Andrew Haswell Green
Encyclopedia
Andrew Haswell Green was a New York lawyer, city planner, civic leader and agitator for reform. Called by some historians a hundred years later "the 19th century Robert Moses
," he held several offices and played important roles in many projects, including Riverside Drive
, Morningside Park, Fort Washington Park
, and Central Park
. His last great project was the consolidation of the "Imperial City
" or City of Greater New York
from the earlier cities of New York, Brooklyn
and Long Island City, and still largely rural parts of Westchester
, Richmond
and Queens
Counties. He chaired the 1897 committee that drew up the plan of amalgamation
. He is the brother of Samuel Fisk Green
, a pioneering medical missionary of the American Ceylon Mission
in Sri Lanka
.
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
," he held several offices and played important roles in many projects, including Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
, Morningside Park, Fort Washington Park
Fort Washington (New York)
Fort Washington was a fortified position near the north end of Manhattan Island and was located at the highest point on the island. The Fort Washington Site is listed on the U.S...
, and Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. His last great project was the consolidation of the "Imperial City
Metropolitan municipality
A metropolitan municipality is a type of municipality established in some countries to serve a metropolitan area.-Canada:In generic terms, and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government; or at least a suburban government flanked by urban and/or...
" or City of Greater New York
City of Greater New York
The City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Richmond County, Kings County, Queens County, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx...
from the earlier cities of New York, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and Long Island City, and still largely rural parts of Westchester
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, Richmond
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
and Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
Counties. He chaired the 1897 committee that drew up the plan of amalgamation
Amalgamation (politics)
A merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...
. He is the brother of Samuel Fisk Green
Samuel Fisk Green
Samuel Fisk Green was an American medical missionary. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city. He served with the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna, Sri Lanka during the period when it was the British colony of Ceylon...
, a pioneering medical missionary of the American Ceylon Mission
American Ceylon Mission
The American Ceylon Mission to Jaffna, Sri Lanka started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions . The British colonial office in India and Ceylon restricted the Americans to the relatively small Jaffna Peninsula for...
in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
Timeline
- 1820 Andrew Haswell Green, one of eleven children, was born in Worcester, MassachusettsWorcester, MassachusettsWorcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
to a prominent family. - 1835 Green moved to New York, where two of his sisters ran a school for young girls.
- 1845 Green became a lawyer under the tutelage of railroad attorney and future Democratic governor and presidential candidate, Samuel J. TildenSamuel J. TildenSamuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
. - 1854 Green was elected to the New York City Board of EducationNew York City Department of EducationThe New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
. He soon became its president. - 1857 The Republican-led New York State Legislature began to institute measures to control the municipal affairs of the largely Democratic metropolitan region. One act created the Central Park Commission (CPC). Green was appointed to the CPC, eventually becoming its head.
- 1858 OlmstedFrederick Law OlmstedFrederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
and VauxCalvert VauxCalvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
’s Greensward Plan for Central Park was chosen by the CPC, thanks largely to Green’s influence. The CPC’s work would proceed under Green’s leadership, despite resistance from resentful local Tammany HallTammany HallTammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
politicians who have little control of the project. - 1859 With Green’s coaxing, the legislature began to expand the CPC’s authority, transforming it into the city’s first comprehensive planning body. In the next decade the CPC planned and/or proposed improvements in northern Manhattan, the Harlem RiverHarlem RiverThe Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
and today’s Bronx. Projects included RiversideRiverside Park (Manhattan)Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park consists of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently...
, Morningside and Ft. Washington Parks; the street plan above 155 Street155th Street (Manhattan)155th Street is a major crosstown street in the Harlem neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the northernmost of the 155 crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 that established the numbered street grid in Manhattan.155th Street starts on the West...
; a widened and straightened Broadway; a Grand CircleColumbus CircleColumbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South , and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park. It is the point from...
at 59th Street and Eighth AvenueEighth Avenue (Manhattan)Eighth Avenue is a north-south avenue on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic. Eighth Avenue begins in the West Village neighborhood at Abingdon Square and runs north for 44 blocks through Chelsea, the Garment District, Hell's Kitchen's east end, Midtown and the...
