd Street and downtown to the southern portion below 14th Street , with Midtown covering the area in between, though definitions can be fluid. Fifth Avenue roughly bisects Manhattan Island and acts as
2720-558: Is land and 10.8 square miles (28 km ) (32%) is water. The northern segment of Upper Manhattan represents a geographic panhandle . Manhattan Island is 22.7 square miles (59 km ) in area, 13.4 miles (21.6 km) long and 2.3 miles (3.7 km) wide, at its widest point, near 14th Street . The borough consists primarily of Manhattan Island, along with the Marble Hill neighborhood and several small islands, including Randalls Island and Wards Island and Roosevelt Island in
2856-461: Is located at the park's southeast corner, in a former post office. The park has historically been the start or the end point for many political demonstrations. Although the park was known for its labor union rallies and for the large 1861 gathering in support of Union troops, it was actually named for its location at the "union" of Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and the former Bowery Road decades before these gatherings. On April 20, 1861, soon after
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#17327871737742992-474: Is located one block east of the Zeckendorf Towers. The Century Association clubhouse is located on 15th Street between Irving Place and Union Square East. Union Square contains a large equestrian statue of U.S. President George Washington , modeled by Henry Kirke Brown and unveiled in 1856. Located at the south end of the park, it was the first public sculpture erected in New York City since
3128-658: Is relatively evenly spread throughout the year. Average winter snowfall between 1981 and 2010 has been 25.8 inches (66 cm); this varies considerably from year to year. Manhattan's many neighborhoods are not named according to any particular convention, nor do they have official boundaries. Some are geographical (the Upper East Side ), or ethnically descriptive ( Little Italy ). Others are acronyms , such as TriBeCa (for "TRIangle BElow CAnal Street") or SoHo ("SOuth of HOuston"), NoLIta ("NOrth of Little ITAly"), and NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park"). Harlem
3264-913: Is the world's seventh-tallest building (as of 2023) . The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and spawning the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction in the borough, ravaging portions of Lower Manhattan with record-high storm surge from New York Harbor, severe flooding, and high winds, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of city residents and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound impacts have prompted discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around
3400-408: Is the economic engine of New York City , with its 2.45 million workers drawn from the entire New York metropolitan area accounting for almost more than half of all jobs in New York City. Manhattan's workforce is overwhelmingly focused on white collar professions. In 2010, Manhattan's daytime population was swelling to 3.94 million, with commuters adding a net 1.48 million people to
3536-638: Is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City . Coextensive with New York County , Manhattan is the smallest county by geographical area in the U.S. state of New York . Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area . Manhattan serves as New York City's economic and administrative center and has been described as
3672-647: Is the most expensive shopping street in the world. The borough hosts many prominent bridges , tunnels , and skyscrapers including the Empire State Building , Chrysler Building , and One World Trade Center . It is also home to the National Basketball Association 's New York Knicks and the National Hockey League 's New York Rangers . Manhattan was historically part of the Lenapehoking territory inhabited by
3808-402: Is the site of a regular hip-hop freestyle rap cypher called Legendary Cyphers since 2012. The events draw residents from across the city and tourists and encourage participation in freestyle hip-hop. Notable local hip-hop artists such as Joey Bada$ $ have attended in the past. The Union Square Partnership (USP), a business improvement district (BID) and a local development corporation (LDC),
3944-708: Is well suited for the foundations of Manhattan's skyscrapers . It is part of the Manhattan Prong physiographic region. Under the Köppen climate classification , New York City features both a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) and a humid continental climate ( Dfa ); it is the northernmost major city on the North American continent with a humid subtropical climate. The city averages 234 days with at least some sunshine annually. Winters are cold and damp, and prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore temper
4080-463: The 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , L , N , Q , R , and W trains, is located under Union Square. Prior to the area's settlement, the area around present-day Union Square was farmland. The western part of the site was owned by Elias Brevoort, who later sold his land to John Smith in 1762; by 1788 it had been sold again to Henry Spingler (or Springler). On
4216-679: The Consolidated Laws of New York . As of January 2021 , the Democratic Party holds supermajorities in both houses of the New York State Legislature, which is the highest paid state legislature in the country. Legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year. Both Assembly members and Senators serve two-year terms. In order to be a member of either house, one must be
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4352-745: The American Revolutionary War . The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British military and political center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan,
4488-697: The Board of Aldermen to enclose and grade the square, then sold most of his leases and in 1839 built a four-story house facing the east side of the Square. The park at Union Square was completed and opened in July 1839. A fountain was built in the center of Union Square to receive water from the Croton Aqueduct , completed in October 1842. In 1845, as the square finally began to fill with affluent houses, $ 116,000
