Pre-1906: Indigenous and Colonial Topography
MANNAHATTA & NEW YORK
New York City is a past, present, and future home for many Indigenous people. This place is Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenni-Lenape. Prior to the modern imposition of the street grid and the development of lots, the topography of the Upper East Side—part of the island then called Mannahatta—was defined by woodlands, streams, and wetlands as well as Lenape trails, settlements, and cultivation sites. Settler-colonial development initially followed the preexisting lay of the land.
The Lenape settlement of “Konannde Kongh, as labeled by Dutch colonists, and a Lenape trail that shaped part of the Boston Post Road are among the features shown on this reconstructed map of “Yorkville and East Harlem in aboriginal times.” A.R. Ohman Map Co., 1912. New York Public Library Digital Collections
View southwest from Park Avenue and 94th St. in 1883. The sparsely developed blocks near Central Park contrasted with the more populous, working-class and immigrant neighborhood ofin Yorktown, a few blocks to the east. © Peter Baab / Museum of the City of New York
View south along the East River shore of Manhattan in 1862, showing the 86th Street ferry landing and Blackwell’s Island (Roosevelt Island) to the east. New York Public Library Digital Collections
Country Estates to City Blocks
Detail of 1879 Bromley Atlas, Plate 21, showing the still-undeveloped block bounded by Fifth Avenue (left) and Madison Avenue, and 82nd and 83rd streets. A stream trickles through the rear of lot 72, the future 1014 Fifth Avenue. New York Public Library Digital Collections
On 19th-century maps, the land on which 1014 Fifth Avenue would later be built was shown as the property of John P. Schermerhorn (1775–1831), a member of the Schermerhorn shipping and merchant family descended from Dutch aristocrats. The family operated a prosperous shipping route between New York City and Charleston, South Carolina, two cities involved with the slave trade in the 18th century. Several members of the family bought acreage in the Upper East Side to enjoy as country estates.
In the 19th century, John P. Schermerhorn bought the land on which 1014 Fifth Avenue would later be developed. The Schermerhorn family, who had made a fortune through shipping, established several estates on the Upper East Side, including this country villa overlooking the East River from the foot of 84th Street. New York Public Library Digital Collections
From Lower Manhattan, they traveled north along the Boston Post Road, which followed segments of the Wickquasgeck Trail. A ferry crossed the East River at 86th Street. The rectilinear street grid, conceived in 1811, was implemented in the Upper East Side in the middle decades of the century. The construction of Central Park and streetcar lines also catalyzed development.
Lenape Landscape
A stream once trickled through the site of 1014 Fifth Avenue. Joined by other rivulets, it flowed southeast and discharged into the salt marshes around East 74th Street. The nearest Lenape settlement, located in today’s Carnegie Hill, was called “Konaande Kongh,” according to the notes of Dutch colonists, who arrived in 1626. Indigenous people traveled north and south along the Wickquasgeck Trail, which traversed the Upper East Side near Third Avenue. The local woods likely comprised chestnut, oak, hickory, and other native species. Mannahatta was a hotbed of ecological diversity and the Lenape fished, foraged, hunted, and cultivated food sustainably.
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Learn about the company that built 1014 Fifth Avenue
and its first owners...