, and more. - 1868 Green proposed municipal consolidation of the entire metropolitan region to aid city planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
, but his idea was viewed as premature. (Others had suggested various consolidation schemes as early as the late 1820s.) - 1869 Envisioning Central Park as the cultural center of NYC, Green got approval for the CPC to create the American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, and then the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, two prototypical public-private institutions. - 1870 A new home-ruleMunicipal home ruleMunicipal home rule originated in the United States during the Progressive Era of the early twentieth century. It enables voters to adopt a home rule charter that acts as the city's basic governing document over local issues; however, state law continues to prevail over statewide concerns...
(“Tweed”) charter ended the state-run CPC. However, the city’s Departments of Public Works and Public Parks would eventually execute most of the CPC’s unfinished plans. - 1871 The Tweed Ring was exposed. Green was made Comptroller to sort out the ring’s crippling theft and graft. He used his personal credit to obtain funds to cover the city payroll. He cut waste and halted most public works to spare the city from bankruptcy. Critics claimed his retrenchment policy was too arbitrary and severe. Green served until 1876.
- 1874 The City formally expanded beyond ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Island when the southwestern corner of Westchester CountyWestchester County, New YorkWestchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
was annexed. It was called the Annexed District, later to become the West BronxWest BronxThe West Bronx is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The neighborhood lies west of the Bronx River and roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough....
. - 1883 Brooklyn BridgeBrooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
opened. Much public talk of formally uniting NYC and Brooklyn, but nothing came of it. - Niagara (Falls) Park Commission was created to establish New York’s first state parkNiagara Falls State ParkNiagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls, New York in Niagara County. The park has the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and part of the Canadian Falls....
and defend the falls. Green soon became president of the commission and would serve until his death. - 1886 Samuel J. Tilden died, leaving a vast fortune to create a public library for NYC but his will was contested by relatives. The executors – Green and two others – had to make do with fewer funds. Green would propose consolidating the Tilden Trust with the Astor and Lenox Libraries, leading eventually to the New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
. - 1889 The Washington BridgeWashington BridgeThe Washington Bridge carries six lanes of traffic over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, connecting 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to University Avenue in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx...
, a span over the Harlem RiverHarlem RiverThe Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
that Green had long championed, was completed. - Sentiment built in the business community for municipal consolidation of the metropolitan region to protect the mismanaged port. The NYS legislature created a commission to explore consolidation, with Green at its head. Green immediately proposed an ambitious consolidation plan that would be rebuffed a number of times, mostly by Brooklynites who call the movement “Green’s hobby.”
- 1894 Changing his approach, Green got a nonbinding consolidation referendum on the ballot. Most surrounding municipalities voted in favor of consolidation, but Brooklyn’s pro-consolidation majority was razor thin – only about 0.2%! Alarmed by the results, opponents would lobby to thwart subsequent bills by Green and others.
- Green rallied preservation-minded New Yorkers against the proposed destruction or removal of the New York City HallNew York City HallNew York City Hall is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. The building is the oldest City Hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions, such as...
building. The next year he formed the city’s first formal preservation and conservation group, called the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The society created parks and rescue endangered sites throughout New York City and State before folding in the 1970s. - 1895 The astern portion of today’s Bronx waannexed by NYC.
- Motivated by politics, Republican Party boss Thomas C. PlattThomas C. PlattThomas Collier Platt was a two-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term U.S. Senator from New York in the years 1881 and 1897-1909 — is best known as the "political boss" of the Republican Party in New York State in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century...
embraced Green’s consolidation plan. He pushed the measure through the legislature in 1896. A Greater New York charter was passed in 1897. - 1898 Consolidation took effect January 1. New York City expanded from approximately 60 square miles (155.4 km²) to over 300, and became the “World’s Second City,” behind only London in population.
- An island at Niagara FallsNiagara FallsThe Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
was named for Green. - 1902 Cornerstone was laid for the New York Public Library.
- 1903 Green was murdered in a case of mistaken identity. He was buried in Worcester. In 1905 his family estate in that city was turned into a public park.
- 1929 The Andrew H. Green Memorial Bench was dedicated in Central Park. It is surrounded by five elms, representing the five boroughs.
- In the 1980s the bench was moved to another hill at 40.79512°N 73.95428°W, overlooking Harlem Meer, and new maples were planted in 1998.
External links
- Biography
- Andrew Haswell Green Collection,1843-1911, New-York Historical SocietyNew-York Historical SocietyThe New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library located in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan. Founded in 1804 as New York's first museum, the New-York Historical Society presents exhibitions, public programs and research that...
- A.H. Green papers, 1790-1923, [New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division]
- AH Green collection found, to be auctioned Boston Globe September 5, 2010