4624-537: The Bowery at an acute angle. Because it would have been difficult to develop buildings upon this angle, the Commissioners decided to form a square at the union. In 1815, by act of the state legislature, this former potter's field became a public commons for the city, at first named Union Place. Union Place originally was supposed to extend from 10th to 17th Streets. Several city officials objected that Union Place
4760-564: The East Village , have long been associated with the Bohemian subculture. Chelsea is one of several Manhattan neighborhoods with large gay populations and has become a center of both the international art industry and New York's nightlife. Chinatown has the highest concentration of people of Chinese descent outside of Asia . Koreatown is roughly centered on 32nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Rose Hill features
4896-908: The FBI as "something of a deadly dress rehearsal for 9/11", was a terrorist attack in which six people were killed when a van bomb filled with explosives was detonated in a parking lot below the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex . On September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center were struck by hijacked aircraft and collapsed in the September 11 attacks launched by al-Qaeda terrorists. The collapse caused extensive damage to surrounding buildings and skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, and resulted in
5032-510: The Flatiron District to the north, Chelsea to the west, Greenwich Village to the southwest, East Village to the southeast, and Gramercy Park to the east. Many buildings of The New School are near the square, as are several dormitories of New York University . The eastern side of the square is dominated by the four Zeckendorf Towers , and the south side by the full-square-block mixed-use One Union Square South, which contains
5168-616: The George Floyd protests in New York City in 2020. The Square's shopping district saw strikes in the S. Klein and Ohrbach department stores in 1934. White collar workers were among the worst paid in Great Depression -era New York City, with union memberships being highly discouraged by store managers and often seen as fireable offenses. These strikes often involved acts of disobedience by the workers as many of them did not want to lose their jobs. This period saw Union Square as
5304-585: The Harlem and Hudson rivers, separated it from the remainder of Manhattan. Before World War I, the section of the original Harlem River channel separating Marble Hill from the Bronx was filled in, and Marble Hill became part of the mainland. After a May 1984 court ruling that Marble Hill was simultaneously part of the Borough of Manhattan (not the Borough of the Bronx) and part of Bronx County (not New York County),
5440-602: The Hearst Tower , the rebuilt 7 World Trade Center , and the Bank of America Tower —the first skyscraper designed to attain a Platinum LEED Certification. The skyscraper , which has shaped Manhattan's distinctive skyline , has been closely associated with New York City's identity since the end of the 19th century. Structures such as the Equitable Building of 1915, which rises vertically forty stories from
5576-474: The Munsee , Lenape , and Wappinger tribes . There were several Lenape settlements in the area including Sapohanikan , Nechtanc , and Konaande Kongh , which were interconnected by a series of trails. The primary trail on the island, which would later become Broadway , ran from what is now Inwood in the north to Battery Park in the south. There were various sites for fishing and planting established by
Union Square, Manhattan - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-689: The New York City Subway 's 14th Street–Union Square station having opened in 1904. With the northward relocation of the theater district, Union Square also became a major wholesaling district with several loft buildings, as well as numerous office buildings. The office structures included the Everett Building , erected at the northwest corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street in 1908; the Germania Life Insurance Company Building , erected at
5848-557: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly . The Constitution of New York does not designate an official term for the two houses together; it says only that the state's legislative power "shall be vested in the senate and assembly". Session laws passed by the Legislature are published in the official Laws of New York . Permanent New York laws of a general nature are codified in
5984-694: The South Street Seaport ); Grand Central Terminal ; Greenwich Village (including New York University ; Washington Square Arch ; and Stonewall Inn ); Harlem and Spanish Harlem ; the High Line ; Koreatown ; Lincoln Center ; Little Australia ; Little Italy ; Madison Square Garden ; Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art ); Penn Station , Port Authority Bus Terminal ; Rockefeller Center (including Radio City Music Hall ); Times Square ; and
6120-496: The U.S. mainland . Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower Manhattan, Midtown , and Upper Manhattan. Manhattan is one of the most densely populated locations in the world, with a 2020 census population of 1,694,250 living in a land area of 22.66 square miles (58.69 km ), or 72,918 residents per square mile (28,154 residents/km ), and coextensive with New York County, its residential property has
6256-522: The World Trade Center (including the National September 11 Museum and One World Trade Center ). There are also numerous iconic bridges across rivers that connect to Manhattan Island, as well as an emerging number of supertall skyscrapers . The Statue of Liberty rests on Liberty Island , an exclave of Manhattan, and part of Ellis Island is also an exclave of Manhattan. The borough has many energy-efficient office buildings, such as
6392-466: The citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam ( Nieuw Amsterdam ), in what is now Lower Manhattan. The establishment of Fort Amsterdam is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony. New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. In 1664, English forces conquered New Netherland and renamed it "New York" after
6528-478: The deaths of 2,606 of the 17,400 who had been in the buildings when the planes hit, in addition to those on the planes. Since 2001, most of Lower Manhattan has been restored, although there has been controversy surrounding the rebuilding. In 2014, the new One World Trade Center , at 1,776 feet (541 m) measured to the top of its spire, became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and
