What Is The Geographical Makeup Of Mew York City
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, IN NEW YORK Urban center
(OR IS IT THE City OF NEW YORK?)
A History of the Geography of New York City
Past Joel D Weintraub
A version of this commodity, without the graphics, appeared in Dorot Volume 36-one, Fall 2014
Introduction:� In club to find genealogical records, nosotros often need to take an accurate location for the underlying effect.� Figuring out which archive or collection contains a record often depends on knowing that data. New York City is an example where lack of knowledge of City history can lead to searches in the incorrect archive. This essay discusses the history of New York City and the City of New York. I will show that these two urban center names oasis�t always been equivalent, likewise as show other geographical situations that influence family history research in the City.
Nowadays Solar day New York: Let's start past looking at the present geography of New York.� New York Urban center and the Urban center of New York are now synonymous terms and consist of the boroughs of Manhattan (New York County), Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island (Richmond County).� The boroughs of Manhattan (less the Marble Hill section discussed later) and Staten Island are on their own islands, while Brooklyn and Queens are part of a larger isle known as Long Island.� By common usage, the term "Long Island" refers to the parts of the island that are outside the city boundaries -- namely Nassau County and Suffolk County.� But this is a misnomer since Nassau and Suffolk by themselves practise not institute an island.� The Bronx is not an island only is connected to the N American mainland and abuts Westchester Canton.
As we volition run across, New York City originally referred to Manhattan Island but.� And to this day, common usage of the term "The City" refers to just Manhattan, although that too is a misnomer.� Many maps with the title of �New York City� turn out to be primarily maps of Manhattan.
The Dutch and the British: Now for a historical perspective.� The Dutch in 1625 founded New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. England took over the area in 1664 and renamed it New York after the Duke of York. From those beginnings, New York City has flourished.� The Urban center seal reflects this history. Initially it showed a 1664 date, but the City Council in 1977 changed the yr to 1625. The official seal is used today to stand for the entire urban center, perhaps leading people to assume the Urban center of New York was formed in 1625; it wasn�t.
The Origin of Counties: The Counties of Richmond, New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), and Queens were created in 1683. Queens County then included what is today Nassau.� The country surface area of what is the Bronx today was function of Westchester Canton.� An 1829 map of the expanse is shown on the correct.
The surface area of New York County (and, synonymously New York City) remained static until 1874.� In that twelvemonth New York County expanded as the land west of the Bronx River (Kingsbridge, West Farms and Morrisania) was annexed from Westchester County.� This is the western part of what is today the Bronx.� If you lot were looking up records of someone in the New York State Census of 1875, and they lived in the western role of the Bronx, y'all would find them on New York County census forms. If yous were searching for people in the New York Metropolis �Police Census� of 1890, you would accept to know the area covered was simply Manhattan and due west Bronx.
The Irresolute Geography of Brooklyn: The area that is today Kings County started out every bit six towns back in the 1600s. These towns and the year in which each was founded are: 1645 Town of Gravesend
1646 Town of Brooklyn (originally Breuckelen)
1647 Boondocks of Flatlands (originally New Amersfoort)
1652 Town of Flatbush, western role (originally Midwout)
1657 Town of New Utrecht
1661 Boondocks of Bushwick (originally Boswijck)
1677 Town of Flatbush, eastern part (originally New Lotts of Midwoot) And in 1683 Kings Canton was created to embrace the vi towns. But the changing geography of the county doesn't end at that place. In 1816 a portion of the Town of Brooklyn was incorporated and became the Village of Brooklyn, and in 1834 the Town of Brooklyn and the Village of Brooklyn were combined to become the City of Brooklyn. This is shown in the map below, reprinted from Nancy Lutz'southward bklyn-genealogy website (http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Image/5dutchtowns.jpg).
