Hundreds of ferries operated on New York’s rivers in the late 1800s. Most of these disappeared after the opening of several East Side bridges. Now, ferries have become popular once again. After the attack on the World Trade Center, when there were some temporary problems with subways and commuter rail trains, many New Yorkers turned […]
Author: Pamela Dunn
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway System opened on October 27, 1904, with 28 stations in Manhattan. There are now 468 stations, most of which were built by 1930. There are now stations in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn. Staten Island’s subway system, the Staten Island Railway, is not contiguous with the New York City’s […]
New York City Jews
New York City has the oldest and largest Jewish community in North America. More than one third of all the Jews in the United States live in New York. Almost 2 million Jews live in New York City, which is the principal port of entry and site of settlement for new Jewish immigrants to the […]
New York City Hispanics
About half of New York City’s 1.8 million Hispanic residents are of Puerto Rican descent, the island has been a US possession since 1898, and its people have been US citizens since 1917. They began migrating here from the island in significant numbers during the Depression and began displacing Italians in East Harlem. As citizens, […]
New York City Blacks
New York City has a black population of around two million. African slaves were first shipped to New York in 1644, when the city was still part of the Dutch colony called New Netherlands. There were around 2000 blacks in New York by the time of the War of Independence from Britain, the black slaves […]
Diverse Culture of New York City
New York City’s people make up about half the population of the larger New York State, most of which belong to major ethnic groups – about 52% are white, though non-Hispanic whites are not in the majority overall. Blacks count for around 29% of the people, and Asians 7%. Hispanic people of all races make […]
New York City Geography
New York City is mostly made up of 50 islands, besides Manhattan, that span a 309 square-mile area. Some of the islands are basically lumps of rock in the water, but the larger islands include, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island; the three of which make up the western most point of Long Island, something that […]
New York City Weather
New York’s weather is usually listed as temperate in travel guides and meteorological surveys, but the truth is the weather can go to extremes to the point where the climate is almost unbearable. New York can have long periods of incomprehensible heat and humidity during the summertime; where in winter, during December, January and February, […]
New York City Environment
There have been huge efforts put into cleaning up New York’s waterways and air pollution in the past few years; before these changes were undertaken, New York’s dock area was in a great decline that lasted decades after the main shipping moved to a more modern superport in New Jersey. Even though there has been […]
Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg
The famous Brooklyn Bridge, built nearly a century ago, was designed by John Augustus Roebling. It was the first bridge to connect Manhattan with Long Island, and its designer was a many-sided genius, learned in philosophy, in mathematics, a musician, a linguist and the owner of a magnificent library. The bridge was twice as long […]