1873–Harlem Becomes Part of New York

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this region was simply known as Northern Manhattan, and the current 86th Street was considered to be the southern bound- ary. Within this region, several prominent families established estates during the days of the early republic, removed from the commercial concentration at the southern end of the island. Some of the families that had estates in this first suburb of New York included the Rikers, the Hamiltons, the Delanceys, and the Bleekers.

Alexander Hamilton acquired the property where he built his home known as the Grange from Lt. Jacob Schieffelin. Lt. Schieffelin, one of the founders of the village of Manhattanville—centered near where 129th street and Amsterdam Avenue is today—and British loyalist with the Detroit Volunteers eloped with Hannah Lawrence, the daughter of the Quaker whose family pro- vided him with accommodations during the British occupation of New York during the Revolutionary War. Lt. Schieffelin’s property above the Hudson River extended to Bloomingdale Road to the east (currently known as Old Broadway) and north encompassing the Hamilton Heights area. This northern plot became the estate of Alexander Hamilton who was only able to enjoy living in the Grange for two years until he was fatally shot by Aaron Burr in 1804. This stately home was relocated in St. Nicholas Park in June 2008, its third location in Harlem.

The area was not very densely settled; the population was recorded as 203 individuals in 1796. By the middle of the nineteenth century, income from these estates declined as the productivity of this farmland decreased during the 1840s and 1850s. As the estates were abandoned, the land was taken over by Irish squatters who assembled shacks from any debris they could find, and their livestock were not always penned. The freely roaming animals, particularly the goats, earned the epithet of “Goatsville” for this neighborhood. German immigrants also settled in the area, bringing population growth in the area to 1,500. The unsanitary conditions of this urban density were a contributing factor to a pestilence in July of 1832 that made “frightful destruction at Harlem.” A few shantytowns appeared in the western part of Harlem by the mid-nineteenth century. The shantytown residents were largely Irish, with a smaller number of Germans and members of other groups. A health inspector noted in 1866 that only a Third Avenue railroad car was more densely packed than a shantytown and then described the scene in Harlem in more detail:

Men, women, and children, dogs, cows, pigs, goats, geese, ducks, and chickens are al- most promiscuously mixed together. The street is rank with filth and stench, and the consequence is that mortality holds high carnival here (1).

A poem, “Hogg’s Flower Garden,” published in the New York Spectator on June 11, 1838, captures this era when a short ride uptown from the dense city brought one to country sights:

But if you should prefer to ride,
To Crosby street repair
And get a horse of Charley Booth, And taste the country air.
In natty stanhope, wagon gay,
Go dashing out of town—
And though you drive to Harlem bridge. By Bloomingdale came down (2).

The growing population of this neighborhood needed more resources, including water. In 1840, an aqueduct extending along High Bridge across the East River from the Bronx brought water from the Croton Reservoir containing 160,000,000 gallons of water for the residents.

Some African-Americans began to settle in this area along with these other immigrant populations. However, they were not always treated with respect by their neighbors, as was illustrated by the tragic events that took place over three days in July of 1863. The African-American population of New York from the Five Points to Harlem suffered at the hands of their neighbors during the Draft Riots. The poor and working class population of New York responded to the Conscription Act that required service in the Union Army or payment of a fee of $20.00 for an exemption by violently assaulting and hanging African-Americans throughout the city. The working class men of the city did not want to sacrifice their lives for the sake of freeing the slaves in the Confederacy.

At the same time, several institutions dedicated to the education and care of the young or the sick established them- selves in this neighborhood in order to enjoy the fresh air of the countryside surrounding the villages of Harlem and Manhattanville. One of the earliest of these was the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum which opened in 1821 under the auspices of New York Hospital near Broadway and 116th Street. Later the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum was incorporated in 1822 and the Sheltering Arms Asylum for the half-orphans [children whose fathers had abandoned the family], a secure place for mothers to leave their children, was established by Rev. Thomas M. Peters, rector of St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church in 1864.

In 1870 the children ranging in age from infancy to the age of 14 moved into their new custom- built home at 129th Street and 10th Avenue. The Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum moved into their new building on Amsterdam Avenue and 138th Street designed by William H. Hume in 1883. It housed up to 1,250 children (mostly 9-11year olds) and staff members. The Manhattan Dispensary Hospital opened by Dr. Louis A. Rodenstein in 1862 to care for wounded Union army soldiers. Other New Yorkers in need of medical and surgical aid living north of 72nd street were welcome to visit the building at LaSalle Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Higher education was assured in western Harlem with the incorporation of The Academy and Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1851, established to educate young ladies. The Ladies of the Sacred Heart purchased the farm of tobacconist Jacob Lorillard in 1847. This “elevated, healthy, and beautiful” property was suitable for recreation and promenade. The grounds were “cultivated and spacious, surrounded by shrubbery, and pleasantly shaded by grove and forest trees.” The enrollment was open for 325 “young ladies of the highest class” as boarders, and an adjacent day school offered free instruction to 300 others from the area without religious requirement. This academy, later known as the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, was located on the South Campus property of The City College of New York.

The growth of institutions in the area brought commercial establishments as well. The first bank in the area was the Harlem Savings Bank founded in 1863 at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. Their edifice constructed in 1907 is currently occupied by the Apple Savings Bank.

Sources:

(1) Dolkart, Andrew S. and Gretchen S. Sorin. Touring Historic Harlem: Four Walks in Northern Manhattan. New York Landmarks Conservancy, 1997, 9.

(2) City Lyrics. Hogg’s Flower Garden. New York Spectator. 11 June 1838.