New York City In The 1880s: Fascinating Historical Photos Capturing Street Scenes And Everyday Life (2024)

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What was happening in New York in the 1880s? ›

In summary, the 1880s, a critical era of the Gilded Age, were a time of dynamic change and growth for New York City. The era's architectural achievements, cultural diversity, and urban innovations played a crucial role in shaping the city's identity as a modern metropolis.

New immigrants to New York City in the late 1800s faced grim, cramped living conditions in tenement housing that once dominated the Lower East Side. During the 19th century, immigration steadily increased, causing New York City's population to double every decade from 1800 to 1880.

Great Blizzard of 1888, winter storm that pummeled the Atlantic coast of the United States, from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, in March 1888. The blizzard caused more than $20 million in property damage in New York City alone and killed more than 400 people, including about 100 sailors, across the Eastern Seaboard.

This era's growth was pivotal in shaping the United States' economic, political, and cultural framework. New York City's evolution into a vital trade and commerce hub was driven by sectors like shipping, finance, and manufacturing, cementing its role as a crucial urban center in the nation's trajectory.

From top left, clockwise: A famous gunfight erupts at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881; a long-distance passenger train called the Orient Express begins running between Paris and Constantinople in 1883; U.S. Congress bans Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. for ten years, starting in 1882; South Fork ...

During the mid-nineteenth century, well over a million Irish fled their native country for the United States. Those who settled in New York City overwhelmingly lived in the Five Points, a neighborhood that achieved international notoriety as an overcrowded, dangerous, and disease-ridden slum.

Conditions for the poor in late-nineteenth-century New York City were comparable to those faced by paupers in Victorian London. Many of the poor, adults as well as children, in New York worked as casual labourers, families herded into a single room at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords.

The largest earthquake ever recorded in New York City's history was 5.2-magnitude in 1884, according to NYC Emergency Management. It's believed to have happened somewhere between Brooklyn and Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

Throughout our history, laws and policies restricted immigration. New arrivals have faced discrimination and unsafe environments. Despite these challenges and injustices, immigrants' experiences, knowledge, and cultures have enriched our state and shaped our history.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

What happened in New York in 1885? ›

The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York in 350 pieces shipped in more than 200 cases on this day in history, June 17, 1885. Assembling the Statue of Liberty took over a year; and the statue would not officially be unveiled to the public until Oct.

1870s NYC: The Gilded Age Begins, Urban Enrichment & Industrial Progression. The 1870s marked a pivotal decade of transformation for New York City during the Gilded Age, initiating its evolution toward modern urbanization.

In 1825 the Erie Canal, connecting the Atlantic with the American heartland via the Great Lakes, was completed, and in 1861 the Civil War, disrupting American unity, began. This volume examines the exhilarating period between these two far-reaching events.

The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York, before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674.

Immigrant workers in the nineteenth century often lived in cramped tenement housing that regularly lacked basic amenities such as running water, ventilation, and toilets. These conditions were ideal for the spread of bacteria and infectious diseases.

There was minimal air circulation and sunlight. Until the Tenement House Act of 1879, newly built tenements lacked running water or indoor toilets. A law in 1901 required indoor plumbing be retrofitted to older tenements. Garbage pickup was erratic until late in the 19th century.