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West Harlem

Welcome to Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill and West Harlem. Historically and architecturally, it is one of New York City's richest and most diverse neighborhoods. The development of the area from West 135th to West 155th Street, Edgecombe Avenue to the Hudson, spans a period of over 350 years and is an exciting and evolving chapter of the settlement of Manhattan Island and the development of New York City. The first non-native settlers of the area were farmers of diverse origins (eleven Frenchmen, four Walloons, four Danes, three Swedes, three Germans, and seven Dutchmen) who were offered land grants by the Dutch West India Company after founding Nieuw Amsterdam at the foot of Manhattan in 1625.

In 1658, Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant established the Village of New Harlem, which includes the area now known as Hamilton Heights. During the Revolutionary War, temporary fortifications were built throughout Harlem Heights as far north as 160th Street. In late October 1776, several skirmishes occurred between what is now West 130th Street and West 145th Streets. Following the defeat of the Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn in the previous August, these encounters were the first demonstration of the ability of the Continental Army to match at least the better-trained and equipped British forces.

In 1791, the Bloomingdale Road was extended to meet the Kingsbridge Road at present day West 147th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue giving easier access to the area and attracting residents who often created grand estates and country retreats, enticed by the cool breezes, panoramic views, and inexpensive land with rich soil. The last remaining great house of this period is The Grange (1801-2), the twelve-room country home of Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. The Federal-style house, designed by John McComb Jr., a co-designer or City Hall, is now a museum operated by the National Park Service, open to visitors daily. Hamilton's thirty-two acre property extended from present day Hamilton Place on the west, to Hamilton Terrace on the east, and from West 140th to West 147th Streets.

With the construction of the New York State-financed Croton Water Aqueduct in 1842, the area began to lose its rural character. The aqueduct ran along present day Amsterdam Avenue, bringing water to the city through iron pipes placed inside masonry channels. The partially buried and covered over aqueduct created a ten-foot high roadway that impeded drainage and obstructed views from the surrounding grand estates.

The growth of New York City intruded upon the bucolic calm of Hamilton Heights. New transportation links (the elevated railroad on 8th Avenue with stations at 135th and 145th Streets opened in 1879 and the IRT subway line in 1904) spurred rapid urbanization. The large country estates were sold and divided into building lots for speculative development. William H. De Forest, one of the early developers, along with his son, William De Forest, Jr., developed much of the land south of 145th Street. In the 1870s and 1880s, De Forest purchased The Grange and surrounding property in several transactions. He later donated the house to St. Luke's Church and arranged to have it moved to accommodate his development plans. The De Forests laid out streets and planned single-family houses. An 1886 article in the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide noted that the development "will certainly have a strong distinctive character of its own, though bearing more resemblance to the suburbs of London than to anything in the vicinity of New York." St. Nicholas Avenue attracted freestanding mansions including one in a Romanesque Revival style still standing at 10 St.Nicholas Place, the grand home of James A. Bailey, the circus king and partner of Phineas T. Barnum.