General info

Travel Info

What to do

People&Culture

19th & 20th Century New York

Brief History of New York | 19th & 20th Century New York

Statue of Liberty

Located in New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty was formally presented to the U.S. Minister to France, Levi Parsons on July 4, 1884 by Ferdinand Lesseps, representing the Franco-American Union.

The cornerstone was laid in August 1884 and the Statue of Liberty arrived in June 1885, in 214 packing crates. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty on October 28, 1886, when the last rivet was put into place.

During the nineteenth century, America became a haven for many of the oppressed people of Europe, and New York City became the "melting pot." The Statue of Liberty (dedicated in 1886 in the harbor), with its famous inscription, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," was the first symbol of America's mission.

Nineteenth Century New York

New York boomed in the early 19th century. During the Civil War , the city provided many volunteers for the Union cause. But as the war dragged on, many of the city's poorest citizens turned against the effort, especially after mandatory conscription was introduced. In the summer of 1863, Irish immigrants launched the 'draft riots,' protesting the provision that allowed wealthy men to pay $300 in order to avoid fighting. Within days the rioters turned their anger on black citizens, who they considered the real reason for the war and their main competition for work. More than 11 men were lynched in the streets and a black orphans' home was burned to the ground.

Immigration and Population

The remainder of the century in New York was a boom time for the city's population, which grew thanks to European immigration, and for businessmen, who took advantage of lax oversight of industry and stock trading during the so-called 'Gilded Age.' These men built grand mansions along 'millionaires row' on lower Fifth Ave . Along Broadway from City Hall to Union Square, multi-story buildings - the first 'skyscrapers' - were built to house corporate headquarters.

As the city's population more than doubled from 500,000 in 1850 to over 1.1 million in 1880, a tenement culture developed. The burgeoning of New York's population beyond the city limits led to the consolidation movement, as the city and its neighboring districts struggled to service the growing numbers. Residents of the independent districts of Queens , Staten Island , the Bronx and financially strapped Brooklyn voted to become 'boroughs' of New York City in 1898.

This new metropolis absorbed a second huge wave of European immigrants who arrived at New York's Ellis Island , and its population exploded once again, from just over 3 million in 1900 to 7 million in 1930. During this period, horse-drawn trolleys disappeared as a major network of underground subways and elevated trains ('Els') expanded into the city's outer reaches.

Growth to Prosperity

New York emerged from WWII proud and ready for business. As one of the few world-class cities untouched by war, New York seemed the place to be. But prosperity wasn't limited to the city. In the 1950s, highways made access to the suburbs easy and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers took advantage of them to move away permanently.

The city contemplated huge (and necessary) projects to augment its infrastructure, such as a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Meanwhile, Times Square underwent transformation from a crime- and drug-ridden redlight district in the 1960s and 1970s to a Disneyfied tourist attraction in the late 1990s.