1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Brookfield Place (New York City)
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In 2014, the complex was given its current name following the completion of extensive renovations. Brookfield Place is owned by Toronto-based Brookfield Office Properties, except for the occupied by American Express. Brookfield Place also serves as the United States headquarters for Brookfield Office Properties, Brookfield Place also has its own zip code,10281. The buildings original developer was Olympia and York of Toronto, Ontario, the fill material came from dirt excavated during the building of the World Trade Center, as well as garbage, dirt and debris. It has since fully restored and significant repairs were made to the other buildings in the complex. The Winter Garden had received major damage to the glass. The main elements of the include a transit pavilion to be built as an extension of the existing Winter Garden building. The Grand Staircase has also used as an amphitheater, thus, the plans for demolition had outraged residents. The transit pavilion opened in fall 2013 and is expected to have an address at 100 West Street, within the existing complex, available space in the lower floors of the office towers of the World Financial Center are undergoing conversions and expansion to accommodate new retail. One notable example is 2 World Financial Center, a European-style marketplace, the space between 3 and 4 WFC, at 225 Vesey Street, which used to contain retail, expanded to accommodate in‑line retail and high end fashion retail, according to the plans and renderings. With some restaurants and retail temporarily closed due to construction, a new food court has been in operation since early 2012 on North End Avenue. Various food trucks that operate around New York City, serving a variety of foods, overall, the intent is to drive more tourism in the area with the retail and the new access to the passageway under West Street. Brookfield bought the adjacent One North End Avenue building, headquarters of the New York Mercantile Exchange, in 2013, for US$200 million, and integrated it into the complex. Following expansion, the entire World Financial Center complex was renamed Brookfield Place, in conjunction with similar complexes in Toronto, Calgary, the name change took place in 2014
3.
New York City
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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
4.
Boroughs of New York City
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New York City, in the U. S. state of New York, is composed of five county-level administrative entities called boroughs. They are Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, each borough is coextensive with a county of New York State. The county governments were dissolved when New York City consolidated in 1898, along all city, town. The term borough was adopted to describe a form of administration for each of the five fundamental constituent parts of the newly consolidated city in 1898. Under the 1898 City Charter adopted by the New York State Legislature, the term is also used by politicians to counter a frequent focus on Manhattan and thereby to place all five boroughs on equal footing. In the same vein, the outer boroughs refers to all of the boroughs excluding Manhattan. All of the boroughs were created in 1898 during consolidation, when the current boundaries were established. Ultimately in 1914, the present-day separate Bronx County became the last county to be created in the State of New York, the borough of Queens consists of what formerly was only the western part of a then-larger Queens County. The borough of Staten Island was officially the borough of Richmond until the name was changed in 1975 to reflect its common appellation, there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of New York City, many with a definable history and character to call their own. Manhattan is the geographically smallest and most densely populated borough and is home to Central Park and most of the citys skyscrapers. Manhattans population density of 72,033 people per mile in 2015 makes it the highest of any county in the United States. Manhattan is often described as the financial and cultural center of the world, most of the borough is situated on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River. Manhattan Island is loosely divided into Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions, Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem. The borough also includes a neighborhood on the United States mainland. New York Citys remaining four boroughs are collectively referred to as the outer boroughs, Brooklyn, on the western tip of Long Island, is the citys most populous borough. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, downtown Brooklyn is the only central core neighborhood in the outer boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline including Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country, marine Park and Prospect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn. Historically a collection of towns and villages founded by the Dutch
5.
Manhattan
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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
6.
Land reclamation
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Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill, is the process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds, or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as ground or land fill. In a number of jurisdictions, including parts of the United States. In Alberta, Canada, for example, reclamation is defined by the government as The process of reconverting disturbed land to its former or other productive uses. In Oceania it is referred to as land rehabilitation. Land reclamation can be achieved with a number of different methods, the most simple method involves simply filling the area with large amounts of heavy rock and/or cement, then filling with clay and dirt until the desired height is reached. The process is called infilling and the used to fill the space is generically called infill. Draining of submerged wetlands is often used to land for agricultural use. Deep cement mixing is used typically in situations in which the material displaced by either dredging or draining may be contaminated, the creation of new land was for the need of human activities. Notable examples include, Much of the coastlines of Mumbai, India and it took over 150 years to join the original seven islands of Mumbai. Much of the coastlines of Mainland China, Hong Kong, North Korea and it is estimated that nearly 65% of tidal flats around the Yellow Sea have been reclaimed. Inland lowlands in the Yangtze valley, China, including the areas of important cities like Shanghai, Much of the coastline of Karachi, Pakistan. A part of the Hamad International Airport in Qatar, around 36 square kilometres, the entire island of The Pearl-Qatar situated in West Bay, Qatar. The city-state of Singapore, where land is in supply, is also famous for its efforts on land reclamation. The Palm Islands, The World and hotel Burj al-Arab off Dubai in the United Arab Emirates The Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and it is one of the six divisions of Malé City. The Eko Atlantic in Lagos, Nigeria, mexico City, the chinampas are a famous example. Parts of Panama City urban and street development are based on reclaimed land, aeroparque Jorge Newbery, in Buenos Aires, Argentina One of the earliest large scale projects was the Beemster Polder in the Netherlands, realized in 1612 adding 70 square kilometres of land. In Hong Kong the Praya Reclamation Scheme added 20 to 24 hectares of land in 1890 during the phase of construction
7.
Hudson River
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The Hudson River is a 315-mile river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. The river originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, flows through the Hudson Valley, the river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York, and further north between New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary occupying the Hudson Fjord, tidal waters influence the Hudsons flow from as far north as Troy. The river is named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who explored it in 1609, and after whom Canadas Hudson Bay is also named. The Dutch called the river the North River – with the Delaware River called the South River –, during the eighteenth century, the river valley and its inhabitants were the subject and inspiration of Washington Irving, the first internationally acclaimed American author. In the nineteenth century, the area inspired the Hudson River School of landscape painting, the Hudson was also the eastern outlet for the Erie Canal, which, when completed in 1825, became an important transportation artery for the early-19th-century United States. The source of the Hudson River is Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Park at an altitude of 4,322 feet, the river is not cartographically called the Hudson River until miles downstream. From that point on, the stream is known as the Hudson River. Popular culture and convention, however, more often cite the photogenic Lake Tear of the Clouds as the source, South of the confluence of Indian Pass Brook and Calamity Brook, the Hudson River flows south into Sanford Lake. South of the outlet of the lake, the Opalescent River flows into the Hudson, the Hudson then flows south, taking in Beaver Brook and the outlet of Lake Harris. After its confluence with the Indian River, the Hudson forms the boundary between Essex and Hamilton counties, in the hamlet of North River, the Hudson flows entirely in Warren County and takes in the Schroon River. Further south, the forms the boundary between Warren and Saratoga Counties. The river then takes in the Sacandaga River from the Great Sacandaga Lake, shortly thereafter, the river leaves the Adirondack Park, flows under Interstate 87, and through Glens Falls, just south of Lake George although receiving no streamflow from the lake. It next goes through Hudson Falls, at this point the river forms the boundary between Washington and Saratoga Counties. At this point the river has an altitude of 200 feet, further south the Hudson takes in water from the Batten Kill River and Fish Creek near Schuylerville. The river then forms the boundary between Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, the river then enters the heart of the Capital District. It takes in water from the Hoosic River, which extends into Massachusetts, shortly thereafter the river has its confluence with the Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson River, in Waterford. Shortly thereafter, the river reaches the Federal Dam in Troy, at an elevation of 2 feet, the bottom of the dam marks the beginning of the tidal influence in the Hudson as well as the beginning of the lower Hudson River
8.
11th Street (Manhattan)
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The New York City borough of Manhattan contains 228 numbered east–west streets, the majority of them created by the Commissioners Plan of 1811. These streets do not run exactly east–west, because the plan is aligned with the Hudson River, rather than with the cardinal direction. Thus, the grids west is approximately 29 degrees north of true west, the grid covers the length of the island from 14th Street north. All numbered streets carry an East or West prefix, which changes from one to the other at Broadway below 8th Street, the numbered streets carry crosstown traffic. In general, but with exceptions, even-numbered streets are one-way eastbound. Most wider streets, and a few of the narrow ones, some streets in that area that do continue farther west change direction before reaching the Hudson River. 220th Street is the highest numbered street on Manhattan Island, but Marble Hill is also within the borough of Manhattan, the numbering system continues in the Bronx, up to 263rd Street. The lowest numbered street in Manhattan is East First Street, which runs through Alphabet City near East Houston Street, there is also a First Place in Battery Park City. East 1st Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue A, peretz Square, a small triangular sliver park where Houston Street, First Street and First Avenue meet marks the spot where the grid takes hold. East 2nd Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue C, the East end of East 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Streets is Avenue D, with East 6th Street continuing further Eastward and connecting to FDR Drive. The west end of these streets is the Bowery and Third Avenue, except for 3rd Street and 4th Street, great Jones Street connects East 3rd to West 3rd. For 4th Street, see 4th Street, East 5th Street goes west to Cooper Square, but is interrupted between Avenues B and C by The Earth School, Public School 364, and between First Avenue and Avenue A by the Village View Apartments. West 8th Street is an important local shopping street, 8th Street between Avenue A and Third Avenue is called St Marks Place, but it is counted in the length below. M8 bus route operates eastbound on 8th Street and westbound on 9th Street between Avenue A and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street begins at the FDR Drive and Avenue C. West of Sixth Avenue, it turns southward about 40 degrees to join the Greenwich Village street grid, because West 4th Street turns northward at Sixth Avenue, it intersects 10th, 11th and 12th and 13th Streets in the West Village. The M8 bus operates on 10th Street in both directions between Avenue D and Avenue A, and eastbound between West Street and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street has an eastbound bike lane from West Street to the East River. In 2009, the section of 10th Street between Avenue A and the East River had bicycle markings and sharrows installed, but it still has no dedicated bike lane. West 10th Street was previously named Amos Street for Charles Chistopher Amos, the end of West 10th Street toward the Hudson River was once the home of Newgate Prison, New York Citys first prison and the United States second
9.
