Little Worm In the Big Apple

Chomping into New York City history
April 24
The Shape of Things To Come Part VII The Bossen Bouerie managed to stay off the radar for a lot of the early history of the city. It wasn’t until the 1740’s that the farm was taken over by Sir Peter Warren, a very well-to-do Irishman, and his wife. The Warrens had three daughters among whom the property was split after their death. The husbands of all three daughters left a mark on the West Village for a while as street and square names. Unfortunatey, only two of these still exist and one has been renamed - Skinner Rd, the name of the youngest daughter’s husband is the present day Christopher St, and Abingdon Square is named for the eldest daughter’s husband. The village managed to stay very quiet and to itself for decades after this, slowly dividing into smaller plots of land and becoming more populated, but still not expanding beyond about present day Leroy Street. The Shape of Things To Come Part VIThe Shape of Things To Come Part VThe Shape of Things To Come Part IVThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIIThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIThe Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part VII

The Bossen Bouerie managed to stay off the radar for a lot of the early history of the city. It wasn’t until the 1740’s that the farm was taken over by Sir Peter Warren, a very well-to-do Irishman, and his wife. The Warrens had three daughters among whom the property was split after their death. The husbands of all three daughters left a mark on the West Village for a while as street and square names. Unfortunatey, only two of these still exist and one has been renamed - Skinner Rd, the name of the youngest daughter’s husband is the present day Christopher St, and Abingdon Square is named for the eldest daughter’s husband. The village managed to stay very quiet and to itself for decades after this, slowly dividing into smaller plots of land and becoming more populated, but still not expanding beyond about present day Leroy Street.

The Shape of Things To Come Part VI
The Shape of Things To Come Part V
The Shape of Things To Come Part IV
The Shape of Things To Come Part III
The Shape of Things To Come Part II
The Shape of Things To Come Part I

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The Shape of Things To Come Part VI So while Mr. Rutgers was cleaning up SoHo and TriBeCa for us, the city itself was still staying pretty far south and slowly creeping up the east side. In the very early days of New York… in fact, before New York or even New Amsterdam (as the city was known when the Dutch first settled here), a small Indian settlement made itself at home in a village called Sappokanican. Sappokaican was bordered by the Minetta Stream, which meandered through Grammercy down Fifth and over to Sixth Avenue (Check out that Veile map that I referenced yesterday to see it) and sketched a line along Minetta Ln, Downing St, and dumped into the Hudson probably along the line of present King Street. Eventually, the Indians were pushed out of Manhattan and the Dutch settled an out of the way farming community here called Bossen Bouerie (Farm in the Woods) and the fertile soil was used for a while as a tobacco farm. The Shape of Things To Come Part VThe Shape of Things To Come Part IVThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIIThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIThe Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part VI

So while Mr. Rutgers was cleaning up SoHo and TriBeCa for us, the city itself was still staying pretty far south and slowly creeping up the east side. In the very early days of New York… in fact, before New York or even New Amsterdam (as the city was known when the Dutch first settled here), a small Indian settlement made itself at home in a village called Sappokanican. Sappokaican was bordered by the Minetta Stream, which meandered through Grammercy down Fifth and over to Sixth Avenue (Check out that Veile map that I referenced yesterday to see it) and sketched a line along Minetta Ln, Downing St, and dumped into the Hudson probably along the line of present King Street. Eventually, the Indians were pushed out of Manhattan and the Dutch settled an out of the way farming community here called Bossen Bouerie (Farm in the Woods) and the fertile soil was used for a while as a tobacco farm.

The Shape of Things To Come Part V
The Shape of Things To Come Part IV
The Shape of Things To Come Part III
The Shape of Things To Come Part II
The Shape of Things To Come Part I

April 23
The Shape of Things To Come Part V So it was that a Mr. Anthony Rutgers offered to kindly take the property off of the King’s hands (at the time, the property was owned by the Trinity church and the crown) and fix it right up for the community. Believe it or not, this totally worked and Rutgers was practically given the property on the condition that he fixed it up within a year. Mr. Rutgers did just that (filling in the canal to create what is today Canal Street) and the property was eventually passed along to his son-in-law, Leonard Lispenard. The meadows bore his name for many years and still do in their own way with both Leonard and Lispenard Streets boasting the name of one of their original tenants. The meadows remained as such for a surprisingly long time, possibly because once it was cleaned up, it was a prime place for grazing sheep and cattle. The Shape of Things To Come Part IVThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIIThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIThe Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part V

So it was that a Mr. Anthony Rutgers offered to kindly take the property off of the King’s hands (at the time, the property was owned by the Trinity church and the crown) and fix it right up for the community. Believe it or not, this totally worked and Rutgers was practically given the property on the condition that he fixed it up within a year. Mr. Rutgers did just that (filling in the canal to create what is today Canal Street) and the property was eventually passed along to his son-in-law, Leonard Lispenard. The meadows bore his name for many years and still do in their own way with both Leonard and Lispenard Streets boasting the name of one of their original tenants. The meadows remained as such for a surprisingly long time, possibly because once it was cleaned up, it was a prime place for grazing sheep and cattle.

