Manhattanville, 134th Street at Broadway

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Okay, Manhattanville. It was incorporated as a village in 1805 at a time when New York City was way way downtown. Uptown was rural with farms and scattered villages, but still New York. Somehow, it was okay to incorporate villages within the city. Why? I'd have to research city charters, I guess, to answer that. It had a good port and became a bustling, well populated village. The other thriving village uptown was Harlem.

And so it was until the coming of the subway in 1904, which led to Manhattanville's gradual absorption into the city. In 1912, The New York Times took note of the changes with this mournful headline: "Quaint Landmarks in Manhattanville Passing Away for Modern Improvements."

And now? Be honest. How many of you even knew of Manhattanville's existence?

See map.