29th Street (Manhattan)
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The New York City borough of Manhattan contains 228 numbered east–west streets, the majority of them created by the Commissioners Plan of 1811. These streets do not run exactly east–west, because the plan is aligned with the Hudson River, rather than with the cardinal direction. Thus, the grids west is approximately 29 degrees north of true west, the grid covers the length of the island from 14th Street north. All numbered streets carry an East or West prefix, which changes from one to the other at Broadway below 8th Street, the numbered streets carry crosstown traffic. In general, but with exceptions, even-numbered streets are one-way eastbound. Most wider streets, and a few of the narrow ones, some streets in that area that do continue farther west change direction before reaching the Hudson River. 220th Street is the highest numbered street on Manhattan Island, but Marble Hill is also within the borough of Manhattan, the numbering system continues in the Bronx, up to 263rd Street. The lowest numbered street in Manhattan is East First Street, which runs through Alphabet City near East Houston Street, there is also a First Place in Battery Park City. East 1st Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue A, peretz Square, a small triangular sliver park where Houston Street, First Street and First Avenue meet marks the spot where the grid takes hold. East 2nd Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue C, the East end of East 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Streets is Avenue D, with East 6th Street continuing further Eastward and connecting to FDR Drive. The west end of these streets is the Bowery and Third Avenue, except for 3rd Street and 4th Street, great Jones Street connects East 3rd to West 3rd. For 4th Street, see 4th Street, East 5th Street goes west to Cooper Square, but is interrupted between Avenues B and C by The Earth School, Public School 364, and between First Avenue and Avenue A by the Village View Apartments. West 8th Street is an important local shopping street, 8th Street between Avenue A and Third Avenue is called St Marks Place, but it is counted in the length below. M8 bus route operates eastbound on 8th Street and westbound on 9th Street between Avenue A and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street begins at the FDR Drive and Avenue C. West of Sixth Avenue, it turns southward about 40 degrees to join the Greenwich Village street grid, because West 4th Street turns northward at Sixth Avenue, it intersects 10th, 11th and 12th and 13th Streets in the West Village. The M8 bus operates on 10th Street in both directions between Avenue D and Avenue A, and eastbound between West Street and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street has an eastbound bike lane from West Street to the East River. In 2009, the section of 10th Street between Avenue A and the East River had bicycle markings and sharrows installed, but it still has no dedicated bike lane. West 10th Street was previously named Amos Street for Charles Chistopher Amos, the end of West 10th Street toward the Hudson River was once the home of Newgate Prison, New York Citys first prison and the United States second
10.
12th Avenue (Manhattan)
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The West Side Highway is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A that runs from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, which was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of maintenance, and was dismantled by 1989. The term West Side Highway is often used, particularly by the news media traffic reporters. The current highway was complete by 2001, but required some reconstruction due to damage sustained in the 9/11 attacks and it uses the surface streets that existed before the elevated highway was built, West Street, Eleventh Avenue and Twelfth Avenue. A short section of 12th Avenue still runs between 125th and 138th Streets, under the Riverside Drive Viaduct, Eleventh Avenue is a separate street north of 22nd Street. The portion between West 42nd Street and Canal Street is part of the Lincoln Highway, the highway is a six-to-eight lane urban boulevard, with the northernmost section, from 59th Street to 72nd Street, elevated above a former rail yard adjacent to tracks still used by Amtrak. Trucks and buses are allowed only on the surface section, the West Side Highways surface section takes three names, West Street from the Battery Park Underpass north to Tenth Avenue, then 11th Avenue to 22nd Street, and finally 12th Avenue to 59th Street. The highway begins from Battery Park close to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it also accepts traffic from the terminus of the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. From there, the route passes close to the site of the World Trade Center at Vesey Street, the route continues with this name passing by numerous piers along the Hudson River until Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District where it becomes Eleventh Avenue. Eleventh Avenue begins just north of the intersection with Tenth Avenue, the highway is concurrent with Eleventh Avenue north of this point, passing by the 14th Street Park at 14th Street. The highway continues with this name alongside the Chelsea Piers until it reaches 22nd Street where the branches off from Eleventh Avenue onto Twelfth Avenue. At 22nd Street, the highway continues as Twelfth Avenue passing by the Chelsea Waterside Park and it passes just west of the Javits Center from 34th Street to 38th Street and over the Lincoln Tunnel at 39th Street. The road continues past the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and Piers 84 to 92, at 54th Street, 12th Avenue attains a highway with service roads character, with the service roads running as far as 59th Street. From there, Twelfth Avenue becomes elevated and at 72nd Street, various proposals circulated in the 1920s to build an expressway on the west side. It would eliminate 106 grade crossings over 84 blocks and it ran into opposition because of fears that it would create a rail monopoly. The highway would run on top of the ten-story buildings, a similar alternative was offered by Benjamin Battin. The proposal immediately ran into stiff opposition, the City Club and New York City Mayor James J. Walker objected to the highway on the grounds that it would block waterfront-bound freight traffic. They believed that the plans should wait until the railroad tracks were removed in the area
11.
RMS Lusitania
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RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that a German submarine sank in World War I, causing a major diplomatic uproar. The ship was a holder of the Blue Riband, and briefly the worlds largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship Mauretania, the Cunard Line launched Lusitania in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. She made a total of 202 trans-Atlantic crossings, German shipping lines were aggressive competitors in the transatlantic trade, and Cunard responded by trying to outdo them in speed, capacity, and luxury. Both Lusitania and Mauretania were fitted with new turbine engines. They were equipped with lifts, wireless telegraph, and electric light, and provided 50% more passenger space than any other ship, the Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of World War I. When RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain on 1 May 1915, on the afternoon of 7 May, a German U-boat torpedoed Lusitania,11 mi off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared war zone. A second, unexplained, internal explosion sent her to the seabed in 18 minutes, with the deaths of 1,198 passengers, because the Germans sank, without warning, what was officially a non-military ship, many accused them of breaching the internationally recognized Cruiser Rules. It was no longer possible, however, for submarines to give warning due to the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns, the sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States as 128 American citizens were among the dead. The sinking helped shift public opinion in the United States against Germany, after World War I, successive British governments maintained there were no munitions on board the Lusitania and the Germans were not justified in treating the ship as a naval vessel. In 1897 the NDL liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse captured the Blue Riband from Cunards Campania, NDL soon wrested the prize back in 1903 with the new Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kronprinz Wilhelm. Cunard saw their passenger numbers affected as a result of the so-called Kaiser-class ocean liners, in 1902, IMM, NDL, and HAPAG entered into a Community of Interest to fix prices and divide among them the transatlantic trade. The partners also acquired a 51% stake in the Dutch Holland America Line, IMM made offers to purchase Cunard which, along with the French CGT, were now their principal rivals. Cunard declined the offer, even though they lacked the resources to respond with new ships. Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde thus approached the British government for assistance, by an agreement signed in June 1903, Cunard was given a loan of £2.6 million to finance two ships, repayable over 20 years at a favourable interest rate of 2. 75%. The ships would receive an operating subsidy of £75,000 each plus a mail contract worth £68,000. In return the ships would be built to Admiralty specifications so that they could be used as cruisers in wartime. Cunard established a committee to decide upon the design for the new ships, of which James Bain, parsons maintained that he could design engines capable of maintaining a speed of 25 knots, which would require 68,000 shaft horsepower. Turbines offered the advantages of generating less vibration than the engines and greater reliability in operation at high speeds
12.
RMS Titanic
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Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. Thomas Andrews, her architect, died in the disaster, the first class accommodation was designed to be the pinnacle of comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. A high-power radiotelegraph transmitter was available for sending passenger marconigrams and for the operational use. Titanic only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—slightly more than half of the number on board, after leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading west to New York. On 14 April, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles south of Newfoundland, the collision caused the ships hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea, she could only survive four flooding. Meanwhile, passengers and some members were evacuated in lifeboats. A disproportionate number of men were left aboard because of a women and children first protocol for loading lifeboats, at 2,20 a. m. she broke apart and foundered—with well over one thousand people still aboard. Just under two hours after Titanic sank, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene, where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors. The disaster was greeted with shock and outrage at the huge loss of life. Public inquiries in Britain and the United States led to improvements in maritime safety. One of their most important legacies was the establishment in 1914 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which still governs maritime safety today. Additionally, several new regulations were passed around the world in an effort to learn from the many missteps in wireless communications—which could have saved many more passengers. The wreck of Titanic, first discovered over 70 years after the sinking, remains on the seabed, since her discovery in 1985, thousands of artifacts have been recovered and put on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history, her memory is kept alive by numerous works of culture, including books, folk songs, films, exhibits. Titanic is the second largest ocean liner wreck in the world, only beaten by her sister HMHS Britannic, the name Titanic was derived from Greek mythology and meant gigantic. They were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Lines fleet, Teutonic was replaced by Olympic while Majestic was replaced by Titanic. Majestic would be back into her old spot on White Stars New York service after Titanics loss. The ships were constructed by the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, cost considerations were relatively low on the agenda and Harland and Wolff was authorised to spend what it needed on the ships, plus a five percent profit margin
13.
