200th Birthday for the Map That Made New York
Sam Roberts of The New York Times, writing about the grid plan of Manhattan’s streets on the 200th anniversary of its publication:
The grid was the great leveler. By shifting millions of cubic yards of earth and rock, it carved out modest but equal flat lots (mostly 25 by 100 feet) available for purchase. And if it fostered what de Tocqueville viewed as relentless monotony, its coordinates also enabled drivers and pedestrians to figure out where they stood, physically and metaphorically.
It’s a fascinating story of how a rectangular grid was imposed on the island: houses and property were seized and destroyed when they didn’t fit neatly in the master plan, and the topography of the island itself was leveled by flattening hills and filling in swamps.
Dr. Rose-Redwood calculated that in 1811, of the 1,865 buildings north of Houston Street, 721 stood on newly mapped streets and had to be either razed or moved. As executed, natural topography was ignored (stranding some houses on bluffs). Driving streets through private property sparked not-in-my-backyard revolts. Owners were compensated, though tax assessments also rose on properties bordering the new streets. Clement Clarke Moore, before making a fortune parceling out his Chelsea property and claiming authorship of “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” characterized the commissioners as “men who would have cut down the seven hills of Rome.”
I love that quote at the end.