Brooklyn wasn't the merely city in Kings County. In 1827, a portion of the Town of Bushwick was incorporated and became the Village of Williamsburgh (with an 'h'). In 1840 it became the Town of Williamsburgh (and was no longer part of the Town of Bushwick), and in 1851 it became the Metropolis of Williamsburgh. Merely the Metropolis of Williamsburgh existed for but three years and in 1854 it, along with the Town of Bushwick, was subsumed into the Urban center of Brooklyn.
Meanwhile the eastern section of the Town of Flatbush seceded and became the separate Boondocks of New Lots in 1852. And then in 1886, the Town of New Lots was annexed by the Metropolis of Brooklyn. The City of Brooklyn was at present on the rising, and in 1894 it annexed the Towns of Flatbush, Gravesend, and New Utrecht. And in 1896 the unification of Brooklyn was complete when the Town of Flatlands was annexed. Only this unified Urban center of Brooklyn would be short lived.
For comparison purposes, the following map shows the boundaries of the original six towns overlaid on a contemporary neighborhood map of Brooklyn. The boundaries of the six towns are guess.� And there is no standard for the contemporary neighborhood names or their boundaries.� So this comparative map should be taken with a grain of salt.
derived from image at http://i.imgur.com/NqufQJT.gif
The Plebiscite: Discussions about consolidating New York City with its surrounding areas started in earnest in the late 1860s.� Many were opposed to the thought. The 1877 effigy to the right from Puck Magazine illustrates this bespeak. Mr. New York City is offer a wedlock proposal to Miss Brooklyn who seems interested, but the Brooklyn politicians and newspaper editors are very much confronting it.
A non-binding referendum in November 1894 of the possible areas for a new urban center (unofficially called �Greater New York�) was put before the afflicted voters. In Westchester County the plebiscite was defeated in the boondocks of Westchester (by ane vote) and the Cities of Mount Vernon and Yonkers.� Flushing in Queens County voted no, while the remainder of what is Queens County today voted yes.� New York Canton (and so Manhattan and due west Bronx) voted yeah, every bit did Richmond County and the towns of Pelham and Eastchester, and the village of Wakefield in Westchester County.
The Metropolis of Brooklyn, which by that fourth dimension had annexed about of the smaller cities within Kings County, had to brand an interesting conclusion in this referendum. It was the 4thursday largest city in the United States in 1890 behind New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Would they give up their identity? Just Brooklyn was heavily in debt and bankruptcy was loaming. Brooklyn also had express access to water of whatever quality.� New York City on the other hand had enough of skilful water. By just 277 votes out of 129,211 ballots, Brooklyn supported the consolidation.
Given the general agreement to go forward with the merger, New York County in 1895 annexed the eastern part of the Bronx from Westchester County, which included the village of Wakefield, and the towns of Westchester, Eastchester, and part of Pelham. Thus New York County and therefore New York Urban center and then encompassed Manhattan and all of what is today the Bronx.
The Metropolis of New York: In 1897 New York State Governor Blackness signed the charter of the City of New York (it�s official name) which would consist of the counties of Richmond, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (including the Bronx), and the western part of Queens County (what is today all of Queens County). The eastern Queens towns of Hempstead, Northward Hempstead and Oyster Bay were excluded. The new City of New York started on January 1, 1898.� At the aforementioned fourth dimension the Boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, Richmond, Brooklyn, and Queens were established. Boroughs are a unique part of the City. Each elects its ain President although their political powers are express. The political power is in the easily of the Mayor of New York City and the City Quango.� The air post postage stamp, issued in 1948, commemorated the Golden Anniversary of the City of New York.
So the term "City of New York" came into beingness in 1898 and consisted of the five boroughs.� At that point the term "New York City," which previously referred to New York Canton, should have ceased to exist.� But "New York City" continued to be used with some ambiguous meanings through the years.� Today the two terms are synonymous.
The specific engagement for the "beginning" of New York City on Manhattan Island is a matter of interpretation.� The City Seal shows 1625.� Just when the U.South. Mail service in 1953 issued a postage stamp commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the founding of the city, they used a appointment of 1653!!!� That date was when New Amsterdam was 'incorporated" by the Dutch government.