New York Central Railroad
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The New York Central Railroad was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States. NYCs Grand Central Terminal in New York City is one of its best known extant landmarks, in 1968 the NYC merged with its former rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, to form Penn Central. That company went bankrupt in 1970 and was taken over by the federal government, Conrail was broken up in 1998, and portions of its system was transferred to the newly formed New York Central Lines LLC, a subsidiary leased to and eventually absorbed by CSX and Norfolk Southern. Those companies lines included the original New York Central main line, but outside that area it included lines that were never part of the New York Central system. At the end of 1925, the New York Central System operated 11,584 miles of road and 26,395 miles of track, at the end of 1967 the mileages were 9,696 miles and 18,454 miles. The Mohawk and Hudson opened on September 24,1831, and changed its name to the Albany, the Utica and Schenectady Railroad was chartered April 29,1833, as the railroad paralleled the Erie Canal it was prohibited from carrying freight. Revenue service began August 2,1836, extending the line of the Albany and Schenectady Railroad west from Schenectady along the side of the Mohawk River, opposite the Erie Canal. The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was chartered May 1,1836, the full line opened July 3,1839, extending the line further to Syracuse via Rome. This line was not direct, going out of its way to stay near the Erie Canal and serve Rome, nothing of that line was ever built, though the later West Shore Railroad, acquired by the NYC in 1885, served the same purpose. The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad was chartered May 1,1834, and opened mostly in 1838, a month later, with the opening of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, this formed a complete line from Albany west via Syracuse to Auburn, about halfway to Geneva. The Auburn and Rochester Railroad was chartered May 13,1836, as an extension via Geneva and Canandaigua to Rochester. The two lines merged on August 1,1850, to form the rather indirect Rochester and Syracuse Railroad, to fix this, the Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railway was chartered and immediately merged into the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad on August 6,1850. That line opened June 1,1853, running more directly between those two cities, roughly parallel to the Erie Canal. The Tonawanda Railroad, to the west of Rochester, was chartered April 24,1832 to build from said city to Attica. The first section, from Rochester southwest to Batavia, opened May 5,1837, the Attica and Buffalo Railroad chartered in 1836 and opened on November 24,1842, running from Buffalo east to Attica. On March 19,1844, the Tonawanda Railroad was authorized to build the connection, the Albany and Schenectady Railroad bought all the baggage, mail and emigrant cars of the other railroads between Albany and Buffalo on February 17,1848, and began operating through cars. On December 7,1850, the Tonawanda Railroad and Attica and Buffalo Railroad merged to form the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad. A new direct line opened from Buffalo east to Batavia on April 26,1852, the line was added to the New York and Erie Railroad system and converted to the Eries 6 ft broad gauge
14.
23rd Street (Manhattan)
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23rd Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the boroughs grid. As with Manhattans other crosstown streets, it is divided at Fifth Avenue, in this case at Madison Square Park, since 1999 the area north of 23rd Street around the park has been referred to as Nomad. The street formerly ran from the East River to the Hudson River, 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. West 23rd carves through the heart of Chelsea, for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century its western end was site of the Pavonia Ferry at Pier 63, just north of the Chelsea Piers. London Terrace is slight farther inland, 23rd Street remained New Yorks main theater strip until The Empire opened on Broadway some twenty blocks uptown, ushering in a new era of theater. The Hotel Chelsea, New Yorks first co-op apartment complex, was here in 1883. Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen lived in the Hotel Chelsea from August 1978, Spungen was stabbed to death in the bathroom of her room at the Hotel Chelsea in October 1978. The block of 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is part of the Ladies Mile Historic District, East 23rd Street, which runs between Fifth Avenue and the East River, is a main street of Manhattans neighborhood of Gramercy Park. Opposite Madison Square Park on East 23rd Street are two originally built by MetLife. 1 Madison Avenue, with its ornate clocktower face, was one of Manhattans first skyscrapers,11 Madison Avenue was intended to be the base of a much taller skyscraper, but the onset of the Depression forced MetLife to scale back its plans. Even so, the stands today as an Art Deco masterpiece. Peter Cooper Village, one of MetLifes experiments in middle-income community building, peter Cooper Village was a sister project to MetLifes Stuyvesant Town, which was built across 20th Street to the south. On the far east end of East 23rd are Stuyvesant Cove Park, the Asser Levy Public Baths, on October 17,1966, this street was also witness to New Yorks deadliest fire in terms of firefighters killed until the September 11 attacks. The Flatiron Building is on the side of the street at Broadway. This replaced the horse-drawn and later electric-powered Twenty-Third Street Railway, in 2003, the Straphangers Campaign listed the M23 as one of the slowest in the city, winning its Pokey Award
15.
22nd Street (Manhattan)
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The New York City borough of Manhattan contains 228 numbered east–west streets, the majority of them created by the Commissioners Plan of 1811. These streets do not run exactly east–west, because the plan is aligned with the Hudson River, rather than with the cardinal direction. Thus, the grids west is approximately 29 degrees north of true west, the grid covers the length of the island from 14th Street north. All numbered streets carry an East or West prefix, which changes from one to the other at Broadway below 8th Street, the numbered streets carry crosstown traffic. In general, but with exceptions, even-numbered streets are one-way eastbound. Most wider streets, and a few of the narrow ones, some streets in that area that do continue farther west change direction before reaching the Hudson River. 220th Street is the highest numbered street on Manhattan Island, but Marble Hill is also within the borough of Manhattan, the numbering system continues in the Bronx, up to 263rd Street. The lowest numbered street in Manhattan is East First Street, which runs through Alphabet City near East Houston Street, there is also a First Place in Battery Park City. East 1st Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue A, peretz Square, a small triangular sliver park where Houston Street, First Street and First Avenue meet marks the spot where the grid takes hold. East 2nd Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue C, the East end of East 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Streets is Avenue D, with East 6th Street continuing further Eastward and connecting to FDR Drive. The west end of these streets is the Bowery and Third Avenue, except for 3rd Street and 4th Street, great Jones Street connects East 3rd to West 3rd. For 4th Street, see 4th Street, East 5th Street goes west to Cooper Square, but is interrupted between Avenues B and C by The Earth School, Public School 364, and between First Avenue and Avenue A by the Village View Apartments. West 8th Street is an important local shopping street, 8th Street between Avenue A and Third Avenue is called St Marks Place, but it is counted in the length below. M8 bus route operates eastbound on 8th Street and westbound on 9th Street between Avenue A and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street begins at the FDR Drive and Avenue C. West of Sixth Avenue, it turns southward about 40 degrees to join the Greenwich Village street grid, because West 4th Street turns northward at Sixth Avenue, it intersects 10th, 11th and 12th and 13th Streets in the West Village. The M8 bus operates on 10th Street in both directions between Avenue D and Avenue A, and eastbound between West Street and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street has an eastbound bike lane from West Street to the East River. In 2009, the section of 10th Street between Avenue A and the East River had bicycle markings and sharrows installed, but it still has no dedicated bike lane. West 10th Street was previously named Amos Street for Charles Chistopher Amos, the end of West 10th Street toward the Hudson River was once the home of Newgate Prison, New York Citys first prison and the United States second
16.
Chelsea Piers
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Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The piers replaced a hodgepodge of run-down waterfront structures with a row of grand buildings embellished with pink granite facades, the piers are currently used by the Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex. In addition there is a center, a golf club with multi-story driving range. Sky Rink has the only ice skating rinks in Manhattan. Historically, the term Chelsea Piers referred to the luxury liner berths on Manhattans west side from 1910 to the 1930s, with ocean liners such as the Titanic becoming bigger and bigger, New York City was looking for a new passenger ship dock in the early 1900s. The Army, which controls the location and size of piers, ship lines were reluctant to build north of 23rd Street because infrastructure was already in place, including the High Line railway line and a train station near the river at 23rd Street. New York City solved the problem in a way by actually taking away a block of land that was the 1837 landfill that extended Manhattan to 13th Avenue. The controversial decision included condemning many businesses, the city was unable to condemn the West Washington Street Market and was left to remain landfill. The market ultimately closed and the dock was converted to a facility that was used to load garbage barges headed for the Fresh Kills Landfill. The only section of 13th Avenue that remains is behind the sanitation facility, the landfill is now called the Gansevoort Peninsula. The new piers were designed by the firm of Warren and Wetmore. Most of the major trans-Atlantic liners of the day docked at the piers and they played pivotal roles in the RMS Titanic, the two most memorable moments for the pier were with the Lusitania and Titanic. The RMS Lusitania left her Cunard Pier 54 in 1915 before being torpedoed by German submarine U-20, the RMS Titanic was destined for the White Star pier 59 when she sank. Survivors were rescued on Cunards RMS Carpathia, the Carpathia dropped off the Titanics lifeboats at Pier 59 before going back south to Pier 54 where she unloaded the passengers and survivors. Thousands of people assembled at the dock to greet the ship, during the summer of 1920, a dramatic rally was organized on July 31 at the White Star Line docks. A reported 15,000 New Yorkers turned up at Pier 60 at the foot of West 20th street to make sure Lloyd George would allow Mannix passage to Ireland, a luxury liner row was built between West 44th and West 52nd Street to handle larger liners in the 1930s. During World War II the piers were used to deploy troops, the piers had catastrophic fires in 1932 and 1947 that destroyed some of the south piers. New construction resulted in new cargo piers used by the United States Lines, in July 1936, the Chelsea Piers were the point of departure for Jesse Owens and the United States Olympic team as they left for the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany
17.
Meatpacking District, Manhattan
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A Native American trading station called Sapohanikan was on the riverbank, which, accounting for landfill, was located about where Gansevoort Street meets Washington Street today. The footpath that led from Sapohanikan inland to the east became the foundation for Gansevoort Street, in recognition of this history, petitions were made to call the 14th Street Park Saphohanikan Park although it appears no formal recognition was given. The earliest development of the now known as the Meatpacking District came in the mid-19th century. Before that it was the location of Fort Gansevoort and of the extension of Greenwich Village. When development began again after the war in the 1870s, the tenor of the neighborhood changed, in addition an elevated railroad line had been constructed through the neighborhood along Ninth Avenue and Greenwich Street, completed in 1869. Additional development began in the 1880s when two new markets began operating in the area, the areas decline began around the 1960s as part of the general decline of the waterfront area. At the same time a new industry, nightclubs and other entertainment, in the 1980s, as the industrial activities in the area continued their downturn, it became known as a center for drug dealing and prostitution, particularly involving transsexuals. Many of these establishments were under the control of the Mafia or subject to NYPD protection rackets. In 1985 The Mineshaft was forcibly shuttered by the city at the height of AIDS preventionism, beginning in the late 1990s, the Meatpacking District went through a transformation. In 2004, New York magazine called the Meatpacking District New York’s most fashionable neighborhood, a catalyst for even greater transformation of the area was the opening in June 2009 of the first segment of the High Line linear park. A former elevated freight railroad built under the aegis of Robert Moses, it opened to reviews in the District as a greenway modeled after Pariss Promenade Plantée. ”By 2003, out of 250 twentieth-century slaughterhouses and packing plants in the area. The district was listed on the National Register on May 30,2007 with 140 buildings, since the historic district was designated, threats to the “sense of place” meant to be preserved have continued to crop up. In 2009, developers proposed a glass-walled office tower and retail space for 437 West 13th Street that was larger than zoning allowed, GVSHP strongly opposed the project, as the sense of openness in the area would be diminished and the low-scale character of the neighborhood would be eroded. In the end, the developers were not granted all of the variances that they had hoped for, one visible traditional feature that still remains are streets paved with Belgian blocks, often referred to, erroneously, as cobblestones
18.
