Manhattan's Grid, Explained

Comments · 626

• NU

  @Nugcon · 2 years ago

  The way New York (one of the biggest cities on earth) was planned like a school group project where everyone procrastinated until last minute before the deadline is incredibly funny

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• LP

  @lp-xl9ld · 2 years ago

  Growing up in New York, my father told me that in Manhattan, you can never be lost...but you can be in the wrong place.  Provided you were north of 14th Street and south of 125th Street.  I'd figured out how that was possible...and now I know  why.

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• KR

  @kristianmorris9738 · 2 years ago

  It was immediately apparent this plan was thought up the night before their homework was due. Some of the best work is done this way...

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• CH

  @chrisleonardi712 · 2 years ago

  If this video was an hour and a half. I’d watch it all

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• AV

  @AverytheCubanAmerican · 2 years ago (edited)

  Something also interesting to mention: Broadway isn&apos;t just in Manhattan! It runs from Bowling Green through Manhattan for 13 miles/20.9 km, goes for two miles/3.2 km through the Bronx, and then 18 miles/29 km through Westchester County where it finally ends at Sleepy Hollow! It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, with much of the current street beginning as the Wickquasgeck trail before the arrival of Europeans. This then formed the basis for one of the primary thoroughfares of New Amsterdam, which of course continued under British rule, although most of it did not bear its current name until the late 19th century. <br> <br>Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the Wickquasgeck trail was widened, and soon became the main road through the island. The Dutch called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat, meaning &quot;Gentlemen&apos;s Way&quot; or &quot;Gentlemen&apos;s Street&quot;. &nbsp;After the British took over, the part of Broadway in what is now Lower Manhattan was initially known as Great George Street, but the name Broadway was eventually given to its entire length because of its unusual width.

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• EV

  @EvilPeaMia · 2 years ago

  As someone from Ireland this is so surreal to me. I live surrounded by green fields, hills, ancient sites, and weird roads that were made to go around the existing landscape. It&apos;s quite fascinating to see just how tightly packed and neatly laid out this city is. I&apos;ve never been to New York, so I only really see snapshots and small areas in films &amp; on TV. This was a great video.

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• JC

  @JConnn · 2 years ago

  He just doesn’t miss

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• YO

  @yodittesfaye9702 · 2 years ago

  The landscape along what is now the Park’s perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Street was the site of Seneca Village, a community of predominantly African-Americans, many of whom owned property. By 1855, the village consisted of approximately 225 residents, made up of roughly two-thirds African-Americans, one-third Irish immigrants, and a small number of individuals of German descent. One of few African-American enclaves at the time, Seneca Village allowed residents to live away from the more built-up sections of downtown Manhattan and escape the unhealthy conditions and racial discrimination they faced there.

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• AV

  @AverytheCubanAmerican · 2 years ago

  This reminds me of the sophisticated urban planning of Barcelona. Heck, they PIONEERED it! Barcelona&apos;s Ildefons Cerdà was the guy who coined the term urbanization and changed the way we think about cities! Constricted by its medieval walls, Barcelona was suffocating as its population overflowed and couldn&apos;t handle the density with high mortality rates, until the then unknown Ildefons came up with a radical expansion plan. His plan consisted of a grid of streets that would unite the old city with seven peripheral villages (which later became integral Barcelona neighborhoods such as Gràcia and Sarrià). The united area was almost four times the size of the old city and would come to be known as Eixample. <br> <br>Cerdà decided to avoid repeating past errors by undertaking a comprehensive study of how the working classes lived in the old city. He concluded that, among other things, the narrower the city’s streets, the more deaths occurred. He added gardens in each block, made sure access to services for the rich and poor were equal, and made room for smooth-flowing traffic. The octagonal blocks, chamfered in the corners, were his unique idea to deal with traffic, allowing drivers to see more easily what was happening to the left and right. Cars of course didn&apos;t exist then, but when he learned about trains, he figured there would be some sort of thing powered by steam that would use the streets. His gravestone, fittingly, is a model of the Eixample.

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• CH

  @christopherstephenjenksbsg4944 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Excellent presentation! <br><br>I grew up in Chelsea in the 1960s, but went to school in the Village. Chelsea was built on the 1811 grid system; the Village, as you point out, was not. From the time I was old enough to comprehend it, I was struck by that strange transition from the Manhattan grid to the ordered but self-contained planning of the Village. Then there was 7th Avenue South. Even though 7th Avenue South had been driven through the Village some decades before my time, it pushed through the neighborhood rather rudely, with surviving buildings just sliced off at strange angles and some streets, like Bleeker, Barrow, and 7th Avenue South, meeting at strange, extremely acute angles. It really looked like an interloper, and it still does. I think it was one of Robert Moses&apos;s early projects,<br><br>As an aside, many of the landowners were made extremely wealthy by the street grid. In Chelsea, Clement Clarke Moore, who owned the Chelsea estate, was already very well-to-do when the streets and avenues were cut through, but the street grid increased the value of his land exponentially. He brought in an estate manager, James N Wells, to oversee the development of Chelsea beginning in the 1820s. Moore was initially opposed to the 1811 street grid. It required the demolition of his own house, which he loved, to make way for 23rd Street. I am sure all the income from the lots he sold to real estate developers lessened the pain of the bitter pill he had to swallow. Most of the Greek Revival and Italianate row houses in Chelsea were built while Moore was still alive, and most are still there today.

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• AL

  @All-Gas-No-Breaks · 2 years ago

  Casimir Goerck is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He thanks you from the beyond

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• PL

  @PlutoniumDG · 2 years ago

  As a visitor I absolutely loved the grid with the easy logical numbered names. When my phone battery died I could walk back to my hostel without asking anyone for directions

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