Fine Tuning the Urban center: � Initially the Civic of the Bronx and the Civic of Manhattan were both in New York County, and the Civic of Queens occupied only the western role of Queens County.� The excluded areas of eastern Queens County seceded from Queens County and formed Nassau Canton in 1899. So the earlier records of Nassau County will be found in Queens County.� In improver, the City Council in 1975 officially changed the name of the Borough of Richmond to the Borough of Staten Island in line with popular usage.
To complete the modify of political entities to what we observe today, Bronx Canton was formed in 1914. At that time, we had v Boroughs coextensive with the v Counties that make upward the present City of New York. So if you were to search for residents of the Bronx in various archives, you would await in Westchester County up to 1875, in either Westchester County or New York County (depending on which side of the Bronx they were in) from 1875 to 1895, New York County from 1895 to 1914, and so Bronx County from 1914 on.
The Marble Hill Bibelot: � Marble Hill, with a Bronx ZIP code of 10463, is the exception that proves the rule nearly historical cognition leading to correct genealogical resources.� This original northeast tip of Manhattan Isle was one time separated from the mainland of the Bronx, to its due north, past Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The Harlem Transport Canal was completed in 1895, and it created a waterway on the south side of Marble Colina. This left Marble Loma surrounded by water: the Canal on the south and the original northern loop of the Creek along the remaining edges. The Creek was somewhen filled in so that Marble Hill became office of the mainland of the Bronx and no longer on Manhattan Island.
Marble Hill, however, remained in Manhattan Borough and New York County. I checked the 1915 NY State and the 1920, 1930, and 1940 Federal Censuses and streets in Marble Loma appear on the New York County demography sheets. In 1939 Bronx Borough President Lyons tried to annex Marble Hill.� Lyons fifty-fifty went there every bit a publicity stunt and raised the flag of the Borough of Bronx over it, declaring that community as a part of Bronx Borough. Mayor La Guardia and so recommended Marble Colina be placed in the Bronx but angry residents opposed the plan and that ended the takeover effort.�� In 1983 a court ruled that Marble Hill was in Manhattan Borough and in Bronx Canton! That paradox was rapidly addressed past the New York State legislature which put the area firmly back within New York County and the Borough of Manhattan.
The Street-Name Problem: One byproduct of the consolidation of the areas into the City of New York was the loss of autonomy of the small communities in Queens and Staten Island.� Eventually those original communities grew together, and that created a problem with street names and house numbering, since a street could modify its name every few blocks.� Queens so underwent a massive street name alter and address renumbering procedure in the 1910s and 1920s, which makes information technology difficult to locate one-time addresses on modern maps. Staten Island also changed many street names.
To resolve problems with erstwhile street names for the census locational tools on the Steve Morse �One Step� site (stevemorse.org), I found resource, such as street guides that showed old and new names and numbers, and old maps to find street proper noun changes.� I put the results in table format, and then that researchers can convert an old street name or detect data on an old house number to their modern equivalents (and vice versa). That resource called �Changed Street Names� is at http://www.stevemorse.org/census/changes . The utility contains information near street name changes for many cities of the United States, based on our ain tables (some with aid of volunteers) or links to such data on other websites.� Beneath are parts of two of the Queens proper name change tables.� On the left are old to new street names, and on the right are new to old names.� Both show their section of Queens too. The website also shows the conversion of old house numbers to the modern house numbers for streets in Queens. The website as well has street-proper noun conversion tables for Staten Island.