New York City Department of Sanitation
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The New York City Department of Sanitation is the department of the government of New York City responsible for garbage collection, recycling collection, street cleaning, and snow removal. It handles over 12,000 tons of residential and institutional refuse and it has a uniformed force of unionized sanitation workers. Its regulations are compiled in Title 16 of the New York City Rules, there are nine uniformed titles in the New York City Department of Sanitation. DSNY police officers are New York State peace officers certified by the New York State Municipal Training Council, Officers may carry a firearm, carry and use handcuffs, make warrantless arrests, issue summonses, and use physical and even deadly force. The police force uses both marked and unmarked police cars, BCC assigns personnel and equipment to standard routes while managing the weekly allocation of personnel to address litter and illegal dumping. The Lot Cleaning Unit cleans vacant lots and the areas around them, the unit consists of Solid Waste Management Engineering, the Export Contract Management Unit, marine and land-based transfer stations, and the Fresh Kills landfill and long-term export programs. The Export Contract Management Unit handles DSNY contracts with vendors who operate municipal solid waste disposal facilities, including transfer stations. DSNY also has city-owned and operated transfer stations, Solid Waste Management Engineering is principally responsible for the design, construction, closure and post-closure care, and end-use development of the 2, 200-acre Fresh Kills landfill. It is integrated with systems such as GIS mapping services, fleet management, building management, human resources. BOO, Bureau Operations Office The Bureau Operations Office is DSNYs primary communications center, to ensure efficient communications, the radio room maintains and monitors citywide radio communications, equipment repair, upgrades, maintenance, and inventory. The Bureau oversees all DSNY facilities, administers the expense budget, the Bureaus Equipment and Facilities Unit works closely with Support Services to make sure that DSNY facilities receive constant monitoring, repairs, renovation, and emergency intervention. The Bureau works closely with the Real Estate Division to properly plan for new facilities from an operational standpoint, the division provides performance results to executive staff, field managers, and the public, to provide insight into organizational performance and help evaluate future initiatives. OMD also develops all departmental forms and provides services for the agency. The division allocates general superintendents, supervisors, civilians, and sanitation workers assigned to medical-duty to support daily Cleaning, BBM, Bureau of Building Maintenance The Bureau of Building Maintenance has responsibility for maintaining garages, transfer stations, repair shops, and office buildings throughout the five boroughs. The bureau employs carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trades who provide routine maintenance, facility rehabilitation, together with Legal Affairs and Engineering, the Bureau of Building Maintenance ensures that DSNY facilities are in compliance with all federal, state, and local oversight regulations. The Bureau also works with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to secure funding for energy reduction programs, Sanitation Police Officers are DSNY workers or supervisors who are trained, armed peace officers. Sanitation Enforcement Agents are unarmed civilians who undergo a comprehensive classroom, Environmental police officers conduct regular inspections to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations relating to these activities. It also plays a role in identifying and closing illegal transfer stations and dump sites, and works closely with DSNY Legal Affairs and various city, state
19.
West Side Highway
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The West Side Highway is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A that runs from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, which was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of maintenance, and was dismantled by 1989. The term West Side Highway is often used, particularly by the news media traffic reporters. The current highway was complete by 2001, but required some reconstruction due to damage sustained in the 9/11 attacks and it uses the surface streets that existed before the elevated highway was built, West Street, Eleventh Avenue and Twelfth Avenue. A short section of 12th Avenue still runs between 125th and 138th Streets, under the Riverside Drive Viaduct, Eleventh Avenue is a separate street north of 22nd Street. The portion between West 42nd Street and Canal Street is part of the Lincoln Highway, the highway is a six-to-eight lane urban boulevard, with the northernmost section, from 59th Street to 72nd Street, elevated above a former rail yard adjacent to tracks still used by Amtrak. Trucks and buses are allowed only on the surface section, the West Side Highways surface section takes three names, West Street from the Battery Park Underpass north to Tenth Avenue, then 11th Avenue to 22nd Street, and finally 12th Avenue to 59th Street. The highway begins from Battery Park close to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it also accepts traffic from the terminus of the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. From there, the route passes close to the site of the World Trade Center at Vesey Street, the route continues with this name passing by numerous piers along the Hudson River until Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District where it becomes Eleventh Avenue. Eleventh Avenue begins just north of the intersection with Tenth Avenue, the highway is concurrent with Eleventh Avenue north of this point, passing by the 14th Street Park at 14th Street. The highway continues with this name alongside the Chelsea Piers until it reaches 22nd Street where the branches off from Eleventh Avenue onto Twelfth Avenue. At 22nd Street, the highway continues as Twelfth Avenue passing by the Chelsea Waterside Park and it passes just west of the Javits Center from 34th Street to 38th Street and over the Lincoln Tunnel at 39th Street. The road continues past the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and Piers 84 to 92, at 54th Street, 12th Avenue attains a highway with service roads character, with the service roads running as far as 59th Street. From there, Twelfth Avenue becomes elevated and at 72nd Street, various proposals circulated in the 1920s to build an expressway on the west side. It would eliminate 106 grade crossings over 84 blocks and it ran into opposition because of fears that it would create a rail monopoly. The highway would run on top of the ten-story buildings, a similar alternative was offered by Benjamin Battin. The proposal immediately ran into stiff opposition, the City Club and New York City Mayor James J. Walker objected to the highway on the grounds that it would block waterfront-bound freight traffic. They believed that the plans should wait until the railroad tracks were removed in the area
20.
Geographic information system
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A geographic information system is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries, in general, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries, analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, Geographic information science is the science underlying geographic concepts, applications, and systems. GIS is a term that can refer to a number of different technologies, processes. It is attached to operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis, GIS can relate unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. Locations or extents in the Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, all Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should be relatable to one another and ultimately to a real physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry, the first known use of the term geographic information system was by Roger Tomlinson in the year 1968 in his paper A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning. Tomlinson is also acknowledged as the father of GIS, previously, one of the first applications of spatial analysis in epidemiology is the 1832 Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine. The French geographer Charles Picquet represented the 48 districts of the city of Paris by halftone color gradient according to the number of deaths by cholera per 1,000 inhabitants and this was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in epidemiology. The early 20th century saw the development of photozincography, which allowed maps to be split into layers, for one layer for vegetation. This work was drawn on glass plates but later plastic film was introduced, with the advantages of being lighter, using less storage space and being less brittle. When all the layers were finished, they were combined into one using a large process camera. Once color printing came in, the idea was also used for creating separate printing plates for each color. Computer hardware development spurred by nuclear weapon research led to general-purpose computer mapping applications by the early 1960s, the year 1960 saw the development of the worlds first true operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. A rating classification factor was added to permit analysis. CGIS was an improvement over computer mapping applications as it provided capabilities for overlay, measurement and it supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as arcs having a true embedded topology and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the father of GIS, CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada
21.
Commissioners' Plan of 1811
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It has been called the single most important document in New York Citys development, and the plan has been described as encompassing the republican predilection for control and balance. It was described by the Commission that created it as combining beauty, order, the legislature appointed a commission with sweeping powers in 1807, and their plan was presented in 1811. The Commissioners were Gouverneur Morris, a Founding Father of the United States, the lawyer John Rutherfurd, a former United States Senator, and their chief surveyor was John Randel Jr. who was 20 years old when he began the job. The Commissioners Plan is arguably the most famous use of the plan or gridiron and is considered by many historians to have been far-reaching. The gridiron as a concept for the layout of a town or city is not new, hippodamus went on to spread the grid to Pireaus, Rhodes and other cities in Greece. Most Muslim cities, for instance, are not built according to a strict gridiron, although there may be fractured grids within them, in France, England, and Wales, castra evolved into bastides, agricultural communities under a centralized monarchy. The gridiron idea spread with the Renaissance, although in cities, for instance London. In what would become the United States, the gridiron now predominates, by the time of the passage of the federal Land Ordinance of 1785, the grid plan was firmly established. Cities such as Anchorage, Alaska, Erie, Pennsylvania, Miami, Florida, there was significant variation in the size of the grids used. Carson City, Nevada, may have the smallest at 180-foot square and 60-foot streets, while Salt Lake City, the most popular appears to be the 300-foot square block with streets that are 60 feet to 80 feet wide. This size grid can be found in Anchorage, Bismarck, North Dakota, Missoula, Montana, Mobile, Alabama, Phoenix, Arizona, New Amsterdam, however, had not been laid out in a grid pattern by the Dutch. The streets of lower Manhattan were more organic, and incorporated Native American trails, cow paths, in all, the gridiron is the most pervasive city design on earth, and can be found in Italy and Greece, in Mexico, Central America, Mespoptamia, China Japan. They also began to lay assessments on property owners to pay for the cost of keeping the streets in repair, the first efforts at putting a grid onto Manhattan in some form came from private developers. In the early 1750s, Trinity Church laid out a small neighborhood around the new Kings College – which would later become Columbia University – in rectangular blocks. However, because the required landfill in the Hudson River, which wouldnt happen until much later. The second instance came when the powerful De Lancey family decided to break up part of their vast estate in the 1760s, and laid out of grid of streets centered on De Lancey Square. As royalists, their holdings were confiscated after the American Revolution, at about the same time as the Bayards, Petrus Stuyvesant, the great-grandson of Peter Stuyvesant, intended to lay out a small grid of streets, nine by four, to create a village on his estate. The orientation of the streets was to be true north-south and east-west, not shifted, the only street to actually be laid was the grids central east-west axis, Stuyvesant Street, which remains the one street in Manhattan oriented closely to true east and west
22.
