1900 - 1801
Consolidation of the Five-Borough City
1898
On January 1, 1898, the separate jurisdictions of New York (Manhattan), Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island joined together to form a single metropolis: the City of Greater New York. Movements for consolidation had been considered as far back ...
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Ellis Island Opens
1892
Ellis Island was the primary point of entry for immigrants arriving in the United States from its opening in 1892 until it closed in 1954. Prior to the opening of Ellis Island, from 1855 to 1890 Castle Garden in Battery ...
View EventBrooklyn Bridge Opens
1883
For most of New York’s history, all passengers and freight moving between the nation’s first largest city (New York City, on Manhattan Island) and the nation’s third largest city (Brooklyn) travelled by ferry. By the 1880s, though, rapid increases in ...
View EventTenement House Act
1879
By the mid 1800s, New York’s skyrocketing population and incredible density were driving living conditions in the most crowded neighborhoods to new depths. Fire, disease, unsanitary conditions, lack of clean food and water, overcrowding, high mortality rates–all were regular features ...
View EventThe First “El” Opened
1870
The first of New York’s four elevated railroads opened — the Ninth Avenue Line. The others were the Sixth Avenue Line, the Second Avenue Line and the Third Avenue Line, which was the last to close in 1955. ...
View EventSee AlsoA Stunning Photographic Timeline of New York City’s Iconic Brownstonesa timeline of new york's tallest buildings, from a wooden observatory to one WTCNew York City Timeline – Legends of AmericaCivil War Draft Riots
1863
During the Civil War the Federal Government turned to conscription to fill the ranks of the Union Armies fighting in the south. Residents throughout the northern states were required to sign up for the draft, furnish a substitute, or pay ...
View EventCentral Park Opens
1858
Manhattan’s Central Park, now the most visited urban park in America, was first conceived in the mid 1800s as a place where both rich and poor might escape the congested, dirty streets and smoky air of dense downtown. Based in ...
View EventRailroad Service to Points Outside the City Began
1851
From their new terminal on East Broadway between Chambers and Warren Streets, the New York and Hudson River Rail Road Company began rail service to Albany. In 1871 the first Grand Central Terminal of the New York Central Railroad ...
View EventIrish Potato Famine
1845 - 1849
Though immigration has always been a primary source of growth in New York, the rate of arrivals has never been constant. One the early peaks surrounded of Irish Potato Famine, a devastating series of crop failures between 1845 and 1852 ...
View EventCompletion of the Croton Aqueduct
1842
From the earliest days of concentrated settlement, New Yorkers struggled to find enough fresh water to sustain the city’s growing population. The rivers and bays surrounding the city were too brackish to drink; local sources, including shallow wells and ...
View EventGreat Fire of 1835
1835
Fire was a constant threat in dense places like New York. From the days of Dutch settlement in the early 1600s, city leaders had tried to legislate away the danger in various ways–mandating brick rather than wood construction, requiring ...
View EventCompletion of the Erie Canal
1825
The completion of Erie Canal in 1825 cemented New York’s position as the preeminent commercial city in the United States. The 363-mile long waterway, painstakingly cut through central New York wilderness over a period of eight years, connected New York ...
View EventFounding of the New-York Historical Society
1804
The New-York Historical Society, the city’s oldest museum, was founded by city inspector John Pintard and ten other philanthropists, with a mission “to collect and preserve whatever may relate to the natural, civil or ecclesiastical history…” Today ...
View EventSecond Almshouse (1797-1831)
1797 - 1831
New York City's expanded Second Almshouse. Constructed in the center of today's City Hall Park.
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1800 - 1701
Founding of the Manhattan Company
1798
After a series of harmful epidemics caused by unclean water access, the city approved the incorporation of a private company owned by Aaron Burr and others, empowered to provide the city with a clean water supply. The following year, ...
View EventFounding of the New York Stock Exchange
1792
In the shade of a buttonwood tree that stood at 68 Wall Street, a group of 24 brokers organized a trading activity for the purchase and sale of shares of company stocks, now known as the New York Stock Exchange. ...
View EventInauguration of Washington as First President
1789
For a brief period following the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in 1788, New York City served as the capital of the newly formed United States. The seat of government was the old Federal Hall on Wall Street in Lower ...
View EventThe Empress of China Sails
1784
The Empress of the China made its first trading voyage from New York to Canton, China, in 1784, becoming the first independent American ship to connect the new United States to Asian markets. Previously, under British imperial rule, all of ...
View EventThe Founding of the Bank of New York
1784
In June of 1784, a group of merchants and lawyers under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton founded New York’s oldest bank, The Bank of New York. Alexander McDougall was its first president. It was among the first companies to ...
View EventFire at Cruger's Wharf
1778
On August 3, 1778, a fire destroyed two blocks of shops and houses in lower Manhattan, laying waste tothe majority of buildings on Cruger’s Wharf and half of the adjacent block north of Water street. Although the devastation ...
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