History of the Neighborhood

The Colonial Era

In the late 1700s there were two hundred acres on the west side of Manhattan that was primarily farmland.  was used as farm land. A portion of this land would eventually become what is today Central Park; during the mid 1800s the remaining land was occupied by vagabonds, free African Americans immigrants, escaped slaves, and some displaced Native Americans. Several parks were created and a cholera epidemic drove people out of the area making the land available in the 1880s. Speculators and homebuilders swarmed to take over, but instead, warehouses and tenements were built and occupied by blue-collar workers, clerks, salesman, and civil servants. There were also few “flats” for white-collar professionals, doctors, engineers, merchants and successful salesmen.

The 1950s

During the 1950’s many cities across the nation were crazed about the flight to the suburbs. New York City was no exception. Popular culture of the time included shows like The Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver which glorified the idea of a white picket fence and a green lawn. With this shift in values, followed a shift in demographics. From 1950 to 1957, 750,000 white residents left the city while 650,000 black and Puerto Rican Residents replaced them.  During this time the area around the 59th street stop become known as the “honeycomb.” Poor black and puerto rican residents were packed so tightly within the area that densities reached as high as 5000 per square block.

 

(President Eisenhower Breaks Ground at Lincoln Center May 14, 1959)

 

 

(Demolition of tenements around Lincoln Center)

Towards the end of the 1950’s the Clearance Committee, a group backed by wealthy land developers and headed by Robert Moses lead an effort to clear the area around Lincoln Center and the 59th street D-stop of these tenement. The excuse used at the time was that these housing units were of too poor quality for even the city’s poorest residents to call home. However, there is no records that these housing units are any worse than poor tenements in other parts of the city. In all likelihood, the “minimum standard” proposed by Robert Moses was an excuse to clear the tenements in the area for developers.

 

The 1960s-Present 

On September 23, 1962 the Lincoln Center opened with its first show attended by John F. Kennedy. Over the next 50 years the area would gentrify very quickly and dramatically. Today, the 59th street D-stop has the highest median income on the entire D-line.