The Shape of Things To Come Part IV
The Shape of Things To Come Part III
The Shape of Things To Come Part II
The Shape of Things To Come Part I

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The Shape of Things To Come Part IV Another factor in the SoHo/TriBeCa area’s lack of expansion was an area called Lispenard’s Meadows. This area ran from about present-day West Broadway to the Hudson River between Houston and Reade Streets. The property was cut right in half by a canal that ran from a fresh water pond that sat vaguely around where the Brooklyn Bridge exits into Manhattan (a few blocks north and west, I believe). Unfortunately, the land was a tangle of brambles and bushes and largely swampy, making it not only uninhabitable, but also a breeding ground for mosquitos (the major cause of frequent Yellow Fever outbreaks at the time) and a death trap for wandering cattle. note: the above image is a chunk from a map created in 1874. Called the Veile Map (published by civil engineer Col. Egbert L. Viele) it shows the original land formations, waterways, etc. of the island overlayed with the urban layout of 1874. If you have the time, download the high res version from the Library of Congress and give it a gander. The Shape of Things To Come Part IIIThe Shape of Things To Come Part IIThe Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part IV

Another factor in the SoHo/TriBeCa area’s lack of expansion was an area called Lispenard’s Meadows. This area ran from about present-day West Broadway to the Hudson River between Houston and Reade Streets. The property was cut right in half by a canal that ran from a fresh water pond that sat vaguely around where the Brooklyn Bridge exits into Manhattan (a few blocks north and west, I believe). Unfortunately, the land was a tangle of brambles and bushes and largely swampy, making it not only uninhabitable, but also a breeding ground for mosquitos (the major cause of frequent Yellow Fever outbreaks at the time) and a death trap for wandering cattle.

note: the above image is a chunk from a map created in 1874. Called the Veile Map (published by civil engineer Col. Egbert L. Viele) it shows the original land formations, waterways, etc. of the island overlayed with the urban layout of 1874. If you have the time, download the high res version from the Library of Congress and give it a gander.

The Shape of Things To Come Part III
The Shape of Things To Come Part II
The Shape of Things To Come Part I

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The Shape of Things To Come Part III But before we go too far, let’s talk about the kind of town that Manhattan was when it was first born. It was a shipping and trading town. Of course a lot of the shipping happened in the warm months, but a little bit happened in the cold months, too. This had a big hand in how the city expanded up the east side of the island faster than the west - salt water doesn’t freeze. The Hudson froze over easily, making trade in the winter impossible. The Shape of Things To Come Part IIThe Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part III

But before we go too far, let’s talk about the kind of town that Manhattan was when it was first born. It was a shipping and trading town. Of course a lot of the shipping happened in the warm months, but a little bit happened in the cold months, too. This had a big hand in how the city expanded up the east side of the island faster than the west - salt water doesn’t freeze. The Hudson froze over easily, making trade in the winter impossible.

The Shape of Things To Come Part II
The Shape of Things To Come Part I

April 22
The Shape of Things To Come Part II This very early map of the city is from 1695. Here, the city has just begun to expand beyond it’s early limit of Wall Street with the new additions of Maiden Ln, Crown St, Smith St. and Queen Street. The streets were defined by the geographic features that existed. Believe it or not rivers, streams, meadows, and swamps all existed at one time before we plowed through the city flattening every hill and filling every hole and we’ll talk about how some of them still have remnants within the city today. The Shape of Things To Come Part I

The Shape of Things To Come Part II

This very early map of the city is from 1695. Here, the city has just begun to expand beyond it’s early limit of Wall Street with the new additions of Maiden Ln, Crown St, Smith St. and Queen Street. The streets were defined by the geographic features that existed. Believe it or not rivers, streams, meadows, and swamps all existed at one time before we plowed through the city flattening every hill and filling every hole and we’ll talk about how some of them still have remnants within the city today.

