HIST 3480: The History of NYCCreating Greater New York

Creating Greater New York

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The Father of ConsolidationAndrew Haswell Green (1820-1903) Green was a lawyer, reform Democrat,

and close friend of future N.Y. governor and 1876 presidential candidate, Samuel Tilden.

Green first got involved with politics by being elected to the School Board.

His reputation for honesty and strong administrative capabilities led to his appointment as a Central Park Commissioner. He served and also led this commission between 1857 and 1870.

Creating Greater New York

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Timeline of Consolidation The Dongan Charter (1686) and the Montgomerie Charter (1730)

gave the City of New York domain over the East River and its ferries, depriving Brooklyn of rights to its own waterfront.

New Yorkers strongly opposed Brooklyn’s chartering as a city in the 1830s as they saw it as potentially creating destructive commercial competition.

In 1857, the two cities had at least some functions merged by the state legislature with the creation of metropolitan police, fire, and health districts.

The Central Park Commission was a state-sponsored agency created in 1857 that was given power to develop bridges, roads, and sewers on both sides of the river, and it was while serving on this commission that Andrew Haswell Green began to develop a plan for consolidation.

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Timeline of Consolidation Green proposed a non-binding plebiscite that goes forward in

1894 in which the New York and the surrounding counties vote in favor of consolidation; the measure passes by a mere 500 odd votes in Brooklyn.

Brooklynites rally against the measure and delay it for several years.

Ultimately, upstate Republican boss Thomas Collier Platt (1833-1910) succeeds in getting the consolidation charter passed in 1897 through tremendous political arm-twisting and deal-making.

Creating Greater New York

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Thomas Collier PlattTHOMAS COLLIER PLATT (1820-1903) “Easy Boss” of upstate Republicans Supported Green’s plan for consolidation

since he saw it as an opportunity for Republicans to take away more control ofthe city from Tammany.

He shepherded the Consolidation Act to passage in 1896.

Pushed through a new city charter through the state legislature in 1897, focused around a strong and centralized authority of the mayor.

Ultimately, Platt’s plan did not come to fruition, and he is discredited.

Creating Greater New YorkThe First Skyscrapers

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Flatiron Building (1903)--Located at 175 Broadway at 23rd Street, standing twenty-two stories--Designed by Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition (1892)--Initially called the “Fuller Building” for the building company that used it as its headquarters

Manhattan Life Insurance Building (1893)--Located at 64-66 Broadway, standing 348 feet--Demolished in 1964-65

Tower Building by Bradford Lee Gilbert (1889)--Probably the first to use a steel skeleton--Located at 50 Broadway, standing eleven stories