What substance would the Dutch of the seventeenth century have found at the present-day intersections of Forty-Sixth and Twelfth Avenue, Wall and Front, and Washington and West Houston?
(Hint: This substance could also have been seen where the East Coast Memorial now stands in Battery Park and where the hospital buildings stand on Ellis Island.)
WATER!
Four hundred years ago, none of those locations existed. All three of the intersections as well as Battery Park and most of Ellis Island are landfill. 14% of Manhattan is landfill. Below Fourteenth Street, one-third is landfill. And below Canal Street? Two-thirds!
Pictured above is the Castello Map of 1660 laid on top of present-day Lower Manhattan, which should give you an idea of the massive expansion over the centuries. 400 years ago, most of what we call Lower Manhattan was water.
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