City of Greater New York
The City of Greater New York was the consolidation of the City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Island,[1][2] which took effect on January 1, 1898.[3] New York had already annexed the Bronx (west of the Bronx River in 1874,[4][5] east of the Bronx River in 1895), so the consolidated city sprawled across five counties, which became the five Boroughs of modern New York. Eastern Queens County was excluded and later became Nassau County.[6][7]
This article is about the consolidation of New York City in 1898. For the greater metropolitan area that includes New York City today, see New York metropolitan area.Background[edit]
New York City had been founded in the 1620s by the Dutch as New Amsterdam at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. The English conquered the territory and established the original twelve counties of the Province of New York in 1683; one of these was the City and County of New York. A 1691 law defined New York City to be the entirety of Manhattan, while Manning's Island (now Roosevelt Island), the Barn Islands (now Randalls and Wards Islands), and the Oyster Islands (now Liberty Island, Ellis Island and Black Tom) were New York County.[8] Towns had been established in the rest of the province by 1691, and were reincorporated after the American Revolution in 1788.[9]
Brooklyn had been chartered by the Dutch in 1646; the Town of Brooklyn was one of the towns incorporated by 1691[8] and reestablished in 1788.[10] It was located within Kings County,[8] another county established by the English in 1683. It was incorporated as a village in 1814 and as a city in 1834. Originally comprising what is now Downtown Brooklyn, it annexed its surroundings through the 19th century and grew to encompass all of Kings County in 1895. By the 1890 United States Census it had become the fourth-largest city in the United States.
Since the late 1820s, there had been some discussion of a unified city. In 1857, the New York State Legislature resolved that the region surrounding New York City should become one body, to improve harbor facilities and link the systems of trade.[11] They attempted to do so by government vote, but distrust of large projects killed the plans.[12]