Summary : Here�s a Timeline for New York City and The City of New York
1625: Dutch plant New Amsterdam, consisting of only Manhattan Isle
1664: English take over city and rename it New York City
1683: Counties of Richmond, New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn) and
Queens created
1874: New York County annexes western Bronx from Westchester Canton
1895: New York Canton annexes eastern Bronx from Westchester County
1898: City of New York formed to include the counties of New York
(including the Bronx), Kings, Richmond, and western function of Queens
1898: The boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens (western function), Bronx, and Richmond
established
1899: Eastern part of Queens Canton secedes from Queens County and becomes Nassau County
1914: Bronx County forms from the civic of the Bronx
1975: Borough of Richmond renamed Staten Island
1977: City Quango changes date on City seal from 1664 to 1625
Conclusion and Credits: Although the history of New York Metropolis/Metropolis of New York is apparently unique to that area, it illustrates that an understanding of the history of street names and address number changes, the changing boundaries of communities, and what political units they were in, are often crucial for deciding which archives or collections have the information you seek. Location, Location, Location, isn�t merely the realtor�s motto; information technology is the motto of successful genealogists equally well.
I thank Steve Morse and Gloria Weintraub for providing critical comments on this newspaper.
Joel Weintraub was born and raised in Manhattan.� He is an emeritus Biology Professor at California Country University, Fullerton.� He was a volunteer for nine years at the National� Athenaeum and Records Assistants in southern California.� Joel has created search tools for the U.S. and New York City censuses that are freely bachelor on the Steve Morse �One-Footstep� website.� He has given presentations on census, immigration and naturalization, the genealogical standards, and Jewish genealogy, to genealogy, natural history and academy groups and has published articles on census research and the 72 twelvemonth rule.� His hobbies include birding, collecting demography memorabilia and making interesting PowerPoint presentations.
Added Bonus:� References Used in Essay
History of City Boroughs and Counties
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/New_York_City_New_York_genealogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughs_of_New_York
� Dollarhide, William. 2010. New York State Censuses & Substitutes. Genealogical Publishing Co.
http://bronxhistoricalsociety.org/bronx-history/bronx-history-timeline/
Seal of the City
http://manhattanunlocked.blogspot.com/2010/eleven/architecture-lesson-1.html
History of the Consolidations to Course Metropolis of New York
Brooklyn: A State of Mind, edited by Robbins and Palitz 2001 (Article by Glenn Thrush titled �The Mistake of �98? From city to civic by just 277 votes)
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/100aniv.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=1kHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=formation+of+%22city+of+new+york%22+1894+referendum&source=bl&ots=EuAuBGXtSi&sig=B6CzkuTteHHRXYmkaM0rWjWG-nM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=os_8U6WmKMfdoATL0IGIDg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=formation%20of%20%22city%20of%20new%20york%22%201894%20referendum&f=false
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1vghbu/why_did_brooklyn_and_the_other_outer_boroughs/
https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/Sayre_Chap1.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=AL8_AAAAYAAJ&dq=1898+consolidation+port+medal&source=gbs_navlinks_s � (The Father of Greater New York: Official Report of the Presentation to� Andrew Haswell Green of a Gold Medal Commemorating the Creation of the Greater City of New York: with a Brief Biographical Sketch (Google eBook))
Street Change Information
http://www.stevemorse.org/census/changes.html
Marble Hill Example
http://nyctransported.com/2011/02/harlem-river-ship-canal-spuyten-duyvil-creek/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Hill,_Manhattan
http://myinwood.internet/the-harlem-ship-canal/
Graphics
1870 Map of Top of Manhattan
http://eatables.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1870_Knapp_Map_of_Northern_Manhattan_%28_New_York_City_%29,_Harlem,_Washington_Heights,_Inwood_-_Geographicus_-_NorthernManhattan-knapp-1870.jpg
1829 Map of Greater New York
http://www.old-maps.com/NY/ny-longisland/LongIsland_1829_Queens_Kings_rich_Burr_web.jpg
Metropolis Seal
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/data/images/City-New-York--Seal.png
Selfish Objections To A Good Friction match, Puck Humorous Weekly,� April 1877 (author�s collection)
Source: https://stevemorse.org/census/location.htm
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