1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/New York (City)

NEW YORK (CITY) (see ). The pop. of New York City in 1920 was 5,620,048, as against 4,766,883 in 1910, an increase of 853,165, or 17.9%. The pop. of the separate boroughs was: Manhattan, 2,284,103 (in 1910, 2,331,542); Bronx, 732,016 (in 1910, 430,980); Brooklyn, 2,018,356 (in 1910, 1,634,351); Queens, 469,042 (in 1910, 284,041); Richmond, 116,531 (in 1910, 85,969). There were 5,459,004 whites, 153,088 negroes, and 7,956 others (Chinese, Japanese and Indians). The figures for 1910 were 4,669,162 whites, 91,709 negroes and 6,012 others. The white pop. constituted 97.1% in 1920 and 98% in 1910, while the negro pop. constituted 2.7% in 1920 and 1.9% in 1910. The increase in the white pop. since 1910 was 789,842, or 16.9%, while the corresponding increase in the negro pop. was 61,379, or 66.9%. The total foreign-born white pop. in 1920 was 1,989,216, as compared with 1,927,603 in 1910, an increase of 61,603, or 3.2%. The numerical increase was less than 10% of that of the preceding decade. Foreign countries furnishing the greatest number were Russia, 479,481; Italy, 388,427; Ireland, 202,833; Germany, 193,558; Poland (for the first time listed separately), 145,257; and Austria, 126,447. Of the total pop. in 1920 the males numbered 2,804,884, or 49.9%, and the females 2,815,164, or 50.1%. For the entire borough of Manhattan the average density was 162.5 inhabitants per ac., but in the Fourth Assembly District on the lower E. side (245 ac.) in which a great proportion was foreign born, the density was 420.3 per acre. In 775 tenement blocks in 1920 the density was over 1,000, the maximum being 3,869. In spite of overcrowding the city was healthy; for 1919 the average death-rate was 12.39 per 1,000.

The most important enlargements of public services provided since 1909 are the addition of the Catskill water to the city system, and the additions to the rapid transit system.

Streets and Buildings.—The construction of the new traction system involved some changes in the streets, the extension of Seventh Ave. being an example. The principal shopping district has shifted rapidly northwards, deserting in succession the 14th St. and 23rd St. sections. Its boundaries, broadly speaking, in 1921 were 31st St., Broadway, 59th St. and Madison Ave., and it was steadily continuing northward. The principal shopping streets were Broadway, 34th St., 42nd St. and 5th Avenue. Park Ave., N. from the Grand Central Station, was rapidly superseding Riverside Drive as the well-to-do apartment district, and there was a distinct movement of the finer residential section to the eastward, reaching in one instance as far as Ave. A.

Between 1909 and 1921 there was considerable addition to the number of the tall buildings, which made the sky-line of the city an impressive spectacle. The Woolworth Building (792 ft.) is the highest structure in the world excepting the Eiffel Tower. It is a remarkable example of the adaptation of the Gothic style to the &ldquo;sky-scraper,&rdquo; is faced with cream-coloured, glazed terra-cotta and is crowned by a huge lantern, brilliant at night, under which is an observation gallery, from which on a clear day a 50-m. view may be obtained. Other notable new buildings are: The Bankers' Trust (539 ft.); Equitable (485 ft.); Adams Express (424 ft.); Whitehall (424 ft.); American Express (415 ft.); American Telephone and Telegraph (403 ft.); 112 Park Ave. (390 ft.); Liberty Tower or Hanover National Bank (385 ft.); American Bank Note (374 ft.); 201 Broadway (362 ft.); 60 Wall Street (346 ft.); Candler (341 ft.); AUied Printing Trades (340 ft.); 37 Wall Street (346 ft.); 80 Maiden Lane (315 ft.); Columbia Trust Co. (306 ft); Sun (306 ft.); and Cunard (335 ft.). The newer hotels include the Pennsylvania, with its 2,200 rooms, the largest hotel in the world; the Commodore, with 2,000 rooms; the McAlpin, Biltmore, Chatham, Vanderbilt, Ritz-Carlton and Claridge. The Knickerbocker, Holland House and Manhattan, formerly three of the best-known hotels, have been converted into office buildings, as has Sherry's restaurant.

History. During the administration of Mayor Gaynor, which began in 1910, there arose an increased interest in administration on the part of the citizens. The mayor, known locally for certain whimsical characteristics, had gained a hold on popular sympathy as a result of his attempted assassination. Later he became ill, and while on a steamer to Europe, travelling to regain his health, died Sept. 10 1913. Adolph L. Kline (b. 1858), president of the Board of Aldermen, succeeded to the office for the remaining few months of the term. A fusion ticket led by John Purroy Mitchel (1879-1918), who had made an enviable record in public office as Commissioner of Accounts, Collector of the Port and president of the Board of Aldermen, easily defeated the Tammany ticket. Mitchel, but 35 years of age, undertook a complete reorganization of administration, and obtained remarkable results, making his mayoralty a period of unprecedented efficiency in the city's government. Of especial note were the improvements in police, street cleaning, charities and corrections, and the establishment of high standards and expert service in taxation, purchasing and the selection of personnel. Though admittedly efficient, economical and honest, this administration saw itself at the end of four years buried under the greatest majority for Tammany on record. The causes were many. Mayor Mitchel antagonized one powerful group after another; certain real estate interests by the &ldquo;pay-as-you-go&rdquo; plan of financing; the German group by his pro-Ally sympathies; a large manufacturing group by refusal to remove trade refuse free of charge; the upper W. side by the unfortunate W. side plan for removal of the New York Central surface tracks; the Catholic vote by his procedure regarding certain charities; the borough of Richmond by locating a garbage incinerator plant in that section; and Brooklyn by his rigid policy of centralization. The result was that John F. Hylan (b. 1868), a candidate from Brooklyn, led a complete Tammany ticket into office, with a platform of outspoken opposition to almost everything the Mitchel administration had done. Subsequently, however, upon the election of the president of the Board of Aldermen, Alfred E. Smith, to the governorship of the state, and the death in office of the president of the borough of Manhattan, Republicans were elected to the vacancies so created. Mayor Hylan's regime was marked by continual wrangling among the members of the Board of Estimate, resulting in many cases in distinct disturbance of administrative machinery. The outstanding features were the fight of the city against increased fares for the traction lines, the declaration of receiverships for practically all of the traction companies of the city except the Manhattan elevated and subways, the dissolution of the companies into a number of independent lines, the operation by the city of the Staten I. traction lines and the introduction of motor-bus lines by the city in competition with the traction systems.