Andrew [Haswell] Green (1820 - November 13, 1903) was a New York lawyer, city planner, civic leader and agitator for reform. Called by some historians a hundred years later "the 19th century
Robert MosesRobert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in...
," he held several offices and played important roles in many projects, including
Riverside DriveRiverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street on the west side of Manhattan...
,
Morningside ParkMorningside Park is a New York City public park in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The area occupies 110th to 123rd Streets from Morningside Avenue to Morningside Drive at the border between Harlem and Morningside Heights. Its distinctive natural geography is a...
,
Fort Washington ParkFort Washington was a fortified position near the north end of Manhattan Island and was located at the highest point on the island. The Fort Washington Site is listed on the U.S...
, and
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
. His last great project was the consolidation of the "
Imperial CityA metropolitan municipality is a type of municipality established in some countries to serve a metropolitan area.-Canada:In generic terms, and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government; or at least a suburban government flanked by urban and/or...
" or
City of Greater New YorkThe City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Richmond County, Kings County, the western part of Queens County, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx...
from the earlier cities of New York,
BrooklynBrooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located southwest of Queens on the western tip of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area...
and Long Island City, and still largely rural parts of
WestchesterWestchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles and has a diverse population of approximately 950,000, residing in 45 municipalities...
,
RichmondStaten Island is a borough of New York City in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
and
QueensQueens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Five Boroughs which form New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens , a subdivision of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States.Located on...
Counties.
Andrew [Haswell] Green (1820 - November 13, 1903) was a New York lawyer, city planner, civic leader and agitator for reform. Called by some historians a hundred years later "the 19th century
Robert MosesRobert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in...
," he held several offices and played important roles in many projects, including
Riverside DriveRiverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street on the west side of Manhattan...
,
Morningside ParkMorningside Park is a New York City public park in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The area occupies 110th to 123rd Streets from Morningside Avenue to Morningside Drive at the border between Harlem and Morningside Heights. Its distinctive natural geography is a...
,
Fort Washington ParkFort Washington was a fortified position near the north end of Manhattan Island and was located at the highest point on the island. The Fort Washington Site is listed on the U.S...
, and
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
. His last great project was the consolidation of the "
Imperial CityA metropolitan municipality is a type of municipality established in some countries to serve a metropolitan area.-Canada:In generic terms, and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government; or at least a suburban government flanked by urban and/or...
" or
City of Greater New YorkThe City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Richmond County, Kings County, the western part of Queens County, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx...
from the earlier cities of New York,
BrooklynBrooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located southwest of Queens on the western tip of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area...
and Long Island City, and still largely rural parts of
WestchesterWestchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles and has a diverse population of approximately 950,000, residing in 45 municipalities...
,
RichmondStaten Island is a borough of New York City in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
and
QueensQueens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Five Boroughs which form New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens , a subdivision of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States.Located on...
Counties. He chaired the 1897 committee that drew up the plan of
amalgamationA merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...
.
Timeline
1820 Andrew Haswell Green, one of eleven children, is born near
Worcester, MassachusettsWorcester is a city in the state of Massachusetts in the United States of America. Having a population of 172,648 in the 2000 census, Worcester is ranked the second or third largest city in New England. It is the county seat of Worcester County....
to a prominent family.
1835 Green moves to New York, where two of his sisters run a school for young girls.
1845 Green becomes a lawyer under the tutelage of railroad attorney and future Democratic governor and presidential candidate,
Samuel J. TildenSamuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century...
.
1854 Green is elected to the
New York City Board of EducationThe New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. These schools form the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,600 separate schools...
. He soon becomes its president.
1857 The Republican-led New York State Legislature begins to institute measures to control the municipal affairs of the largely Democratic metropolitan region. One act creates the Central Park Commission (CPC). Green is appointed to the CPC, eventually becoming its head.
1858
OlmstedFrederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, landscape designer and father of American landscape architecture, famous for designing many well-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City...
and
VauxCalvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
’s Greensward Plan for Central Park is chosen by the CPC, thanks largely to Green’s influence. The CPC’s work will proceed under Green’s leadership, despite resistance from resentful local
Tammany HallTammany Hall , was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s...
politicians who have little control of the project.
1859 With Green’s coaxing, the legislature begins to expand the CPC’s authority, transforming it into the city’s first comprehensive planning body. In the next decade the CPC plans and/or proposes improvements in northern Manhattan, the
Harlem RiverThe Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
and today’s Bronx. Projects include
RiversideRiverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park consists of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently...
, Morningside and Ft. Washington Parks; the street plan above
155 Street155th Street is a major crosstown street in the Washington Heights neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the northernmost of the 15 crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 that established the numbered street grid in Manhattan.155th Street starts on...
