1.
Manhattan
–
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, 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 the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. 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, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early 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 political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
2.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Museum
–
Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
5.
125th Street (Manhattan)
–
It is often considered to be the Main Street of Harlem, and is co-named Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Notable buildings along 125th Street include the Apollo Theater, the Adam Clayton Powell Jr, the street was designated by the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 east–west streets that would be 100 feet in width. East of Morningside Avenue it runs east–west through central Harlem to Second Avenue, however, 125th Street continues to First Avenue, where it connects to the southbound FDR Drive and the Willis Avenue Bridge. West of Convent Avenue, 125th Street was rerouted onto what was, prior to 1920, what remains of the original alignment of 125th Street was renamed La Salle Street at that time. The remaining blocks run between Amsterdam Avenue and Claremont Avenue, a block of the original 125th Street in this area was de-mapped to make the super-blocks where the Grant Houses projects now exist. A proposal to convert the street into a Trans-Harlem Expressway died when funds were diverted from the proposed 125th Street Hudson River bridge at the western end. Beginning in the late 1990s, many sections of 125th Street have been gentrified and developed with such stores as MAC Cosmetics, Old Navy, H&M, CVS/pharmacy, and Magic Johnson Theaters. In collaboration with the community, the city has developed a plan for the 125th Street corridor focusing on reinforcing and building upon its strengths as an arts and cultural corridor. A rift in the crust runs along underneath this street from the East River to New Jersey and is known as the 125th Street Fault or the Manhattanville Fault. It is suspected to have caused a magnitude-5.2 earthquake in 1737, riverside Drive also elevates to cross over the fault valley. The following New York City Subway stations are located at 125th Street, the planned Second Avenue Subway will turn on 125th Street, serving a station at Lexington Avenue that would be the terminal for the second phase of the line and connect to the preexisting station. As of 2011, former president Bill Clinton maintains an office on 125th Street, notes Media related to 125th Street at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Seventh Avenue – known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park – is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a street north of the park. Seventh Avenue originates in the West Village at Clarkson Street, where Varick Street becomes Seventh Avenue South and it is interrupted by Central Park from 59th to 110th Street. Artisans Gate is the 59th Street exit from Central Park to Seventh Avenue, north of Warriors Gate at the north end of the Park, the avenue carries traffic in both directions through Harlem, where it is called Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Addresses continue as if the street was continuous through Central Park, the road has two northern termini, an upper level terminates at the western end of the Macombs Dam Bridge, traveling over the Harlem River, where Jerome Avenue commences in the Bronx. A lower level continues a bit north and curves into the lower level of West 155th Street. Seventh Avenue was originally out in the Commissioners Plan of 1811. The southern terminus of Seventh Avenue was Eleventh Street in Greenwich Village through the part of the 20th Century. It was extended southward, as Seventh Avenue South, to link up with Varick Street in 1914, extension of the avenue allowed better vehicular connections between midtown Manhattan and the commercial district in what is now TriBeCa. It also permitted construction of the New York City Subway IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line which opened in 1918, the extension had been urged by civic groups to meet the commercial needs of Greenwich Village. A significant number of old buildings were marked for demolition in the extension, most of Seventh Avenue has carried traffic one-way southbound since June 6,1954. The portion north of Times Square carried two-way traffic until March 10,1957, Seventh Avenue is served by the 123 trains for most of its length, with N Q R W service between 42nd Street and Central Park South. The Seventh Avenue station also serves the B D E trains, north of the park, Powell Boulevard is served by the 155th Street station on the B D trains. It is also served by local buses. South of 14th Street Seventh Avenue is a thoroughfare in the West Village. The now defunct Saint Vincents Catholic Medical Center was a downtown hospital on Seventh Avenue. The first, temporary signs designating the section of Seventh Avenue as Fashion Avenue were dual-posted in 1972, Seventh Avenue intersects with Broadway and with 42nd Street at Times Square, with multiple buildings at the intersections. Notable buildings on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, from Central Park north through Harlem, include, state Office Building Hotel Theresa Seventh Avenue is frequently mentioned in films, plays and books
7.
