|
1609
On September 13 during Henry Hudson's third voyage, crewman Robert Juet logs in the journal of the Half Moon: "Fair weather;
the wind northerly; at seven o'clock in the morning, as the flood came we weighed and turned four miles into the river; the
tide being done we anchored. Then there came four canoes aboard, but we suffered none of them to come into our ship; they
brought very great store of very good oysters aboard, which we bought for trifles." The native inhabitants Juet refers
to rowed out from the banks of what eventually became Manhattanville.
1658
The Dutch village of Nieuw Haarlem is incorporated at present-day East 125th Street near the Harlem River. Some villagers
have already been crossing the island westward to the Hudson River inlet they call Moertje David's Vly at present-day West
129th Street to pasture livestock in the valley.
1664
The English capture Manhattan. The inlet known by the Dutch name Moertje David's Vly is subsequently called Harlem Cove by
the English.
1666
Governor Richard Nicolls conceives diagonal boundary from East River at 74th Street to Hudson River at 129th Street. All Manhattan
above this so-called "Harlem Line" constitutes New Harlem, although the village proper is a Harlem River shoreline
enclave.
1712
The first division of Harlem's Common Lands as farm lots. John Lawrence, twice an appointed mayor of the city, is among three
"disinterested" neighbors to witness these divisions.
1776
On September 16, the Battle of Harlem Heights begins in the "Hollow Way," as the valley is known in the general
orders of Gen. George Washington and in Revolutionary War records. The American patriot troops turn back the British army
in a skirmish that constitutes Washington's only victory and that thrusts the valley into prominence.
1806
"Manhattan Ville is now forming in the Ninth Ward of this city..." where sales of building lots "principally
to tradesmen" are observed.
1814
During the War of 1812-15, extensive fortifications erected to defend New York City against an anticipated British attack
include Fort Laight; Block Houses Nos. 3 & 4; the Manhattanville Pass barrier gate; and lines of entrenchments to the
Hudson River.
|
| Eric K. Washington |
1817
On January 28, members of New York City's Society of Friends and from elsewhere deliver an anti-slavery message at the opening
of the New York State Legislature in Albany. Manhattanville Quakers John and Rebecca Barrow write of their participation "in
behalf of the poor blacks still held in bondage" to their cousins in England. The Legislature unanimously concurs with
Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins' recommendation to abolish slavery entirely in the state by and after July 4, 1827.
1821
"The Spy," a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, is set partially in pre-Manhattanville environs of the Revolutionary
War period.
1823
On December 18, Thanksgiving Day that year, St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church in Manhattanville is founded as an independent
parish of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church in Bloomingdale. Its Free School which "shall be open equally to
all denominations" is also established.
|