6664-681: The topography and create the English-style pastoral landscape that Olmsted and Vaux sought. The remaining 70% of Manhattan's parkland includes 204 playgrounds, 251 Greenstreets, 371 basketball courts , and many other amenities. The next-largest park in Manhattan, the Hudson River Park , stretches 4.5 miles (7.2 km) along the Hudson River and comprises 550 acres (220 ha). Other major parks include: Manhattan
6800-447: The world's tallest building . Manhattan's majority white ethnic group declined from 98.7% in 1900 to 58.3% by 1990. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village killed 146 garment workers , leading to overhauls of the city's fire department, building codes , and workplace safety regulations. In 1912, about 20,000 workers, a quarter of them women, marched upon Washington Square Park to commemorate
6936-686: The 1,537,195 counted in the 2000 census . In 2010, the largest organized religious group in Manhattan was the Archdiocese of New York , with 323,325 Catholics worshiping at 109 parishes, followed by 64,000 Orthodox Jews with 77 congregations, an estimated 42,545 Muslims with 21 congregations, 42,502 non-denominational adherents with 54 congregations, 26,178 TEC Episcopalians with 46 congregations, 25,048 ABC-USA Baptists with 41 congregations, 24,536 Reform Jews with 10 congregations, 23,982 Mahayana Buddhists with 35 congregations, 10,503 PC-USA Presbyterians with 30 congregations, and 10,268 RCA Presbyterians with 10 congregations. Altogether, 44.0% of
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#17327871737747072-418: The 14th Street station. The city's park commissioner Francis D. Gallatin proposed relocating the park's Washington , Lincoln , and Lafayette statues in 1922 to bring the Washington statue closer to the center of the park. A group of sculptors approved his proposal the same month. In 1927, the Municipal Art Society approved plans for a renovation of the park, which was to include a covered parking area at
7208-452: The 1920s, Manhattan experienced large arrivals of African-Americans as part of the Great Migration from the southern United States, and the Harlem Renaissance , part of a larger boom time in the Prohibition era that included new skyscrapers competing for the skyline, with the Woolworth Building (1913), 40 Wall Street (1930), Chrysler Building (1930) and the Empire State Building (1931) leapfrogging each other to take their place as
7344-440: The 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City, including Manhattan, to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through the decade and into the beginning of the 1990s. The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street , and Manhattan reclaimed its role as
7480-417: The 19th century, the island was named so for a grove of hickory trees at its southern end that was considered ideal for the making of bows. In April 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano , sailing in service of Francis I of France , became the first documented European to visit the area that would become New York City. Verrazzano entered the tidal strait now known as The Narrows and named
7616-406: The 2019–2020 legislative session, the Senate Democratic Conference held 39 of the chamber's 63 seats and the Assembly Democratic Conference held 106 of the 150 seats in that chamber. The Senate Democratic Conference increased to 40 seats after Democratic senator Simcha Felder was re-accepted into the Conference. The Legislature is empowered to make law, subject to the governor's power to veto
7752-435: The Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada . Tammany Hall , a Democratic Party political machine , began to grow in influence with the support of many of the immigrant Irish , culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood , in 1854. Covering 840 acres (340 ha) in the center of the island, Central Park , which opened its first portions to
7888-448: The East River; and Governors Island and Liberty Island to the south in New York Harbor . The Island is about 13.4 miles (21.6 km) from north to south, and at its widest, 2.3 miles (3.7 km). Manhattan Island is loosely divided into Downtown ( Lower Manhattan ), Midtown ( Midtown Manhattan ), and Uptown ( Upper Manhattan ), with Fifth Avenue dividing Manhattan lengthwise into its East Side and West Side . Manhattan Island
8024-405: The English Duke of York and Albany , the future King James II. In August 1673, the Dutch reconquered the colony, renaming it "New Orange", but permanently relinquished it back to England the following year under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War . Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign , a series of major battles in the early stages of
8160-422: The Everett House hotel facing the north side of the square, for the capitol of the government-in-exile they declared. On September 5, 1882, in the first Labor Day celebration, a crowd of at least 10,000 workers paraded up Broadway and filed past the reviewing stand at Union Square. On March 28, 1908, an anarchist set off a bomb in Union Square which only killed himself and another man. In 1893, Emma Goldman took
8296-544: The Greenmarket was cutting into their profits, more markets opened in the city. Today, the Union Square Greenmarket, the best known of the markets, is held year-round on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 8 am and 6 pm. The market is served by a number of regional farmers, as the average distance between farmers and the market is 90 miles (140 km). During peak seasons, the Greenmarket serves more than 250,000 customers per week, who purchase more than one thousand varieties of fruits and vegetables can be found at
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#17327871737748432-403: The Greenmarket; and the variety of produce available is much broader than what is found in a conventional supermarket. Union Square hosts the Union Square Holiday Market every November and December, in which more than 150 vendors sell handcrafts. Around two million people visit the Holiday Market annually. Starting in 2024, UrbanSpace also hosted the Night Market food market in Union Square during
8568-485: The High School for Language and Diplomacy, the International High School at Union Square, the Union Square Academy for Health Sciences and the Academy for Software Engineering. In 2012, Success Academy Charter Schools announced its plan to open an elementary school in the building, and an elementary school opened there the next year. Notes Bibliography Manhattan Manhattan ( / m æ n ˈ h æ t ən , m ə n -/ man- HAT -ən, mən- )