Lenox Avenue
–
Lenox Avenue – also named Malcolm X Boulevard, both names are officially recognized – is the primary north–south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This two-way street runs from Farmers Gate at Central Park North to 147th Street and its traffic is figuratively described as Harlems heartbeat by Langston Hughes in his poem Juke Box Love Song. The IRT Lenox Avenue Line runs under the length of the street. From 119th Street to 123rd Street, Lenox Avenue is part of the Mount Morris Park Historic District, originally a part of Sixth Avenue, it was renamed in late 1887 for philanthropist James Lenox. In 1987, it was co-named Malcolm X Boulevard, in honor of the civil rights leader. The avenue was the heart of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s, the street brought together African Americans, Latinos, British West Indians, and Spaniards who developed relationships over common interests such as jazz and food. In 1932, Harlem was so firmly established as the capital of jazz. Jazz flourished and grew like it could have in no other time and you might have had 15 great clubs on one block, all going at once, said the trombonist and bandleader Wycliffe Gordon. Imagine going into a joint to check out Willie The Lion Smith, Lenox Avenue is thought by some to be one of the most important streets in the world for African American culture. The Savoy Ballroom was located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue, other historical venues of Lenox Avenue are Sylvias Restaurant, located between 126th and 127th, and the Lenox Lounge, located between 124th and 125th. The corner of Lenox Avenue and 125th Street is mentioned in the song When the Revolution Comes by The Last Poets on their self-titled album, small Talk at 125th and Lenox is an album by Gil Scott-Heron. Lenox Avenue Breakdown is an album by alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe. Columbia Records released the album in 1979, in The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin refers to Lenox Avenue simply as The Avenue. Lenox Avenue, Midnight, a poem by Langston Hughes, is set on Lenox Avenue. The avenue is mentioned in his Juke Box Love Song and Consider Me, the avenue is featured in the first verse of the original Irving Berlin lyrics of Puttin on the Ritz. The song refers to the fad of poor but flashily dressed black Harlemites parading up and down Lenox Avenue. In the title track of his debut record Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, Big L raps about 139th Street, there is a web series on YouTube called Lenox Avenue starring Al Thompson, who also created and produced the series. The street signs are heavily featured in the titles of the 2016 Netflix series Luke Cage
8.
Harlem
–
Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural, originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlems history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, African-American residents began to arrive by a lot in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the Harlem Renaissance, however, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlems African-American population peaked in the 1950s, in the second half of the 20th century, Harlem became a major hub of African-American businesses. In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, since New York Citys revival in the late 20th century, long-time residents of Harlem have been experiencing the effects of gentrification and new wealth. Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan, often referred to as Uptown by locals. Central Harlem is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park on the south, Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue on the west, and the Harlem River on the north. A chain of three large linear parks—Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park and Jackie Robinson Park—are situated on steeply rising banks, on the east, Fifth Avenue and Marcus Garvey Park, also known as Mount Morris Park, separate this area from East Harlem. The bulk of the falls under Manhattan Community Board No.10. In the late 2000s, South Harlem, emerged from area redevelopment, the West Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights comprise part of Manhattan Community Board No.9. The two neighborhoods area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway on the South, 155th Street on the North, nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecome Avenues on the East, and Riverside Park/the Hudson River on the west. Morningside Heights is located in the southern most section of West Harlem, Manhattanville begins at roughly 123rd Street and extends northward to 135th Street. The northern most section of West Harlem is Hamilton Heights, the New York City Police Department patrols six precincts located within Harlem. The New York City Fire Department operates 9 firehouses in Harlem, as many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. Between 1637 and 1639, a few settlements were established, during the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. It took a time to rebuild, as Harlem grew more slowly than the rest of Manhattan during the late 18th century. After the American Civil War, Harlem experienced an economic boom starting in 1868, the neighborhood continued to serve as a refuge for New Yorkers, but increasingly those coming north were poor and Jewish or Italian
9.