East Side (Manhattan)
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The East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park from 59th to 110th Streets, the major neighborhoods on the East Side include East Harlem, Yorkville, Upper East Side, Turtle Bay, Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Gramercy, East Village, and the Lower East Side. The East Side is served by the IRT East Side Line subway and it is the first neighbourhood in the country to have several districts celebrating Siblings Day
23.
FDR Drive
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The FDR Drive is a 9. 44-mile freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Kennedy Bridge / Willis Avenue Bridge interchange, where it becomes the Harlem River Drive, all of the FDR Drive is designated New York State Route 907L, an unsigned reference route. By law, the current weight limits on the FDR Drive from 23rd Street to the Harlem River Drive in both directions is posted 8,000 pounds, buses are not allowed to use the roadway north of 23rd Street, because of clearance and weight issues. The FDR Drive features a mix of below-grade, at-grade, and elevated sections, the first sections of this roadway, originally named the East River Drive, were constructed in 1934, having been designed by Robert Moses. It was later renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt and is called the FDR Drive. Moses faced the difficulties of building a parkway/boulevard combination along the East River while minimizing disruptions to residents, future reconstruction designs from 1948 to 1966 converted the FDR Drive into the full parkway that is in use today. The section of highway from 23rd Street to 34th Street was built on wartime rubble dumped by cargo ships returning from Bristol, England, the German Luftwaffe bombed Bristol heavily. After delivering war supplies to the British, the ships crews loaded rubble onto the ships for ballast, then sailed back to New York, where construction crews made use of it. Exit 6, at 15th Street, is located near a Con Edison substation, which handles most of the electricity for lower Manhattan, and has been closed since the September 11,2001 attacks. City and ConEd officials believed it was too risky to allow easy access to such a critical piece of infrastructure. All signage of exit 6 was removed in early 2016, the East River Greenway runs below, beside or above the motor road from South Street to 34th Street and 60th Street to 124th Street. A plaque dedicating the East River Drive is visible on the roadway before entering the Gracie Mansion tunnel at 90th Street. FDR Drive starts at the tip of Manhattan at South and Whitehall streets. This section is known as the South Street Viaduct. From here, the road is at-grade, except for when it uses an underpass to dive below the Houston Street interchange, the ramp passed through a ConEdison facility that was deemed a potential terrorist target. East 15th and East 14th Streets were also vacated east of Avenue C, allowing only Con Edison, once past the 18th Street curve, it becomes elevated briefly until 25th Street in order to serve the 23rd Street interchange. After passing Waterside Plaza near 30th Street, the roadway again becomes elevated and this section is often referred to as the United Nations Tunnel, even though the northbound roadway is barely under the structure. The United Nations Headquarters was constructed on a platform above the roadway from 42nd to 48th Streets, in this unique tunnel, the southbound roadway is raised and runs over the northbound roadway for northbound access to and from the Queensboro Bridge interchange
24.
Avenue D (Manhattan)
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Avenue D is the easternmost named avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue C and west of the FDR Drive. It runs between East 12th and Houston Streets, and continues south of Houston Street as Columbia Street until Delancey Street, avenues A, B, C and D are the genesis of the name for Alphabet City section of the East Village neighborhood, which they run through. Avenue D is served by the M14D bus from East 10th Street to Houston Street, among the structures along this avenue are, Dry Dock Park, located at the northern end, a small park with a public pool—named for the neighborhoods former tradition of ship repair. The corner was formerly the site of the Corn Exchange Bank Trust Co, many of the larger Public Housing projects in Alphabet City are on Avenue D. The east side of Avenue D is flanked by the Jacob Riis Houses, named for famous photographer Jacob Riis, the development was designed by Walker & Gillette and was completed in 1949. Between 5th and 6th streets, east of Avenue D, was formerly the location of the Boys Brotherhood Republic, New York Songlines, Avenue D, a virtual walking tour
25.
Avenue C (Manhattan)
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Avenue C is a north-south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue B and west of Avenue D. It is also known as Loisaida Avenue and it starts at South Street, proceeding north as Montgomery Street and Pitt Street, before intersecting East Houston Street and assuming its proper name. Avenue C ends at 23rd Street, running nearly underneath the FDR Drive from 18th Street, north of 14th Street, the road forms the eastern boundary of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Avenue C was designated Loisaida Avenue in 1987 in recognition of Puerto Rican heritage of the neighborhood, Loisaida is Spanglish and is pronounced /ˌloʊ. iːˈsaɪdə/ LOH-ee-SY-də. The history of the neighborhood was described in the book Selling The Lower East Side, at the corner of Loisaida and 9th Street, there are two sizable community gardens that are maintained by the surrounding community. Their hours vary with the season and ability of their volunteers, the famous punk house C-Squat sits at another corner of 9th Street. The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, which opened in 2012, is located at C-Squat, Avenue C is served by the M9, the M14D, and the M23 New York City Bus routes. The closest bridge is the Williamsburg Bridge, which crosses from Brooklyn and empties into Delancey Street, the closest tunnel is the Queens Midtown Tunnel, which crosses from Queens onto East 34th Street in Midtown. Access to the East River Park is available via foot bridges at 10th Street, 6th Street, a bicycle lane has existed on the Avenue since 1999, and was recently repainted after Avenue C was repaved. It is now a buffered lane for the majority of its route and has extended to nearly the full length of the Avenue. The Public National Bank was a New York State-based bank, and this building was sold in 1954 and turned into a nursing home with the addition of a third story. In the 1980s it was converted to residential use, notes Selling The Lower East Side New York Songlines, Avenue C, a virtual walking tour Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
26.
Avenue B (Manhattan)
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Avenue B is a north-south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue A and west of Avenue C. It runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a road in Stuyvesant Town. Below Houston Street, Avenue B continues as Clinton Street to South Street and it is the eastern border of Tompkins Square Park. On the Upper East Side, Avenue B reappears as East End Avenue, principally residential in character and it was called Avenue B under the original Commissioners Plan of 1811, but is no longer given that designation. Carl Schurz Park, the location of Gracie Mansion, is adjacent to the avenue at this point, in 1928, the New York City Board of Estimate ruled that development below East 84th Street was restricted to residential use. The Christodora House, a former womens Settlement House and now a condominium, is located on Avenue B at 9th Street. The Charlie Parker Residence at 151 Avenue B between 9th and 10th Streets, where jazz musician Charlie Bird Parker lived from 1950 to 1954, is a New York City landmark, currently, there is no bus that travels on Avenue B. The M9 bus formerly used this street from East Houston Street to 14th Street, the M9 now travels on Avenue C from Houston to 23rd Streets. On Lou Reeds 1989 album New York, the song Halloween Parade includes the line The boys from Avenue B, the girls from Avenue D, the song is about the ravages of AIDS, using the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade as a backdrop. Notes New York Songlines, Avenue B, a walking tour
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Avenue A (Manhattan)
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Avenue A is a north-south avenue located in Manhattan, New York City, east of First Avenue and west of Avenue B. It runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a road in Stuyvesant Town. Below Houston Street, Avenue A continues as Essex Street and it is considered to be the western border of Alphabet City in the East Village. It is also the border of Tompkins Square Park. Under the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid, East of First Avenue the plan provided four additional lettered avenues running from Avenue A eastward to Avenue D wherever they could be fitted. While First Avenue was the easternmost avenue in most of Manhattan, the Recreation Center includes the Asser Levy Public Baths, built in 1904-06. Beekman Place, located at the headquarters of the United Nations, runs as a street between Mitchell Place/49th Street and 51st Street. Though not part of the original Avenue A in the 1811 plan, it is named after the Beekman family, Sutton Place was also formerly designated as Avenue A, in its original length it ran between East 53rd and 92nd Streets. The New York City Board of Aldermen approved a petition to change the name from Avenue A to Sutton Place and this section is the only former section of Avenue A to still use the Avenue A address system. The northernmost section of Avenue A, stretching between East 114th and 120th Streets in East Harlem, was renamed Pleasant Avenue in 1879, the addresses on Pleasant Avenue are not continuous with those on Avenue A
28.
York Avenue / Sutton Place
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York Avenue and Sutton Place are the names of a relatively short north-south thoroughfare in the Yorkville, Lenox Hill, and Sutton Place neighborhoods of the East Side of Manhattan, in New York City. York Avenue runs from 59th to 91st Streets through eastern Lenox Hill, the street is considered among the citys most affluent, and both portions are known for upscale apartments, much like the rest of the Upper East Side. Addresses on York Avenue are continuous with that of Avenue A in the Alphabet City neighborhood, starting in the 1100 series and rising to the 1700 series. Sutton Square is the cul-de-sac at the end of East 58th Street, just east of Sutton Place, the geography of Manhattan left a large area on the Upper East Side east of First Avenue without a major north-south thoroughfare, so Avenue A was added to compensate. Sutton Place, the name applied to the whole street at the time, was originally one of several disconnected stretches of Avenue A built where space allowed. In 1875, Effingham B. Sutton constructed a group of brownstones between 57th and 58th Streets, the earliest source found by The New York Times using the term Sutton Place dates to 1883. At that time, the New York City Board of Aldermen approved a petition to change the name from Avenue A to Sutton Place, the block between 59th and 60th Streets is now considered a part of York Avenue. Both townhouses were designed by Mott B, schmidt, launching a career that included many houses for the wealthy. )Very shortly thereafter, developers started to build grand co-operative apartment houses on Sutton Place and Sutton Place South, including several designed by Rosario Candela. Sutton Place encompasses two public parks overlooking the East River, one at the end of 57th Street and another at the end of 53rd Street. The 57th Street park, named Sutton Place Park, is separated by a fence from the landscaped grounds behind One Sutton Place South. The property behind One Sutton Place South was the subject of a dispute between the owners and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In 1939, city authorities took ownership of the property behind One Sutton Place South by condemnation in connection with the construction of the FDR Drive, the buildings lease for its backyard expired in 1990. The co-op tried unsuccessfully to extend the lease, and later made prospective apartment-buyers review the status of the backyard. Residents of Sutton Place include writer Eve Curie, architect I. M. Pei, designer Kenneth Cole, former residents include Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, C. Z. One Sutton Place North, a townhouse at the northeast corner of Sutton Place and East 57th Street, was built as a residence for Anne Harriman Vanderbilt, the Secretarys home is 0.6 miles from the UN Headquarters. These townhouses have a park at the rear with FDR Drive running below along the East River, the auction house Sothebys is headquartered on York Avenue. 1935/37 – Sutton Place at East 53rd Street is the Dead End of the play and movie of that name,1947 – In John Cheevers short story The Enormous Radio, the main characters, Jim and Irene Wescott, live in an apartment in the Sutton Place neighborhood. 1948 –1 Sutton Place North is the home of Alison Courtland and her husband Richard in Douglas Sirks film noir Sleep,1951 – Sutton Place is mentioned in J. D. Salingers novel Catcher in the Rye as the location of a swanky apartment
29.
