Governors Island south east off the southern tip of Manhattan, at the cross of the Hudson and East Rivers in New York Harbor, west of Brooklyn is not a well known traveler or tourist destination for New York City visitors. The Native Americans Manahatas, in June of 1637, sold the island to Wouter Van Twiller of Holland. After the English took over New York (1664) they renamed the island Governors Island 1784 for the King's representatives in the region. The island has two major installs, 1796 Fort Jay and 1811 Castle Williams. Critical to the early defense of during the revolutionary, 1812, and civil wars. Governors Island was a military post for the US Army from 1794 until 1966, followed by the Coast Guard. Click on the photo album to the left to see pictures of Governors Island.
Tourists can gain access to the ferry that leaves from the eastern tip of Manhattan on the east side of the Staten Island Ferry, across from
Peter Stuyvesant's Whitehall House.
See great external links
Library of Congress' Old World Maps of Governors Island
1766
Fort 1766
1851
1874
1890 View of Downtown NYC from Governors Island
New York Public Library's Governors Island Links
1776
1800
1825
1860
1865
1880
1881
1907
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation.
National Park Service
Governors Island Alliance
WikiPedia's Governors Island Section
TIMELINE 1809-1909
1810 Large wave of
Irish immigrants begins to flow into New York City.
1811
Southwest Battery is finished (later named
Castle Clinton in
Battery Park). Its only access is via a wooden pier that projects about 250ft. Gov Clinton starts his push for the
Erie Canal. New City Hall is completed on current site. Only front is finished in marble since they believe the population will not move beyond Chamber St.
1812 US and UK go to war.
1820
Population 125,000.
1822
Yellow fever hits. Fulton fish market opens, it will close in 2005.
1825
Erie Canal is completed by mostly
Irish immigrants. It is a boom to business in New York.
1826
Irish and American street gangs start to form in the
Five Points. Bowery Theater is the first gas light theater.
1831
NYU is established.
1835 The Great Fire hits lower Manhattan. It devastates businesses and homes.
1836 Reformed Presbyterian Church opens.
1839 Second Trinity Church is damaged.
1840
Population is 300,000.
Five Points is worst location in the metro area.
1842
Board of Education is formed.
Map of City of New York completed.
1844 American bigots clashes between anti Irish and anti
Catholic immigrants.
1845 A massive wave of Irish immigrants begins. Equipped with only rural skills, their survival is perilous in the urban location of
Five Points.
1846 US Mexican War begins. Third Trinity Church is erected.
1847 Hundreds of thousands of
Irish immigrants flood the city escaping the
famine in Ireland via 'coffin ships'. Chinese Immigrants start to move into the
Five Points later known as Chinatown.
1848 The Five Points Mission is opened at a former brewery at the cross streets of Cross and Little Water.
1851 Typhus hits the city. New York City Resident Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick. Lower Manhattan painting by
Heine, J. Kummer & Döpler completed.
1854 House of Industry is operating at 155 Worth Street in the Five Points.
1855 Famed American street tough Bill "the Butcher" Poole dies from a gun shot in a local bar.
1857 Famed fight between city and state police leads to crime fueled weekend by criminals.
1860 Abe Lincoln arrives, buys a hat, takes a photos and woos the crowd during his presidential election campaign. Canal St sees a large increase in vice trades.
1861 Civil War begins. The
NY Fighting 69th(Irish) Regiment leaves for battle. 8
1862 Massive
draft riots occur when poor can't 'buy' their way out of draft for $300.
1865
Small poxs hits.
1869 Goldman Sachs begins at 30 Pine St.
1870
Battery Park is filled in and extended.
1871
Boss Tweed is arrested.
1876
Boss Tweed is put in jail, just as Tweed Court house is finished.
1880 Thomas Edison lights Broadway.
1883
Brooklyn Bridge opens.
1885 Save haven for Irish girls is set up at
Old Lady of the Rosary (Seton Shrine) at 7 State Street.
1886
Statue of Liberty is erected.
1888 Huge snow blizzard hits the city.
1894
Rapid Transit System (subway) is approved.
1899 First skyscraper is erected at 15 Park Row.
1900 Population 3.5 million.
Ellis Island starts processing large numbers of immigrants.
1903
Williamsburg Bridge is built. Typhoid Mary hits city.
1907
Custom House is built at
Bowling Green.
1909
Manhattan Bridge opens.