Fifth Avenue
–
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare going through the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It stretches from West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square North at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and it is considered among the most expensive and best shopping streets in the world. The lower stretch of Fifth Avenue extended the stylish neighborhood of Washington Square northwards, Fifth Avenue is the central scene in Edith Whartons 1920 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Age of Innocence. The novel describes New Yorks social elite in the 1870s and provides context to Fifth Avenue. Originally a narrower thoroughfare, much of Fifth Avenue south of Central Park was widened in 1908, the midtown blocks, now famously commercial, were largely a residential district until the start of the 20th century. In 1906 his department store, B. Altman and Company, the result was the creation of a high-end shopping district that attracted fashionable women and the upscale stores that wished to serve them. Lord & Taylors flagship store is located on Fifth Avenue near the Empire State Building. In the 1920s traffic towers controlled important intersections from 14th to 59th Streets, traffic crosses the river on the Madison Avenue Bridge. Fifth Avenue serves as the line for house numbering and west-east streets in Manhattan. It separates, for example, East 59th Street from West 59th Street, the most expensive street in the world moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the mid-1990s, the district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having the worlds most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world, some of the most coveted real estate on Fifth Avenue are the penthouses perched atop the buildings. The American Planning Association compiled a list of 2012 Great Places in America and this historic street has many world-renowned museums, businesses and stores, parks, luxury apartments, and historical landmarks that are reminiscent of its history and vision for the future. Below is a list of sites on Fifth Avenue with their designation dates,500 Fifth Avenue Building – December 14,2010 Aeolian Building – – December 10,2002 George W. It recognizes structures, buildings, sites, and districts associated with important events, people, Fifth Avenue from 142nd Street to 135th Street carries two-way traffic. Fifth Avenue carries one-way traffic southbound from 135th Street to Washington Square North, the changeover to one-way traffic south of 135th Street took place on January 14,1966, at which time Madison Avenue was changed to one way uptown. From 124th Street to 120th Street, Fifth Avenue is cut off by Marcus Garvey Park, Fifth Avenue is one of the few major streets in Manhattan along which streetcars did not operate. Instead, Fifth Avenue Coach offered a more to the taste of fashionable gentlefolk
10.
M60 (New York City bus)
–
The M60 Select Bus Service is a bus route in New York City, United States. It is part of MTA Regional Bus Operations, operated by the Manhattan, the M60 provides service between the Upper West Side of Manhattan and LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, traveling between boroughs via the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. It is the direct public transit option between Manhattan and the Airport. The M60 was introduced in 1992 as a connector, and is usually advertised as such. Much of the M60s passenger load, however, is from its service along 125th Street in Harlem. On May 25,2014, the M60 was converted into a Select Bus Service route to improve service to-and-from the airport, the M60 begins in the Morningside Heights section of the Upper West Side in Manhattan at West 106th and Broadway. It turns east at 120th Street, and north at Amsterdam Avenue, along 125th Street in Harlem, the M60 provides limited-stop service, with the M100, M101 and Bx15 providing local service. At the east end of the street, it enters the Triborough Bridge and it then travels along Astoria Boulevard and 23rd Avenue to 94th Street, providing limited-stop service in the neighborhoods of Astoria and East Elmhurst. The Q19 provides local service along Astoria Boulevard, and the Q33, at 94th Street, the M60 turns north and enters the airport, serving Terminals B, D, and C before returning to Manhattan. It also connects with the BMT Astoria Line in Astoria, originally operating out of the Mother Clara Hale Depot and later the Manhattanville Depot both in Upper Manhattan, since January 2015 the M60 operates out of the Michael J. Quill Depot in Midtown. In 1991, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a hearing to discuss a bus route between Manhattan and LaGuardia Airport. The M60 was approved for implementation in mid-1992, and began service on September 13,1992 between Lenox Avenue−125th Street and the airport, in 1994, it was extended west and south to Claremont Avenue and 118th Street near Columbia University and the 116th Street subway station. The route was shifted onto Broadway in 1995, between 1997 and 2004, the bus route had an increase in ridership of 237%, leading to a decrease in trip headways from 20 minutes to 15 minutes in 1998, and under 10 minutes by the 2000s. On October 12,2009, the first luggage rack-equipped bus in the city debuted on the M60, in 2012, 60-foot articulated buses began replacing the standard 40-foot buses on the route. In 2009, the MTA and the New York City Department of Transportation identified the M60 as a corridor for Phase II of Select Bus Service. A separate outside study in 2011 by the Regional Plan Association proposed creating dedicated busways along the Grand Central Parkway to speed up M60 service and that year, studies and community outreach were conducted, and plans to implement the M60 SBS were announced on October 11,2012. At the time, the M60 was the heaviest used of the four 125th Street crosstown buses, the plan would turn the M60 local into a limited-stop service along 125th Street, with the number of stops along the corridor reduced from eleven to six. It would add dedicated bus lanes and other improvements to speed travel times, in October 2013, the plan was reinstated after the proposed bus lanes along 125th Street between Morningside Avenue on the West Side and Lenox Avenue in central Harlem were eliminated
11.
Smithsonian Institution
–
The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment, private and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, concession, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855. The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
to 125th Street
