How the Neighborhoods of
Manhattan
Got Their Names
One of the most dense and
culturally diverse places in the
United States
is the small island at the center of
New York City
. Here's some history on the many neighborhoods, districts, and locations that
make up
Manhattan
.
For an island of only 24 square miles,
Manhattan
sure has a lot of neighborhoods. Many have distinct monikers that might not
seem intuitive to the lay-tourist, or even to a lifelong New Yorker. Here's
where the names of
New York
's most famous 'hoods came from.
Hell's
Kitchen vs.
Clinton
In recent decades, businesses and
real estate agents have tried in vain to clean up the lively reputation of this
west side neighborhood by renaming it "Clinton." Gentrification and
expansion from the neighboring theater district have certainly helped the
beautification cause. Nonetheless, the area spanning
34th Street
to
59th Street
and
8th Avenue
(or 9th, depending on who you ask) to the
Hudson River
just can't shake the nickname "Hell's Kitchen."
At one time not so long ago,
Hell's Kitchen lived up to the nightmarish implications of its name—and then
some—but the actual origins of the name have become something of folklore. One
legend involves a seasoned cop and a green cop watching a riot take place in the
heart of the neighborhood. The story goes that the young cop remarked, "This
place is hell itself!" to which the older cop responded "Hell is a mild
climate. This is hell's kitchen."
The second widely accepted origin
comes from the name of a local gang, aptly called "The Hell's Kitchen
Gang." It was the transgressions of this rough group upon which Herbert Asbury
based his 1927 book Gangs of New York, which Martin Scorsese would
later adapt into a film by the same name. Hell's Kitchen was first mentioned
in the New York Times on September 22, 1881; the paper used the term to refer to
a tenement house on 39th between 9th and
10th Avenue
.
The days of ethnic
strife and poverty that once defined Hell's Kitchen are long gone, but the
name has stuck. Government and business officials drew the alternative name from
DeWitt
Clinton
Park
located on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Named for the 19th century
New York
governor, officials thought the local park and the name
Clinton
would evoke a sense of
New York
pride. But for now, residents and other New Yorkers alike proudly call this
area Hell's Kitchen.
Harlem
For a neighborhood with such a
rich artistic and cultural history, the origins of its name are rather muted.
Harlem is a modification of the name
Haarlem
, a city in the
Netherlands
after which this former Dutch village was named. The neighborhood is huge,
beginning at
110th Street
between 5th and 8th Avenues, and from
125th Street
up to
155th Street
from
5th Avenue
to the water, and eventually from the East River to the
Hudson River
.
Greenwich
Village
The heart of bohemia in 1960s
New York
, this lower
Manhattan
neighborhood has the Dutch and the British to thank for its name.
Greenwich
comes for the Dutch word "Greenwijck" which means "Pine District." When
the Dutch ran
New York
(or
New Amsterdam
, as they called it), a Dutch man named Yellis Mandeville purchased property in
the Village. He allegedly renamed the area after another village on
Long Island
by the same name. The first recorded appearance of this name change appeared in
Yellis' will at the turn of the 1700s; the name has since been Anglicized to
Greenwich
. "The Village," as it's often now called, extends from
14th Street
to
Houston Street
and from Broadway west to the
Hudson River
.
Chelsea
A quarter century before the
American Revolution, retired British Major Thomas Clarke bought 94 acres of land
located between what is now 21st and 24th Streets, and from 8th Avenue to the
water. He built a home on the property and named it "
Chelsea
," after a veterans' hospital and retirement home for elderly soldiers
located in
Britain
. Chelsea Estate would pass through many more hands over the years, but the name
Chelsea
hung around long enough to become the official name of the neighborhood, which
currently extends from
14th Street
up to
30th Street
, and from
6th Avenue
to the water.
The
Districts
Many districts make up the
island
of
Manhattan
, but the names of a few in particular have become part of the geographic
vernacular.
The Flatiron District
A rather recent addition to the
Manhattan
neighborhood family, the Flatiron District has the triangular shaped
Flatiron
Building
on
23rd Street
to thank for its eponym. The structure, built in 1902, was one of the tallest
at the time of its construction and its shape resembles a hot clothing iron.
Though initially designated the
Fuller
Building
, people kept referring to it as the Flatiron until eventually that just became
the accepted name. The Flatiron District became a "named district" in the
mid-1980's when the neighborhood started to become more residential. Today, it
is also nicknamed "Silicon Alley" due to the proliferation of tech start-ups
in the vicinity, and ranges from
E. 20th Street
up to
26th Street
, between
Park Avenue South/Lexington Avenue
and Sixth Avenue
.
The Meatpacking District
Now bustling with hot clubs and expensive clothing retailers, the "Meatpacking
District" name has a very literal beginning. In the late 1800s,
New York
decided to name two acres of lower
Manhattan
's west side after General Peter Gansevoort. This area became a commercial
district, known as Gansevoort Market. By 1900, the market would boast more than
250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants. In the later part of the century,
the district—which stretches between 9th and 11th Avenues, from Gansevoort
Street to 14th Street—became less of a commercial food market and more of a
haven for sex clubs and other "special interest" nightlife. Eventually, all
other industry gave way to exclusive nightlife and high-end apparel, but the
name remains.
The Garment District
Only one square mile, this midtown west area located just below Times Square
(from 34th to 40th Streets, between Sixth and Ninth Avenues) housed half of
New York City
's garment plants in the early 20th century. In its heyday, the Garment
District serviced all facets of the fashion industry, from design to manufacture
to sale. Most of the manufacturing business has since faded away from the area,
but its historical contributions live on through the name—and a giant needle
and button sculpture on
7th Avenue
.
In
The Heights
Though the island is relatively
flat,
Upper Manhattan
still has a few heights.