Pleasant Avenue
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Pleasant Avenue is a north-south street in the East Harlem neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It begins at E. 114th Street and ends at E. 120th Street, the street was the northernmost section of Avenue A, which stretched from Alphabet City northward, and was added to the grid wherever space allowed between First Avenue and the East River. This stretch was renamed Pleasant Avenue in 1879, the neighborhood shrunk over the years, and the small remaining Italian population resides on Pleasant Avenue. The street is the site of one of the few remaining Italian restaurants in the area, Raos, the street had largely lost its Italian character by 2010. Both in real life and in the movies, Pleasant Avenue has long associated with the Mafia. The street was the headquarters of Anthony Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family and it was also the founding location and turf of the Italian-American drug trafficking and murder-for-hire gang known as East Harlem Purple Gang during the 1970s and early 1980s. The Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, formerly Benjamin Franklin High School, is located on Pleasant Avenue, in July 2010, Pleasant Avenue became the site of a Target store, at the East River Plaza at 517 East 117th Street. Every year on the second Sunday of August the Giglio Society of East Harlem performs the dancing Giglio on Pleasant Avenue, the dancing of the Giglio is an Italian tradition which began over 100 years ago. Notes East Harlem Giglio Society New York Times East Harlem Giglio Feast
30.
Asser Levy Place
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Avenue A is a north-south avenue located in Manhattan, New York City, east of First Avenue and west of Avenue B. It runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a road in Stuyvesant Town. Below Houston Street, Avenue A continues as Essex Street and it is considered to be the western border of Alphabet City in the East Village. It is also the border of Tompkins Square Park. Under the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid, East of First Avenue the plan provided four additional lettered avenues running from Avenue A eastward to Avenue D wherever they could be fitted. While First Avenue was the easternmost avenue in most of Manhattan, the Recreation Center includes the Asser Levy Public Baths, built in 1904-06. Beekman Place, located at the headquarters of the United Nations, runs as a street between Mitchell Place/49th Street and 51st Street. Though not part of the original Avenue A in the 1811 plan, it is named after the Beekman family, Sutton Place was also formerly designated as Avenue A, in its original length it ran between East 53rd and 92nd Streets. The New York City Board of Aldermen approved a petition to change the name from Avenue A to Sutton Place and this section is the only former section of Avenue A to still use the Avenue A address system. The northernmost section of Avenue A, stretching between East 114th and 120th Streets in East Harlem, was renamed Pleasant Avenue in 1879, the addresses on Pleasant Avenue are not continuous with those on Avenue A
31.
First Avenue (Manhattan)
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South of Houston Street, the roadway continues as Allen Street south to Division Street. Traffic on First Avenue runs northbound only, the southern portions of the Avenue were cut and laid out shortly after the plan was adopted. The northern sections of the Avenue would be graded and cut through at various intervals throughout the 19th century as the development of the island demanded. The IRT Second Avenue Line ran above First Avenue from Houston Street to 23rd Street before turning left at 23rd and this elevated line was torn down in 1942. First Avenue has carried traffic since June 4,1951. A protected bike lane was established along the side of the avenue south of 50th Street in 2011. First Avenue passes through a variety of residential neighborhoods. Between 42nd Street and 45th Street, it borders the United Nations headquarters complex and these fill the east side of the avenue from 14th to 23rd Streets. The avenue is very wide in this segment, and is separated by a median, the New York Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and NYU Medical Center fill the blocks from there to 34th Street. Between 42nd and 47th streets, the avenue runs past United Nations Headquarters, here a local bypass, United Nations Plaza, splits from the main road, which runs through the First Avenue Tunnel, rejoining the local street at 49th Street. Crossing under the Queensboro Bridge and entering the Upper East Side, First Avenue runs through a number of areas of varying character. It serves as one of the shopping streets of the Yorkville neighborhood, historically a German and Hungarian neighborhood. In this district, First Avenue is also known as Bedpan Alley because of the number of hospitals located nearby. Crossing 96th Street, First Avenue runs through Spanish Harlem, a historically Puerto Rican neighborhood, before Puerto Rican migration in the 1950s, much of this district was populated by Italians and known as Italian Harlem. First Avenue in Italian Harlem was the site of a major open-air pushcart market in the late 19th, there is still a small Italian enclave in the Pleasant Valley district of East Harlem, between 114th and 120th Streets. The northern reaches of First Avenue, north of roughly 110th Street have also seen a significant increase in Mexican residents, First Avenue then connects to the Willis Avenue Bridge, which crosses the Harlem River at 125th Street and connects to Willis Avenue in the Bronx. The opening scene of Ghostbusters II was filmed at the intersection of First Avenue, in the Seinfeld TV series, Kramer describes the intersection of First Avenue and 1st Street as the nexus of the universe. This provided the name for a called the Nexus Lounge at that location
32.
Second Avenue (Manhattan)
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Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic on Second Avenue runs southbound only, south of Houston Street, the roadway continues as Chrystie Street south to Canal Street. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th to 34th Street closes a gap in the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, the bike lane extends from 125th Street all the way down to Houston Street. Second Avenue passes through a number of Manhattan neighborhoods including the Lower East Side, East Village, Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Upper East Side, Yorkville and Spanish Harlem. Although the theaters are gone, many traces of Jewish immigrant culture remain, such as kosher delicatessens and bakeries, and the famous Second Avenue Deli. The Second Avenue Elevated train line ran above Second Avenue the full length of the north of 23rd Street. South of Second Avenue, it ran on First Avenue and then Allen, the elevated trains were noisy and often dirty. This depressed land values along Second Avenue during the late 19th, partially because of the presence of the El, most buildings constructed during this era were working class tenements. The line was torn down in 1942 because it was deteriorated and obsolete. Second Avenue maintains its modest architectural character today, despite running through a number of high income areas, Second Avenue has carried one-way traffic since June 4,1951, before which it carried traffic in both the northbound and southbound directions. On March 26,2015, a gas explosion and resulting fire in the East Village destroyed three buildings at 119,121 and 123 Second Avenue, between East 7th Street and St. At least twenty-two people were injured, four critically, and two people were listed as missing. Later, two men were dead in the debris of the explosion and were confirmed to be the ones listed as missing. The illegal taps were serving some of the apartments in the building, Con Ed turned off the gas to the building for 10 days until the taps were removed and the plumber who did the work certified to the citys Building Department that it had been completed. Neither the Building Department nor Con Ed was required by law to verify that the work had been done, in the days before the explosion, work was ongoing in the building for the installation of a new 4-inch gas line to service the apartments in 121. Con Ed workers inspected the installation just an hour before the explosion, There was no gas running through the new line. Shortly after, the owner of the restaurant smelled gas and called the landlord of the building, when the contractor in charge of the work being done and the landlords son opened the basement door, the explosion took place. Eleven other buildings were evacuated as a result of the explosion, several days later, some residents were allowed to return to some of the vacated buildings
33.
Taras Shevchenko Place
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Taras Shevchenko Place is a street in New York City named after Taras Shevchenko, who is commonly considered the greatest Ukrainian poet. Taras Shevchenko Place connects Sixth and Seventh Streets between Second and Third Avenues in the East Village, in one of his poems, he called for an independent Ukrainian state to be led by a Ukrainian Washington. The street was known as Hall Street and then as Hall Place, after Charles Henry Hall. City Council changed the name of Hall Place to Taras Shevchenko Place in 1978, there was an attempt in 2001 by the Cooper Union to rename the street back to Hall Place, by de-mapping the Taras Shevchenko name. A Hall Place street sign was re-installed in 2010
34.
Third Avenue
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Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St and it transitions into Cooper Square, and further south, the Bowery, Chatham Square, and Park Row. The Manhattan side ends at East 128th Street, Third Avenue is two-way from Cooper Square to 24th Street, but since July 17,1960 has carried only northbound traffic while in Manhattan, in the Bronx, it is again two-way. S. It is one of the four streets that form The Hub, like most urban streets, Third Avenue was unpaved until the late 19th century. The business-like air with which they marched rapidly through the mud of the Third-avenue was the more remarkable. Portions of Third Avenue are served by several routes in Manhattan, buses serving Third Avenue include the Third and Lexington Avenues Line. Note that southbound M98, M101, M102, and M103 service operates on Lexington Avenue north of East 24th Street, later it was served by the Third Avenue elevated line, which operated from 1878 until 1955 in Manhattan, and 1973 in the Bronx. The Bx55 replaced the Third Avenue Line in the Bronx in 1973, at the time the El was being torn down in Manhattan, there was a movement to rename the whole of Third Avenue in Manhattan the Bouwerie, although it had never been part of the Bowery. Today, the Third Avenue – 149th Street station, Third Avenue – 138th Street station, and the Third Avenue stations all are served by the New York City Subway
35.
