Manhattan in Maps 1527-2014 by Paul E. Cohen Robert T. Augustyn

Author:Paul E. Cohen,Robert T. Augustyn [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: INscribe Digital
Published: 2014-11-19T21:00:00+00:00

Of great significance, however, is that the Montresor Plan is the first map of New York to provide a detailed glimpse of Manhattan beyond the city itself and thus give an idea of the island’s predevelopment topography. The northernmost area on the plan is present-day Greenwich Village, which was actually Manhattan’s earliest settlement. (The Indians who lived in the area of Greenwich Village prior to the arrival of the Dutch called it Sapokanican. Throughout the city’s early history it remained a separate settlement and grew considerably in the early nineteenth century, when plague forced many to relocate away from the main part of town. Because of its long history as a separate settlement, its irregular streets were already in place when a grid street design was adopted for much of Manhattan at the beginning of the nineteenth century.) Many sprawling manors with geometric gardens built by the city’s wealthy can be seen north of the city, including the properties of the De Lancey, Rutgers, Warren, Lispenard, Bayard, and Mortier families. Elsewhere in the northern area, the Montresor Plan delicately displays both cultivated and wooded areas and other topographic details, such as elevated areas that have since been leveled. One such area is even called Mount Pleasant (near the Bayard property). Also, the plan shows the network of roads to the north of the city; it is the first to sketch the entire length of the road from Greenwich Village to the city proper.

In the city itself, the Montresor Plan shows for the first time King’s, later Columbia, College (N in the references), which appears as an attractive and spacious campus set among gardens. Number 6 in the references indicates the location of a “Fresh Water Engine from whence the Town is supplied.” The existence of this central water supply implies that at least some private wells had by this time been, polluted or pumped dry. A number of the other items in the references are military in nature, such as powder magazines and batteries. Fourteen churches and meetinghouses are listed. The note in the lower left corner provides a brief history of the city and a very critical description of the condition of the fort as seen by the stern eyes of a military engineer.

On September I, 1766, Gage ordered Montresor to survey New York Harbor and its islands. The chart in the upper left corner of this engraving is no doubt based on this survey. On it, Ellis Island is given two names: Brown’s or Oyster, the latter because this area was the best source for oysters in the harbor. Liberty Island also receives two names: Kennedy’s or Corporation. A note near it says that it is made of rock and not visible at high tide.

Surprisingly, just a year after Montresor completed this military survey for the eyes of his commander, the very same work was commercially published in London. That is what is illustrated here. This was in fact not an unusual occurrence, as many of the maps of America made by English military surveyors and engineers were eventually published.

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