Morningside
Heights
The Heights formerly known as
Vandewater, from the name of Dutch settler Harmon Vandewater, became Morningside
around the time
Columbia
University
was expanding into the area (around 1896). A city surveyor appraising the
surrounding land found one spot he deemed unsuitable for anything other than a
city park. This particular park was situated on the east side of a hill,
perfectly positioned for a nice wash of sunlight every morning. In 1870, the
city named it "
Morning
Side
Park
," and it is believed to have inspired this particular Heights' new first
name of Morningside. The neighborhood's current boundaries are 110th to 125th,
from
8th Avenue
to the
Hudson River
.
Washington
Heights
Located below Inwood, the uppermost part of
Manhattan
, and above Harlem and
Morningside Heights
,
Washington
Heights (
155th Street
to
181st Street
, river to river) is named in honor of
Fort
Washington
. Built on what was at the time the highest elevated part of
Manhattan
, this fortress allowed American Revolutionary forces to observe the British
Redcoats from afar. The name started commonly appearing in association with the
area in the late 19th century.
Hamilton Heights
Once an under-settled area of mansions and estates in what is now West
Harlem/Upper Manhattan, Hamilton Heights—which stretches from 135th to 155th
Streets between St. Nicholas Avenue and the Hudson River—derives its name from
the Hamilton Grange, the country home of Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton.
He had little time to enjoy the leisurely life on his vacation estate, as he was
gunned down in the infamous duel with Aaron Burr only two years after the home
was built.
The Hills Are Alive
with the Sound of Murray
The hill may be long gone,
literally leveled by urbanization, but its namesake lives on below
34th Street
, from Madison Avenue to the
East River
. In the 1760's, Robert Murray was a Quaker merchant who purchased land in the
area of Iclenberg, a large hill somewhere around modern day 36th and Park Ave.
Though the
Murrays
may have called their homestead Iclenberg or, later, Belmont, locals referred
to his family's estate as Murray Hill. The voice of the people won, and we
have them to thank for the neighborhood's name, though we can hardly blame
them for its modern reputation as a frat boy haven.
To
Bay or Not To Bay
These areas along the
East River
aren't technically bays, but that didn't stop residents from using the word.
Turtle Bay
In 1639, the Dutch Governor bequeathed to a few Englishmen a piece of farmland,
through which a creek flowed—well, trickled—into the East River bay. The men
would call the property Turtle Bay Farm. Some historians believe "
Turtle
Bay
" came from the healthy population of turtles living in the creek, but the
Turtle Bay Association posits the name was actually adapted from the Dutch word
"deutal," meaning "bent blade," because the bay resembles that shape.
At some point in time, New Yorkers dropped the Farm part of the name and that
area east of Midtown Manhattan—which stretches from
E. 42nd Street
to
E. 53rd Street
between
Lexington Avenue
and the East River—simply became "
Turtle
Bay
."
Kips Bay
Just a few blocks south of
Turtle
Bay
, from
E. 23rd Street
to
E. 38th Street
and between
Lexington Avenue
and the East River, is
Kips
Bay
. The neighborhood was named for Dutch settler Jacobus Hendrickson Kip, who
bought property in the area during the 1600s.
Hip
to Be Squares
Though technically not
neighborhoods, the names of these rectangular city hubs have a few stories—and
mysteries—of their own.
Times Square
When the New York Times moved its
headquarters to then-named Long Acre Square in 1904, publisher/owner Adolph Ochs
strongly encouraged Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. to change the name to
Times Square
. McClellan agreed, and it was henceforth
Times Square
. Today, the tourist trap—and the 'hood most dreaded by New
Yorkers—stretches from
W. 40th Street
to
W. 53rd Street
between 6th and 8th Avenues.
Union Square
Originally named
Union Place
, this
New York City
hub marked the intersection, or "union," of two major city
thoroughfares—what are now
4th Avenue
and Broadway at
14th Street
. There has been some speculation that the Civil War might have influenced the
naming, but historical evidence points to
Union Square
receiving its name many years before the war broke out.
Lincoln
Square
Lincoln Square
, which lies between
W. 59th Street
and
W. 72nd Street
and stretches from Central Park West to the Hudson River, remains one of the
great name mysteries in
Manhattan
. City records from 1906 show a NYC Board of Aldermen decreeing this piece of
property be called "
Lincoln Square
." However, either no one took minutes at this meeting or they were lost
somewhere in the annals of time, because there exists little evidence as to why
they chose "
Lincoln
." Historians have yet to uncover public records of a prominent
New York
landowner with the surname
Lincoln
. Perhaps it was an homage to President Abraham Lincoln, but there's just as
little evidence to support this theory.
Herald Square
This busy intersection on
34th Street
and
6th Avenue
was named after the New York Herald. The newspaper no longer exists, leaving
this Square's name as its lasting legacy to the city.
Madison Square
Not to be confused with home of
the New York
Rangers—
Madison
Square
Garden
—
Madison Square
refers to the park at
23rd Street
and
5th Avenue
and the square surrounding it, both of which attribute their name to the fourth
President of the
United States
, James Madison.
Washington Square
Originally farmland, like most of
Manhattan
, this public park located at
5th Avenue
and
Waverly Place
was named after President George Washington, who was inaugurated in
New York City
. Fun fact: It was once a cemetery. A 2005 archaeological assessment by the City
Parks Department estimates some 20,000 bodies are buried beneath the park.
The
Acronyms
Finally there are the original
acronym neighborhoods, which popped up throughout lower
Manhattan
and have a reputation for hipness. They're also pretty handy helpers for
learning downtown geography:
SoHo: SOuth of
HOuston Street
NoHo: NOrth of
HOuston
Tribeca: the TRIangle BElow
CAnal Street
Nolita: NOrth of Little
ITAly
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