; a widened and straightened Broadway; a
Grand CircleColumbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Completed in 1905 and renovated a century later, it is located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South , and Eighth Avenue, at the...
at 59th Street and
Eighth AvenueEighth Avenue is a north-south avenue on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic. Eighth Avenue begins in the West Village neighborhood at Abingdon Square and runs north for 44 blocks through Chelsea, the Garment District, Hell's Kitchen's east end, Midtown and the...
, and more.
1868 Green proposes municipal consolidation of the entire metropolitan region to aid
city planningUrban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities...
, but his idea is viewed as premature. (Others had suggested various consolidation schemes as early as the late 1820s.)
1869 Envisioning Central Park as the cultural center of NYC, Green gets approval for the CPC to create the
American Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, and then the
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial...
, two prototypical public-private institutions.
1870 A new
home-ruleMunicipal home rule originated in the United States during the Progressive Era of the early twentieth century. It enables voters to adopt a home rule charter that acts as the city's basic governing document over local issues; however, state law continues to prevail over statewide concerns...
(“Tweed”) charter ends the state-run CPC. However, the city’s Departments of Public Works and Public Parks will eventually execute most of the CPC’s unfinished plans.
1871 The Tweed Ring is exposed. Green is made Comptroller to sort out the ring’s crippling theft and graft. He uses his personal credit to obtain funds to cover the city payroll. He cuts waste and halts most public works to spare the city from bankruptcy. Critics claim his retrenchment policy is too arbitrary and severe. Green serves until 1876.
1874 The City formally expands beyond
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
Island when the southwestern corner of Westchester County is annexed. It is called the Annexed District, later to become the
West BronxThe West Bronx is that part of the New York City borough of the Bronx which lies west of the Bronx River; this roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough.The West Bronx is more densely populated than the East Bronx, and is closer to Upper Manhattan...
.
1883
Brooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretching 5,989 feet over the East River, connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn...
opens. Much public talk of formally uniting NYC and Brooklyn, but nothing comes of it.
Niagara (Falls) Park Commission is created to establish NY’s
first state parkNiagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls, New York in Niagara County. The park contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and part of the Canadian Falls....
and defend the falls. Green soon becomes president of the commission and will serve until his death.
1886 Samuel J. Tilden dies, leaving a vast fortune to create a public library for NYC but his will is contested by relatives. The executors – Green and two others – must make do with fewer funds. Green will propose consolidating the Tilden Trust with the Astor and Lenox Libraries, leading eventually to the
New York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of the United States's most significant research libraries. It is composed of a very large circulating public library system combined with a very large non-lending research library system...
.
1889 The
Washington BridgeThe Washington Bridge carries six lanes of traffic over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, connecting 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to University Avenue in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx...
, a span over the
Harlem RiverThe Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
that Green had long championed, is completed.
Sentiment builds in the business community for municipal consolidation of the metropolitan region to protect the mismanaged port. The NYS legislature creates a commission to explore consolidation, with Green at its head. Green immediately proposes an ambitious consolidation plan that will be rebuffed a number of times, mostly by Brooklynites who call the movement “Green’s hobby.”
1894 Changing his approach, Green gets a nonbinding consolidation referendum on the ballot. Most surrounding municipalities vote in favor of consolidation, but Brooklyn’s pro-consolidation majority is razor thin – only about 0.2%! Alarmed by the results, opponents will lobby to thwart subsequent bills by Green and others.
Green rallies preservation-minded New Yorkers against the proposed destruction or removal of the
New York City HallNew York City Hall is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan between Broadway, Park Row and Chambers Street. The building itself is the oldest City Hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions, such as the office of...
building. The next year he will form the city’s first formal preservation and conservation group, to be called the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The society will create parks and rescue endangered sites throughout New York City and State before folding in the 1970s.
1895 Eastern portion of today’s Bronx annexed by NYC.
Motivated by politics, Republican Party boss
Thomas C. PlattThomas Collier Platt -- a two-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term U.S...
embraces Green’s consolidation plan. He pushes the measure through the legislature in 1896. A Greater New York charter is passed in 1897.
1898 Consolidation takes effect January 1. New York City expands from approximately to over 300, and becomes the “World’s Second City,” behind only London in population.
An island at
Niagara FallsThe Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York...
is named for Green.
1902 Cornerstone is laid for the New York Public Library.
1903 Green is murdered in a case of mistaken identity. He is buried in Worcester. In 1905 his family estate in that city is turned into a public park.
1929 The Andrew H. Green Memorial Bench is dedicated in Central Park. It is surrounded by five elms, representing the five boroughs.
In the 1980s the bench was moved to another hill at , overlooking Harlem Meer, and new maples were planted in 1998.
External links