8704-404: The Legislature, such as the Laws of New York . The LBDC consists of two commissioners, the commissioner for administration and the commissioner for operations, each appointed jointly by the temporary president of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly. In the 2018 elections, Democrats won control of the State Senate and increased their majority in the State Assembly. At the beginning of
8840-431: The Lenape throughout Manhattan. The name Manhattan originated from the Lenape 's language, Munsee , manaháhtaan (where manah- means "gather", -aht- means " bow ", and -aan is an abstract element used to form verb stems ). The Lenape word has been translated as "the place where we get bows" or "place for gathering the (wood to make) bows". According to a Munsee tradition recorded by Albert Seqaqkind Anthony in
8976-452: The Senate is headed by the president, a post held ex officio by the State lieutenant governor . the lieutenant governor, as president of the Senate, has only a tie-breaking " casting vote ". More often, the Senate is presided over by the temporary president, or by a senator of the majority leader's choosing. The assembly speaker and Senate majority leader control the assignment of committees and leadership positions, along with control of
9112-425: The Union Square Partnership proposed spending $ 100 million to overhaul Union Square. The plan entailed closing off adjacent streets to increase the park's size by 33%, as well as adding benches and lighting, improving restrooms, and refurbishing a dog run in the park itself. There are several notable buildings surrounding Union Square. Clockwise from southwest, they are: In addition, the Consolidated Edison Building
9248-420: The Union Square Rialto was the Academy of Music , which opened at Irving Place in 1854. The theater district gradually relocated northward, into less expensive and undeveloped uptown neighborhoods, and eventually into the current Theater District . Before the Civil War , theatres in New York City were primarily located along Broadway and the Bowery up to 14th Street , with those on Broadway appealing more to
9384-419: The United Nations is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan. Manhattan hosts three of the world's top 10 most-visited tourist attractions: Times Square , Central Park , and Grand Central Terminal . Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere . Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Fifth Avenue
9520-449: The United States , from March 4, 1789, to August 12, 1790, at Federal Hall . Federal Hall was where the United States Supreme Court met for the first time, the United States Bill of Rights were drafted and ratified, and where the Northwest Ordinance was adopted, establishing measures for admission to the Union of new states. New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton 's policies and practices as
9656-472: The United States by enacting the Field Code . The Code inspired the enactment of similar codes in 26 other states, and gave birth to the term " code pleading " for the system of civil procedure it created. The first African-American elected to the legislature was Edward A. Johnson , a Republican, in 1917. The first women elected to the legislature were Republican Ida Sammis and Democrat Mary Lilly , both in 1919. The first African-American woman elected to
9792-466: The agenda in their chambers. The two are considered powerful statewide leaders and along with the governor of New York control most of the agenda of state business in New York. The Legislative Bill Drafting Commission (LBDC) aids in drafting legislation; advises as to the constitutionality, consistency or effect of proposed legislation; conducts research; and publishes and maintains the documents of
9928-412: The attics of the remaining mansions along 14th Street, where they had their studios. The 1939 WPA Guide to New York City said that by the 1920s, the "south side of Fourteenth Street became virtually an ex-tension of Greenwich Village ". Further, real estate values around Union Square had declined by the 1920s, with "burlesque houses, shooting galleries, and shoddy businesses" lining the square. Throughout
10064-665: The bandstand, was awarded that August. After building the bandstand, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation could not afford to landscape the park. As a result, civic groups started landscaping the park for free in June 1932. Most of the neighborhood's largest retailers, such as Ohrbach's and Hearn's, had relocated by the 1950s, and the area began to decline. One of the last major retailers on Union Square, S. Klein , closed in 1975. The S. Klein site remained vacant until 1983, when William Zeckendorf leased
10200-651: The century several big-box chain stores established a presence, including Barnes & Noble in the Century Building , Babies "R" Us in the former United States Communist Party headquarters, and Staples in the Spingler Building . The W New York Union Square , part of the W Hotels chain, is located at the park's northeast corner, in the former Guardian Life building. Additionally, the Hyatt Union Square New York hotel
10336-534: The city became a hotbed of revolution (including anarchists and communists among others), syndicalism , racketeering , and unionization . In 1883, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge across the East River established a road connection to Brooklyn and the rest of Long Island . In 1898, New York City consolidated with three neighboring counties to form "the City of Greater New York ", and Manhattan
10472-474: The city to rename the area "Union Square". In doing so, Ruggles also got the city to enlarge the commons to 17th Street on the north and extend the axis of University Place to form the square's west side, thus turning the common from a triangular to a rectangular area. By 1832, the area had been renamed Union Square. Ruggles obtained a fifty-year lease on most of the surrounding lots from 15th to 19th Streets, where he built sidewalks and curbs. In 1834, he convinced
10608-637: The city's skyline, most notably the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza . A postwar economic boom led to the development of huge housing developments targeted at returning veterans, the largest being Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village , which opened in 1947. The United Nations relocated to a new headquarters that was completed in 1952 along the East River. The Stonewall riots were
