One wonders if the Dutch soldiers manning the walls of Fort Amsterdam could have ever imagined the city that would grow from the wild river and terrain that surrounded them in 1624, I’m sure they didn’t have any clue that in just 30 years the colony containing the Fort and all of the territory they had obtained from the native Canarsie Indians for 60 guilders, roughly $1000, would be surrendered to English control.
After that the newly renamed territory of New York would go through a number of trials and tribulations before it emerged as the definitive metropolis that it is today. After the Revolutionary War and several battles for control in the late 1700s, the Congress of the Confederation made New York the national capital in 1789, and by 1790, the city surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States, a title which it holes to this day. Throughout the 1800s the population of the city grew, only helped by the Great Irish Famine, which added more than 200,000 new residents.
As more and more people came in living situations became more and more cramped, creating many problems and hazards due to fires, and unsanitary living conditions. In the 1870s and 1880s the first skyscrapers were built, starting first with large scale office buildings like George Post’s New York Equitable Life Building. As the years moved on and technology progressively got better, New York’s skyline only grew taller and the population more densely packed.
New York became a leader in architectural design and triumphant feats of engineering. Stylistically, the city would see a revival of Gothic aesthetics in regards to many of its large scale buildings of the early 20th century, but it would also see the advent of the brownstones, row houses, townhouses, and even the shabby tenements that would come residents would occupy from all walks of life as the city boomed in the late 1870s all the way until present day.
The city has grown to such a size that today one can walk only a few blocks and find themselves right in the middle of a neighborhood of 50,000 residents or more, with a total population of 8.4 million that only continues to climb, as do the many engineering marvels that populate its skyline. A horizon that has become just as iconic as any major city in history. Despite the fall of some of its highest architectural achievements, New York is a beacon of progress, built on the dreams and hard work of some of the world’s most industrious individuals. One can be sure that the city and its skyline will only continue to grow in size and grandeur.