Lexington Avenue
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Along its 5. 5-mile, 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs through Harlem, Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side, Midtown, and Murray Hill to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues as Irving Place from 20th Street to East 14th Street, the portion of Lexington Avenue between 14th and 20th Streets is known as Irving Place. Ruggles had purchased land in the area, and was developing it as a community of townhouses around a private park. He was also developing property around the planned Union Square, the legislation approved, and, as the owner of most of the land along the route of the new street, Ruggles was assessed for the majority of its cost. Ruggles named the section, below 20th Street, which opened in 1833. The northern section, which opened three years later, in 1836, was named after the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War. Lexington saw the first arrest in New York for speeding, in 1899, when a bicycle patrolman overtook cabdriver Jacob German, the portion of Lexington Avenue above East 42nd Street was reconstructed at the same time as the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. The widened street and the line both opened on July 17,1918. Parallel to Lexington Avenue lies Park Avenue to its west and Third Avenue to its east, the avenue is largely commercial at ground level, with offices above. There are clusters of hotels in the 30s and 40s, roughly from the intersection with 30th Street through to its intersection with 49th Street. Portions of the avenue were widened in 1955, which required eminent domain takings of the facades of some structures along Lexington, Lexington Avenue has carried one-way traffic since July 17,1960. The July 18,2007 New York City steam explosion sent a geyser of hot steam up from beneath the avenue at 41st Street resulting in one death and more than 40 injuries. In contrast to Lexington Avenue, the stretch of Irving Place. Irving Plaza, on East 15th Street and Irving, hosts concerts for both well-known and indie bands and draws a crowd almost every night. Another component of the avenue are the apartment buildings which line the street from Gramercy Park to 17th Street. Also at 17th, a small bed-and-breakfast, the Inn at Irving Place, offices located on Irving Place include those of The Nation magazine, the New York branch of the Rosicrucian Order and the Seafarers and International House mission. There are also a number of clinics and official city buildings along the street, including Washington Irving High School, the bottom of the street is anchored by the rear of the Zeckendorf Towers condominium apartment complex on the west side, and the Consolidated Edison Building on the east. M101 and M103 run to 125th Street, M102 runs to 116th Street, Lexington Avenue became part of a classic American cinematic moment, in the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch, the scene in which Marilyn Monroe shot what would become her most famous scene
36.
Park Avenue
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Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the borough of Manhattan, and is also a wide one-way pair in the Bronx. For most of the length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west. Park Avenues entire length was formerly called Fourth Avenue, the title applies to the section between the Bowery and 14th Street. Meanwhile, the section between 14th and 17th Street is called Union Square East, and between 17th and 32nd Streets, the name Park Avenue South is used, in the Bronx, Park Avenue runs in several segments between the Major Deegan Expressway and Fordham Road. Park Avenue was originally known as Fourth Avenue and carried the tracks of the New York, the railroad originally ran through an open cut through Murray Hill, which was covered with grates and grass between 34th and 40th Street in the early 1850s. A section of park was later renamed Park Avenue in 1860. When Grand Central Depot was opened in the 1870s, the tracks between 56th and 93rd Streets were sunk out of sight and, in 1888, Park Avenue was extended to north of Grand Central. In 1936 the elevated Park Avenue Viaduct was built around the station to allow traffic to pass unimpeded. In October 1937, a part of the Murray Hill Tunnel was reopened for road traffic, efforts to promote a Grand Park Avenue Expressway to Grand Concourse in the Bronx were unavailing. A tradition was introduced in 1945 as a memorial to American soldiers killed in action, on May 5,1959, the New York City Council voted 20–1 to change the name of Fourth Avenue between 17th and 32nd Streets to Park Avenue South. In 1963, the Pan Am Building, straddling Park Avenue atop Grand Central Terminal, was built between the automotive viaducts, on March 12,2014, two apartment buildings near 116th Street,1644 and 1646 Park Avenue, were destroyed in a gas explosion. Eight people were killed and many others were injured, the road that becomes Park Avenue originates as the Bowery. From Cooper Square at 8th Street to Union Square at 14th Street, it is known as Fourth Avenue, at 14th Street, it turns slightly northeast to align with other avenues drawn up in the Commissioners Plan of 1811. From 17th Street to 32nd Street, it is known as Park Avenue South, above 32nd Street, for the remainder of its distance, it is known as Park Avenue, a 140-foot-wide boulevard. Between 33rd Street and 40th Street, the northbound lane descends into the Murray Hill Tunnel. The bridge, one of two structures in Manhattan known as the Park Avenue Viaduct, returns to level at 46th Street after going through the Helmsley Building. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street, once the line reaches Grand Central – 42nd Street, it shifts east to Lexington Avenue. From 47th to 97th Streets, Metro-North Railroad tracks run in a tunnel underneath Park Avenue, in the 1920s the portion of Park Avenue from Grand Central Terminal to 96th Street saw extensive apartment building construction
37.
Park Avenue Tunnel (roadway)
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The Park Avenue Tunnel, also called the Murray Hill Tunnel, is a 1, 600-foot-long tunnel that passes under seven blocks of Park Avenue in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Traffic currently goes northbound from 33rd Street toward the Park Avenue Viaduct, the vertical clearance is 8 ft 11 in. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway runs parallel to the Park Avenue Tunnel in two tunnels below it, the tunnel once carried the New York and Harlem Railroad and later that companys streetcar line, and was then called the Murray Hill Tunnel. The tunnel was built as an open rock cut, completed in 1837, after which the NY&H Railroad was opened as far as Yorkville. In 1850 the cut was roofed over, using granite stringers from the railroad bed south of 14th Street. Due to the construction of Grand Central Terminal and the removal of tracks, prior to August 3,2008, the tunnel carried two-way traffic, two lanes, but was reconfigured to increase safety for pedestrians crossing Park Avenue at 33rd Street. In the 2014 Summer Streets, the temporarily reopened to pedestrians, this time featuring DIVE. Both art projects were commissioned by the New York City Department of Transportation, parts of the 1998 movie Godzilla were filmed in the tunnel. Toward the end of the film, Godzilla chases the films main characters into the tunnel, the bridge, however, is in reality over 4.5 kilometres from the tunnel. Park Avenue Viaduct Notes Abandoned Stations -38 St
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Park Avenue Viaduct
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The viaduct was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, technically as a boundary increase to the Grand Central Terminals prior listing, but carrying a separate reference number. The viaduct provides a pedestrian-, bicycle-, and bus-free express route for taxicabs, the area around where the viaduct crosses 42nd Street, Pershing Square is named after General John J. Pershing. Consequently, the portion of the viaduct between 42nd and 40th Streets is also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, but two ramps, northbound and southbound, connect the two streets. The viaduct was first proposed in 1916, and construction began in 1918 Work progressed rapidly despite the difficulty in securing labor and material. A spur ran east along the rear of the terminal, providing parking space, at the same time, plans started to formulate for the ramps at the bottom of the viaduct, which would be called Pershing Square in honor of Gen. Shortly after completion, it was evident that additional measures were needed to prevent a tie up at the north end of the newly completed pass. The plan was approved by the Board of Estimate in January 1928, in 1939, the city built a steel and glass-brick structure under the viaduct at the center of Pershing Square from 42nd Street to 41st Street, which it utilized to provide tourist information. The building, at 90 East 42nd Street, was converted into a restaurant. The viaduct appears in movies and television show episodes, Will Smith, as a policeman. In the 2007 film I Am Legend, Will Smiths character is captured by a vampires snare there, the viaduct is also shown during a battle in the 2012 film The Avengers. Michael Keaton flies through the viaduct in 2014s Birdman, Park Avenue Tunnel Pershing Square, Manhattan Notes Media related to Park Avenue Viaduct at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Pershing Square at Wikimedia Commons
39.
Broadway (Manhattan)
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Broadway /ˈbrɔːdweɪ/ is a road in the U. S. state of New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating to the first New Amsterdam settlement, the name Broadway is the English language literal translation of the Dutch name, Brede weg. Broadway is known widely as the heart of the American theatre industry, Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. Wickquasgeck means birch-bark country in the Algonquian language and this trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642, the Dutch named the road Heerestraat. Although current street signs are simply labeled as Broadway, in a 1776 map of New York City, in the mid-eighteenth century, part of Broadway in what is now lower Manhattan was known as Great George Street. An 1897 City Map shows a segment of Broadway as Kingsbridge Road in the vicinity of what is now the George Washington Bridge. In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town north of Wall Street, where traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road. The western Bloomingdale Road would be widened and paved during the 19th century, on February 14,1899, the name Broadway was extended to the entire Broadway/Bloomingdale/Boulevard road. Broadway once was a street for its entire length. The present status, in which it runs one-way southbound south of Columbus Circle, on 6 June 1954, Seventh Avenue became southbound and Eighth Avenue became northbound south of Broadway. On 3 June 1962, Broadway became one-way south of Canal Street, with Trinity Place, northbound traffic on Broadway now needs to take Amsterdam Avenue to 73rd Street, make a sharp turn on the very narrow 73rd and then right turn on Broadway. Otherwise, and effectively, the traffic on Broadway has been diverted into Amsterdam Avenue. In August 2008, two lanes from 42nd to 35th Streets were taken out of service and converted to public plazas. Additionally, bike lanes were added on Broadway from 42nd Street down to Union Square, the city decided that the experiment was successful and decided to make the change permanent in February 2010. Additionally, portions of Broadway in the Madison Square and Union Square have been dramatically narrowed, Broadway runs the length of Manhattan Island, roughly parallel to the North River, from Bowling Green at the south to Inwood at the northern tip of the island. South of Columbus Circle, it is a southbound street
40.
Vanderbilt Avenue
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Vanderbilt Avenue is the name of three streets in New York City, all of which were named after Cornelius Vanderbilt, the builder of Grand Central Terminal. Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn carries traffic north and south between Grand Army Plaza and Flushing Avenue at the Vanderbilt Avenue gate of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and this avenue serves the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Prospect Heights. Landmarks include the old Public School 9 and Public School 9 Annex buildings at the corner of Sterling Place, the B69 bus, which replaced a streetcar line in 1950, runs on this avenue. There were also two now-demolished subway stations on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line and BMT Fulton Street Line built here, Vanderbilt Avenue in Manhattan runs from 42nd Street to 47th Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue. It was built in the late 1860s as the result of construction of Grand Central Depot, the southbound Grand Central Terminal Park Avenue Viaduct runs above the streets eastern side. When it was built, it ran from 42nd Street to 49th Street. However, in the 1960s, the portion between 47th Street and 49th Street became part of 270 Park Avenue and 280 Park Avenue so it no longer exists, Vanderbilt Avenue runs northeast-southwest through East Shore. It is approximately 1 mile long and serves the neighborhoods of Clifton, Stapleton Heights, Concord, the northeast end is on Bay Street, west of Clifton of the Staten Island Railway and east of Bayley Seton Hospital. This numbering system includes the numerically highest of street addresses in New York City, other roads that fork off of this corridor are, St. Pauls Avenue, Van Duzer Street, Targee Street, Rockland Avenue, Bloomingdale Road, and Richmond Valley Road. This street is served by the S76 and S86 bus routes
41.