10744-1003: The coldest winter month. Spring and autumn are unpredictable and can range from chilly to warm, although they are usually mild with low humidity. Summers are typically warm to hot and humid, with a daily mean temperature of 76.5 °F (24.7 °C) in July. Nighttime conditions are often exacerbated by the urban heat island phenomenon, which causes heat absorbed during the day to be radiated back at night, raising temperatures by as much as 7 °F (4 °C) when winds are slow. Daytime temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 17 days each summer and in some years exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Extreme temperatures have ranged from −15 °F (−26 °C), recorded on February 9, 1934, up to 106 °F (41 °C) on July 9, 1936. Manhattan lies in USDA plant hardiness zone 7b (5 to 10 °F/-15 to -12.2 °C). Manhattan receives 49.9 inches (1,270 mm) of precipitation annually, which
10880-458: The cultural, financial, media , and entertainment capital of the world. Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonists in 1624 on southern Manhattan Island; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The territory and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted
11016-472: The decade to 1,694,250, representing 19.2% of New York City's population of 8,804,194 and 8.4% of New York State's population of 20,201,230. The population density of New York County was 70,450.8 inhabitants per square mile (27,201.2/km ) in 2022, the highest population density of any county in the United States and higher than the density of any individual U.S. city . At the 2010 census , there were 1,585,873 people living in Manhattan, an increase of 3.2% from
11152-531: The decade, most buildings on the eastern part of the square were purchased by department stores S. Klein and Ohrbach's . Real estate activity resumed in the late 1920s, and according to a 1928 piece in The New York Times , “several smaller operations are planned or are under way in the neighborhood". By then, at least eight banks had opened locations on the western and eastern sides of the park. City officials announced in 1910 that they would install
11288-407: The demarcation line for east/west designations. South of Waverly Place , Fifth Avenue terminates and Broadway becomes the east/west demarcation line. In Manhattan, uptown means north and downtown means south. This usage differs from that of most American cities, where downtown refers to the central business district. As of the 2020 census , Manhattan's population had increased by 6.8% over
11424-643: The eastern part of the land were farms owned by John Watts and Cornelius Williams . The northwestern corner of the park site contained 1 acre (0.40 ha) of land owned by the Manhattan Bank, which supposedly was a "refuge" for businesses during New York City's yellow fever epidemics. When John Randel was surveying the island in preparation for the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , the Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway ) angled away from
11560-459: The end of the century, a thriving theatrical neighborhood, which would soon nonetheless migrate uptown to what became known as " Broadway " as the Rialto became subsumed into the more vice-oriented Tenderloin entertainment district. By the first decade of the 20th century, Union Square had grown into a major transportation hub with several elevated and surface railroad lines running nearby, and
11696-438: The equestrian statue of George III in 1770, and the first American equestrian sculpture cast in bronze. The Marquis de Lafayette , at Union Square East and 16th Street, was modeled by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated in 1876, the 100th anniversary of U.S. independence. The statue of Abraham Lincoln , modeled by Henry Kirke Brown (1870), is located near the north end of the park. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in
11832-549: The fall of Fort Sumter , Major Robert Anderson , who was the commander of Fort Sumter brought the Fort Sumter Flag that flew at the fort to the park. The flag was flown from the George Washington statue, gathering patriotic rally of perhaps a quarter of a million people that is thought to have been the largest public gathering in North America up to that time. The flag was shortly removed after to be used as
11968-445: The fire. Many of the women wore fitted tucked-front blouses like those manufactured by the company, a clothing style that became the working woman's uniform and a symbol of women's liberation , reflecting the alliance of the labor and suffrage movements. Despite the Great Depression , some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were completed in Manhattan during the 1930s, including numerous Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of
12104-610: The first Secretary of the Treasury to expand the city's role as a center of commerce and industry. By 1810, New York City, then confined to Manhattan, had surpassed Philadelphia as the most populous city in the United States. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 laid out the island of Manhattan in its familiar grid plan . The city's role as an economic center grew with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, cutting transportation costs by 90% compared to road transport and connecting
12240-474: The first Labor Day parade. Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced plans in early 1998 to spend $ 2.6 million on expanding the park, following advocacy from area residents. The expansion consisted of a pocket park in a traffic island at the southeast corner of Union Square, which was completed in 2000. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Union Square became a primary public gathering point for mourners. People created spontaneous candle and photograph memorials in
12376-491: The highest sale price per square foot in the United States. Manhattan is home to Wall Street as well as the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization , the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq . Many multinational media conglomerates are based in Manhattan, as are numerous colleges and universities, such as Columbia University and New York University . The headquarters of
