Land reclamation in Lower Manhattan

Common card · No. 421040

The expansion of the land area of Lower Manhattan in New York City by land reclamation has, over time, greatly altered Manhattan Island's shorelines on the Hudson and East rivers and Upper New York Bay. Incremental encroachment, landfill, as well as major infrastructure have added acreage to the island. Since the passage of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 all projects which extend into navigable waterways follow federal regulation and are overseen by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The original shoreline on the East Side generally ran along contemporary Pearl and Cherry streets and on the West Side was roughly today's Greenwich Street. Encroachment began in the 17th-century Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The real estate law mechanism of water lots encouraged commercial land growth through the Dongan Charter of 1686 and the Montgomerie Charter of 1731. By the 19th century 137 acres (55 ha) of land had been created by landfill, the disposal of waste. By the early 20th...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Viele, Egbert L. (Egbert Ludovicus), 1825-1902. Ferd. Mayer & Co., Public domain