Madison Avenue
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Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Street, in doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side, East Harlem, and Harlem. It is named after and arises from Madison Square, which is named after James Madison. Ruggles who had purchased and developed New Yorks Gramercy Park in 1831, who was in part responsible for the development of Union Square. Since the 1920s, the name has been metonymous with the American advertising industry. Therefore, the term Madison Avenue refers specifically to the agencies, Madison Avenue techniques refers, according to William Safire, to the gimmicky, slick use of the communications media to play on emotions. Between East 135th Street and East 142nd Street, Madison Avenue carries southbound traffic only, the term Madison Avenue is often used metonymically for advertising, and Madison Avenue became identified with the American advertising industry after the explosive growth in this area in the 1920s. In recent decades, many agencies have left Madison Avenue, with some moving further downtown and others moving west. The continued presence of large agencies in the city makes New York the third largest job market per capita in the U. S. in 2016 according to a study by marketing recruitment firm MarketPro. Today, only a few agencies are located in the old business cluster on Madison Avenue, including StrawberryFrog, TBWA Worldwide. However, the term is used to describe the agency business as a whole and large. Madison Square is formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street, the square was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The focus of the square is Madison Square Park, a 6, the first Garden was a former rail station that was converted into an open-air circus venue by P. T. Barnum in 1871 and was renamed Madison Square Garden in 1879. The original Garden was demolished in 1889 and replaced by a new arena designed by Stanford White that opened the following year. The second Garden had a statue of the Roman goddess Diana on the tower of the sports arena. When it moved to a new building at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in 1925 it kept its old name, Madison Square Garden is now located at Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Street, however, it still retains the name. These buses use a bus lane between 42nd and 59th Street, but the bus lane is not present in any other portion of the avenue. In July 1987, then New York City Mayor Edward Koch proposed banning bicycling on Fifth, Park and Madison Avenues during weekdays, but many bicyclists protested and had the ban overturned
42.
Fifth Avenue
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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
43.
West Side (Manhattan)
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The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side, the major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper West Side, Hells Kitchen, Chelsea, West Village, SoHo, and Tribeca. The 8th Avenue and West Side subway lines connect all parts of the West Side, the main north-south roads servicing the West Side are the Henry Hudson Parkway in the north, and the West Side Highway in the south. The Hudson River Greenway separates them from the west shore of the island, the Far West Side would have been the location of West Side Stadium, which was intended as the Olympic stadium for the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Jeffery Sweets one-act play Cover references this area of New York, the Intrepid Museum is located in the West Side and houses many ships and aircraft, including the Concorde, USS Intrepid and the Space Shuttle
44.
Rockefeller Center
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Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 high-rise commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is famous for its annual Christmas tree lighting, Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it beginning in 1930. Rockefeller stated, It was clear there were only two courses open to me. One was to abandon the entire development, the other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone. The initial cost of acquiring the space, razing some of the existing buildings and it was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. Construction of the 14 buildings in the Art Deco style began on May 17,1930, principal builder and managing agent for the massive project was John R. Todd. The construction of the project employed over 40,000 people and it was the public relations pioneer Ivy Lee, the prominent adviser to the family, who first suggested the name Rockefeller Center for the complex, in 1931. Rockefeller, Jr. initially did not want the Rockefeller family name associated with the commercial project, what could have become a major controversy in the mid-1930s concerned the last of the four European buildings that remained unnamed. Ivy Lee and others attempts to rent the space to German commercial concerns. Rockefeller ruled this out after being advised of Hitlers Nazi march toward World War II and this subsequently became the primary location of the U. S. In 1985, Columbia University sold the land beneath Rockefeller Center to the Rockefeller Group for $400 million, in 1989, Mitsubishi Estate, a real estate company of the Mitsubishi Group, purchased the entire Rockefeller Center complex, and its owner, Rockefeller Group. In 1996, the complex was purchased by a consortium of owners that included Goldman Sachs, Gianni Agnelli, Stavros Niarchos, and David Rockefeller. Tishman Speyer, led by Jerry Speyer, a friend of David Rockefeller. The landmark buildings comprise over 8,000,000 square feet on 22 acres in Midtown, bounded by Fifth and Sixth avenues and these are co-owned by Tishman-Speyer, and open to the public. 1 Rockefeller Plaza – The original Time–Life Building, a tenant was General Dynamics. 10 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the Holland House, then the Eastern Air Lines Building, currently home of Today Show studios. 30 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the RCA Building, in 1988 it was renamed the GE Building, headquarters of NBC, the Rainbow Room restaurant is located on the 65th floor
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Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
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It is commercial for much of its length. Sixth Avenues northern end is at Central Park South, adjacent to the Artists Gate traffic entrance to Central Park at Center Drive, historically, Sixth Avenue continued north of Central Park, but that segment was renamed Lenox Avenue in 1887 and co-named Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987. Sixth Avenue was laid out in the Commissioners Plan of 1811, as originally designed, Sixth Avenues southern terminus was at Carmine Street in Greenwich Village. In the early and mid 1800s it passed by the roadhouse and tavern Old Grapevine at the corner of 11th street. The IRT Sixth Avenue Line elevated railway was constructed on Sixth Avenue in 1878, darkening the street, proposals to extend the street south from Carmine Street, to allow easier access to lower Manhattan, were discussed by the citys Board of Aldermen as early as the mid-1860s. Construction of the resulted in considerable dislocation to existing residents. One historian said that ten people were displaced, most of them Italian immigrants who knew no other home in America. According to the WPA Guide to New York City, the resulted in blank side walls facing the uninspiring thoroughfare. Dozens of buildings, including the original Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, were demolished, by the mid-20th century, a coalition of commercial establishments and building owners along Sixth Avenue campaigned to have the El removed. The El was closed on December 4,1938 and came down in stages, beginning in Greenwich Village in 1938–39, demolition of the Sixth Avenue elevated railway, meanwhile, resulted in accelerated commercial development of the avenue in Midtown. Beginning in the 1960s, the avenue was rebuilt above 42nd Street as an all-but-uninterrupted avenue of corporate headquarters housed in glass slab towers of International Modernist style. On March 10,1957, Sixth Avenue was reconfigured to carry one-way traffic north of its intersection with Broadway in Herald Square, the rest of the avenue followed on November 10,1963. In the mid-1970s, the city spruced up the street, including the addition of patterned brick crosswalks, repainting of streetlamps, special lighting, rare throughout the rest of the city, was also installed. The avenues official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by the City Council, at the behest of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who signed the bill into law on October 2,1945. The intent was to honor Pan-American ideals and principles and the nations of Central and South America and it was felt at the time that the name would provide greater grandeur to a shabby street, and to promote trade with the Western Hemisphere. After the name change, round signs were attached to streetlights on the avenue, however, New Yorkers seldom used the avenues newer name, and the street has been labelled as both Avenue of the Americas and Sixth Avenue in recent years. Most of the old round signs with country emblems were gone by the late 1990s, R. Grace Building, International Center of Photography, Rockefeller Center — including the Time-Life Building, News Corp. Building, Exxon Building and McGraw-Hill Building, as well as Radio City Music Hall, the Steinway Hall of New York was moved to 1130 Sixth Avenue in October 2014
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Lenox Avenue
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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
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East Drive (Manhattan)
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Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013. The park was established in 1857 on 778 acres of city-owned land, construction began the same year and the parks first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction continued during the American Civil War farther north, and was expanded to its current size of 843 acres in 1873, Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U. S. Department of the Interior in 1962. The Conservancy is a organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Parks $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 843-acre park. Between 1821 and 1855, New York City nearly quadrupled in population, as the city expanded northward up Manhattan, people were drawn to the few existing open spaces, mainly cemeteries, to get away from the noise and chaotic life in the city. Since Central Park was not part of the original Commissioners Plan of 1811, John Randel, Jr. surveyed the grounds. The only remaining surveying bolt from his survey is still visible, it is embedded in a rock just north of the present Dairy and the 65th Street Transverse, the bolt marks the location where West 65th Street would have intersected Sixth Avenue. The state appointed a Central Park Commission to oversee the development of the park, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux developed what came to be known as the Greensward Plan, which was selected as the winning design. The Greensward Plan called for some 36 bridges, all designed by Vaux, ranging from rugged spans of Manhattan schist or granite, to lacy Neo-Gothic cast iron, several influences came together in the design. Landscaped cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn and Green-Wood had set examples of idyllic, naturalistic landscapes, the most influential innovations in the Central Park design were the separate circulation systems for pedestrians, horseback riders, and pleasure vehicles. The crosstown commercial traffic was entirely concealed in sunken roadways, screened with densely planted shrub belts so as to maintain a rustic ambiance, before the construction of the park could start, the area had to be cleared of its inhabitants. Most lived in villages, such as Harsenville, the Piggery District, or Seneca Village, or in the school. Approximately 1,600 residents were evicted under the rule of eminent domain during 1857, Seneca Village and parts of the other communities were razed to make room for the park. During the parks construction, Olmsted fought constant battles with the park commissioners, between 1860 and 1873, most of the major hurdles to construction were overcome and the park was substantially completed. The work was documented with technical drawings and photographs. More gunpowder was used to clear the area than was used at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War, the parks commissioners assigned a name to each of the original 18 gates in 1862. The names were chosen to represent the diversity of New York Citys trades, for example, Mariners Gate for the entrance at 85th Street