12512-473: The land around Upper New York Harbor New Angoulême , in reference to the family name of King Francis I; he sailed far enough into the harbor to sight the Hudson River , and he named the Bay of Santa Margarita – what is now Upper New York Bay – after Marguerite de Navarre , the elder sister of the king. Manhattan was first mapped during a 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson . Hudson came across Manhattan Island and
12648-563: The lands to his brother, the Duke of York . New York, based in present-day Lower Manhattan , served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of arriving immigrants in the late 19th century and is a world symbol of the United States and its ideals. Manhattan became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898 , and houses New York City Hall ,
12784-707: The latter had more foot traffic. Street chess players play fast chess with passers-by for three to five dollars a game, with time controls of five minutes on each side being the most common. Writer Lauren Snetiker at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation also documents this migration of the historical Washington Square Park chess scene to Union Square, noting the "dozens of chess players [who] sit on crates and bring their own boards... as there are no permanent ones like there are in Washington Square Park". Union Square
12920-577: The legislature was Bessie A. Buchanan in 1955. Five assemblymen were expelled in 1920 for belonging to the Socialist Party . In 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court reluctantly affirmed the constitutionality of a statute enacted by the New York legislature, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in a concurring opinion : "[A]s I recall my esteemed former colleague, Thurgood Marshall , remarking on numerous occasions: 'The Constitution does not prohibit legislatures from enacting stupid laws. ' " There
13056-563: The matter was definitively settled later that year when the New York Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan. Within New York Harbor , there are three smaller islands: Other smaller islands, in the East River , include (from north to south): The bedrock underlying much of Manhattan consists of three rock formations: Inwood marble , Fordham gneiss , and Manhattan schist , and
13192-525: The middle and upper classes and the Bowery theatres attracting immigrant audiences, clerks and the working class. After the war, the development of the Ladies' Mile shopping district along Fifth and Sixth Avenues above 14th Street had the effect of pulling the playhouses uptown, so that a "Rialto" theatrical strip came about on Broadway between 14th and 23rd Streets, between Union Square and Madison Square . At
13328-692: The moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean , yet the Atlantic and the partial shielding from colder air by the Appalachians keep the city warmer in the winter than inland North American cities at similar or lesser latitudes. The daily mean temperature in January, the area's coldest month, is 32.6 °F (0.3 °C); temperatures usually drop to 10 °F (−12 °C) several times per winter, and reach 60 °F (16 °C) several days in
13464-473: The native people living there, and continued up the river that would later bear his name, the Hudson River . Manhattan was first recorded in writing as Manna-hata , in the logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on the voyage. A permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624, with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island . In 1625, construction was started on
13600-475: The new theatres. The new system also needed an organized way to engage actors for these one-off productions, so talent brokers and theatrical agents sprang up, as did theatrical boardinghouses, stage photographers, publicity agencies, theatrical printers and play publishers. Along with the hotels and restaurants which serviced the theatregoers and shoppers of the area, the Union Square Rialto was, by
13736-575: The north end of the park. To make way for a further expansion of the Union Square subway station, the park was raised by about 3 feet (0.91 m) as part of a renovation during the late 1920s. The plans, announced in June 1929, also included relocating several statues and building a concert plaza with a bandstand at the park's northern end. There were also plans to relocate the Washington statue to Washington Square Park , although this proposal
13872-552: The northeast corner of the same intersection in 1910–1911; and the Consolidated Edison Building , constructed three blocks south at 14th Street between 1910 and 1914. Existing houses were also converted into stores, including a pair of merchants' houses on the east side of the park at 16th Street in 1916. During this era, many of the older homes on Union Square were converted into tenements for immigrants and industrial workers. Numerous artists relocated into
14008-466: The original World Trade Center , which was destroyed during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks . Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors , the borough is bounded by the Hudson , East , and Harlem rivers and includes several small adjacent islands , including Roosevelt , U Thant , and Randalls and Wards Islands . It also includes the small neighborhood of Marble Hill now on
14144-466: The park and vigils were held to honor the victims. At the time, non-emergency vehicles were temporarily banned and pedestrian travel was restricted in Lower Manhattan below 14th Street. In March 2008, an eighteen-month renovation began on the northern end of the park. The renovation was controversial because of disagreements over whether to place a restaurant in the pavilion at the north end of
14280-667: The park. A New York Supreme Court judge approved the renovation of the park's north end in April 2008 but placed an injunction temporarily banning the city from renovating the pavilion. In early 2009, a judge dismissed the lawsuit against the renovation, allowing a seasonal restaurant in the pavilion. CMS Architecture and Design was hired in 2011 to design the restaurant in the pavilion. The Pavilion restaurant opened in Union Square Park in May 2014, following years of disputes. In 2021,
14416-409: The park. This plan was not carried out at the time due to a lack of funds. When the idea of closing Union Square West was again proposed in 1996, local business owners opposed the proposal because the park had become extremely popular, causing vehicular traffic in the neighborhood to increase significantly. Union Square was named a National Historic Landmark in 1997, primarily to honor it as the site of