The Shape of Things To Come Part I

April 21
The Shape of Things To Come Part I The shape and form of the Manhattan streets is something that continuously amazes me and is too complicated to even be captured in the map above (thank you, Google). It’s easy to imagine why lower Manhattan is windy and twisty - in the 1600s when Manhattan was settled, no one could imagine how big the city would become, let alone anticipate it’s traffic. The city grew around it’s landscape. But why is the Lower East Side so messy and not so much TriBeCa and SoHo? And what’s with the West Village and it’s crazy streets? My explanation, though long winded, is so simple when you stop to think about it. Follow for more over the next few days!

The Shape of Things To Come Part I

The shape and form of the Manhattan streets is something that continuously amazes me and is too complicated to even be captured in the map above (thank you, Google). It’s easy to imagine why lower Manhattan is windy and twisty - in the 1600s when Manhattan was settled, no one could imagine how big the city would become, let alone anticipate it’s traffic. The city grew around it’s landscape. But why is the Lower East Side so messy and not so much TriBeCa and SoHo? And what’s with the West Village and it’s crazy streets? My explanation, though long winded, is so simple when you stop to think about it. Follow for more over the next few days!

April 11
St. Paul’s Chapel V It’s hard to believe that St Paul’s is the same building that stood far outside of the city in 1766. Skyscrapers have grown like weeds all around it, most notably the World Trade Center. On September 11th 2001, however, the city’s oldest church proved as a sanctuary yet again. Accross the street from the site of the twin towers, it’s considered a miracle by many that the church suffered little to no damage after the building collapse. St. Paul’s Chapel ISt. Paul’s Chapel II St. Paul’s Chapel IIISt. Paul’s Chapel IV

St. Paul’s Chapel V

It’s hard to believe that St Paul’s is the same building that stood far outside of the city in 1766. Skyscrapers have grown like weeds all around it, most notably the World Trade Center. On September 11th 2001, however, the city’s oldest church proved as a sanctuary yet again. Accross the street from the site of the twin towers, it’s considered a miracle by many that the church suffered little to no damage after the building collapse.

St. Paul’s Chapel I
St. Paul’s Chapel II
St. Paul’s Chapel III
St. Paul’s Chapel IV

April 10
St. Paul’s Chapel IV Many famous parishioners have strolled in and out of St. Paul’s, most notably our first president, George Washington and New York’s first governor, George Clinton. President Washington’s pew is still preserved with an oil painting of the first painting of the Great Seal of the United States. St Paul’s also boasts the first Revolutionary war monument in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery. St. Paul’s Chapel ISt. Paul’s Chapel II St. Paul’s Chapel III

St. Paul’s Chapel IV

Many famous parishioners have strolled in and out of St. Paul’s, most notably our first president, George Washington and New York’s first governor, George Clinton. President Washington’s pew is still preserved with an oil painting of the first painting of the Great Seal of the United States. St Paul’s also boasts the first Revolutionary war monument in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery.

St. Paul’s Chapel I
St. Paul’s Chapel II
St. Paul’s Chapel III

April 9
St. Paul’s Chapel III Unlike it’s sister church, Trinity, St Paul’s narrowly escaped destruction in the Great Fire of 1776 which destroyed as much as one quarter of the city. As a result, St Paul’s took on a greater importance to the city until Trinity was rebuilt in 1790. Since then, some additions have been made to the chapel. A steeple was added in 1794. At one point a brick wall encircled the church and it’s graveyard, but that was replaced by a wrought iron fence. Whether or not this is the same wrought iron fence that exists today, I’m not sure.Inside, the chapel is painted cool pastels and is very open. Decor is very simple, save for fourteen original cut-glass chandeliers and a pretty fancy pulpit. St. Paul’s Chapel ISt. Paul’s Chapel II

St. Paul’s Chapel III

Unlike it’s sister church, Trinity, St Paul’s narrowly escaped destruction in the Great Fire of 1776 which destroyed as much as one quarter of the city. As a result, St Paul’s took on a greater importance to the city until Trinity was rebuilt in 1790. Since then, some additions have been made to the chapel. A steeple was added in 1794. At one point a brick wall encircled the church and it’s graveyard, but that was replaced by a wrought iron fence. Whether or not this is the same wrought iron fence that exists today, I’m not sure.
Inside, the chapel is painted cool pastels and is very open. Decor is very simple, save for fourteen original cut-glass chandeliers and a pretty fancy pulpit.

St. Paul’s Chapel I
St. Paul’s Chapel II