14552-848: The population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, Manhattan had 703 religious organizations, the seventeenth most out of all US counties. There is a large Buddhist temple in Manhattan located at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown . As of 2015, 60.0% (927,650) of Manhattan residents, aged five and older, spoke only English at home, while 22.63% (350,112) spoke Spanish, 5.37% (83,013) Chinese, 2.21% (34,246) French, 0.85% (13,138) Korean, 0.72% (11,135) Russian, and 0.70% (10,766) Japanese. In total, 40.0% of Manhattan's population, aged five and older, spoke
14688-407: The population, along with visitors, tourists, and commuting students. The commuter influx of 1.61 million workers coming into Manhattan was the largest of any county or city in the country. New York State Legislature Minority caucus Minority caucus The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York :
14824-544: The public in 1858, became the first landscaped public park in an American city. New York City played a complex role in the American Civil War . The city had strong commercial ties to the South , but anger around conscription , resentment against Lincoln's war policies and paranoia about free Blacks taking the jobs of poor immigrants culminated in the three-day-long New York Draft Riots of July 1863, among
14960-491: The purpose by Henry G. Marquand at the corner of 17th Street and Broadway. After the Civil War the neighborhood became largely commercial, and the square began to lose social cachet at the turn of the twentieth century, with many of the old mansions being demolished. Tiffany & Co. , which had moved to the square from Broadway and Broome Street in 1870, left its premises on 15th Street to move uptown to 37th Street in 1905;
15096-421: The renovation, which cost $ 3.6 million, was completed in May 1985. The renovations included removing hedges, increasing lighting, and erecting new subway entrances. The renovation of Union Square, along with the construction of the Zeckendorf Towers, caused real-estate values in the area to increase. By 1987, there were plans to close off two blocks of the little-used Union Square West to make way for an expansion of
15232-549: The revolutionary New York Provincial Congress , assembled by rebels when the New York General Assembly would not send delegates to the Continental Congress . The New York State Legislature has had several corruption scandals during its existence. These include the Black Horse Cavalry and Canal Ring . In the 1840s, New York launched the first great wave of civil procedure reform in
15368-416: The same time, a transition from stock companies, in which a resident acting company was based around a star or impresario, to a "combination" system, in which productions were put together on a one-time basis to mount a specific play, expanded the amount of outside support needed to service the theatrical industry. Thus, suppliers of props, costumes, wigs, scenery, and other theatrical necessities grew up around
15504-596: The seat of the city's government . Harlem in Upper Manhattan became the center of what is now known as the cultural Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village , part of the Stonewall National Monument , is considered the birthplace in 1969 of the modern gay rights movement , cementing Manhattan's central role in LGBT culture . Manhattan was the site of
15640-589: The shorelines of the borough and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future. On October 31, 2017 , a terrorist drove a truck down a bike path alongside the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan, killing eight. According to the United States Census Bureau , New York County has a total area of 33.6 square miles (87 km ), of which 22.8 square miles (59 km )
15776-432: The sidewalk, prompted the passage of the 1916 Zoning Resolution , requiring new buildings to contain setbacks withdrawing progressively at a defined angle from the street as they rose, in order to preserve a view of the sky at street level. Manhattan's skyline includes several buildings that are symbolic of New York, in particular the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building , which sees about 4 million visitors
15912-455: The silversmiths Gorham Company moved up from 19th Street in 1906. The last of the neighborhood's free-standing private mansions, Peter Goelet's at the northeast corner of 19th Street, made way for a commercial building in 1897. The Rialto, New York City's first commercial theater district, was located in and around Union Square beginning in the 1870s. It was named after Venice 's Rialto , a commercial district. The first facility to open within
16048-499: The site was used to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street, creating Battery Park City . Constructed on piers at a cost of $ 260 million, Little Island opened on the Hudson River in May 2021, connected to the western termini of 13th and 14th Streets by footbridges . Marble Hill was part of the northern tip of Manhattan Island, but the Harlem River Ship Canal , dug in 1895 to better connect
16184-513: The site for the Zeckendorf Towers development. The New York Times wrote at the time, "The former S. Klein store, boarded up since 1975, is a melancholy monument to a once-thriving commercial district." In 1982, a $ 1.5 million refurbishment of Union Square Park was announced. At the time, the park was frequented by drug users because of its tall hedges, and many of the benches, lights, and statues had been vandalized. The first phase of
16320-449: The south, 17th Street on the north, and Union Square West and Union Square East to the west and east respectively. 17th Street links together Broadway and Park Avenue South on the north end of the park, while Union Square East connects Park Avenue South to Fourth Avenue and the continuation of Broadway on the park's south side. The park is maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation . Adjacent neighborhoods are
16456-558: The southwest corner of the park was added in 1986. The Union Square Drinking Fountain (1881) near Union Square West, also known as the James Fountain, is a Temperance fountain with the figure of Charity who empties her jug of water, aided by a child. It was donated by Daniel Willis James and sculpted by Adolf Donndorf . The Charles F. Murphy Memorial Flagpole, also known as the Independence Flagstaff ,
16592-565: The stage at Union Square to make her "Free Bread" speech to a crowd of overworked garment workers. She also addressed a crowd in 1916 on the need for free access to birth control, which was banned by the Comstock laws . Her visits to Union Square pulled hundreds of followers; some of these rallies resulted in her arrest. Union Square has been used as a platform to raise awareness about the Black Lives Matter movement, such as during
16728-587: The structure began in October 1963. The loss of Penn Station led directly to the enactment in 1965 of a local law establishing the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , which is responsible for preserving the "city's historic, aesthetic, and cultural heritage ". The historic preservation movement triggered by Penn Station's demise has been credited with the retention of some one million structures nationwide, including over 1,000 in New York City. In 2017,
16864-431: The summer. Union Square is a popular meeting place, given its central location in Manhattan and its many nearby subway routes. There are many bars and restaurants on the periphery of the square, and the surrounding streets have some of the city's most renowned (and expensive) restaurants. S. Klein's department store promoted itself in the mid-20th century as an "On the Square" alternative to higher prices uptown, and late in
17000-473: The world's financial center , with Wall Street employment doubling from 1977 to 1987. The 1980s also saw Manhattan at the heart of the AIDS crisis , with Greenwich Village at its epicenter. In the 1970s, Times Square and 42nd Street – with its sex shops , peep shows , and adult theaters, along with its sex trade , street crime, and public drug use – became emblematic of the city's decline, with
17136-470: The world." By the 1990s, crime rates began to drop dramatically and the city once again became the destination of immigrants from around the world, joining with low interest rates and Wall Street bonus payments to fuel the growth of the real estate market. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley , emerged in the Flatiron District , cementing technology as a key component of Manhattan's economy. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing , described by
17272-535: The worst incidents of civil disorder in American history. The rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply after the Civil War, and Manhattan became the first stop for millions seeking a new life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. This immigration brought further social upheaval. In a city of tenements packed with poorly paid laborers from dozens of nations,
17408-457: Was cast in 1926 and dedicated in 1930 to mark the 150th anniversary of U.S. independence. It is located in the center of the park. In October 2023, an outdoor version of the sculpture N.Y.C. Legend by the Swedish artist Alexander Klingspor , featuring a New York sewer alligator , was unveiled in the square by Queen Silvia of Sweden . A double line of trees is planted along 17th Street, and
17544-475: Was closed and excavated. By late 1913, large portions of Union Square Park had been demolished as part of the construction of the Broadway Line's Union Square station. New York City's parks commissioner promised members of the public that the park would be remodeled after the station was finished. The station had been completed by early 1916, and workers began restoring the section of Union Square Park above
17680-575: Was established as one of the five boroughs of New York City . The Bronx remained part of New York County until 1914, when Bronx County was established. The construction of the New York City Subway , which opened in 1904, helped bind the new city together, as did the completion of the Williamsburg Bridge (1903) and Manhattan Bridge (1909) connecting to Brooklyn and the Queensboro Bridge (1909) connecting to Queens. In
17816-483: Was for decades one of the city's most fashionable hotels. In the early years of the park, a fence surrounded the square's central oval planted with radiating walks lined with trees. In 1872, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were called in to replant the park, as an open glade with clumps of trees. Initially, the square was largely residential: the Union League Club first occupied a house loaned for
17952-444: Was formed in 1984 and became a model for other BIDs in New York City. Jennifer E. Falk became its executive director in January 2007. The Union Square Partnership provides a free public Wi-Fi network in Union Square. The Washington Irving Campus at 40 Irving Place between East 16th and 17th Streets, a block east of Union Square Park, was formerly the location of a comprehensive high school, but now houses Gramercy Arts High School,
18088-439: Was opened in January 2021. Parkland covers a total of 2,659 acres (10.76 km ), accounting for 18.2% of the borough's land area; the 840-acre (3.4 km ) Central Park is the borough's largest park, comprising 31.6% of Manhattan's parkland. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux , the park is anchored by the 12-acre (4.9 ha) Great Lawn and offers extensive walking tracks , two ice-skating rinks,
18224-409: Was opposed. Although the city decided to keep the Washington statue in Union Square Park, the statue was relocated to the southeast corner to make way for a flagpole honoring former Tammany Hall leader Charles F. Murphy . Landscaping of the park was delayed by the construction of the subway mezzanine below it. The park's renovation was nearly completed by mid-1931; the last construction contract, for
18360-441: Was spent in paving the surrounding streets and planting the square, in part owing to the continued encouragement of Ruggles. The sole survivors of this early phase, though they have been much adapted and rebuilt, are a series of three- and four-story brick rowhouses, 862–866 Broadway, at the turn where Broadway exits the square at 17th Street. The Everett House on the corner of 17th Street and Fourth Avenue (built 1848, demolished 1908)
18496-541: Was too large and requested that it be "discontinued", and in 1814, the New York State Legislature acted to downsize the area by making 14th Street the southern boundary. In 1831, at a time when the city was quickly expanding and the surrounding area was still sparsely developed, Samuel Ruggles , one of the founders of the Bank of Commerce and the developer of Gramercy Park to the northeast, convinced
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