It¿s a frigid New Year¿s Eve in New York, as the city is ringing out 1897 and ringing in 1898. The cold is to be expected, but with it comes a ceaseless, pelting rain. You can¿t see the sky from street level, only the enormous storm clouds that seem to encompass the whole of the island of Manhattan. Most conventional people would take this as a call to celebrate the new year with a quiet affair held indoors. But New Yorkers are not conventional people, and this was not a conventional New Year¿s Eve. When the clocks strike midnight, it will usher in not just a new year, but a new city entirely: The City of Greater New York. The new metropolis, a consolidation of the cities of New York and Brooklyn¿the first-and fourth-largest cities in the country¿ Queens and Richmond Counties (Staten Island), and the Bronx, was going to be born on January 1st, 1898.
This thesis examines the history of the 1898 consolidation of Greater New York. I examine why consolidation has been unfortunately forgotten in many histories of New York and argue that consolidation laid the groundwork for New York¿s philosophy towards urban planning and governance for the 20th century and beyond. This thesis starts by examining the origins of the consolidation movement, and those who most supported it, particularly the ¿Father of Greater New York,¿ Andrew Haswell Green. I further look into the consolidation movement in Brooklyn, and how the history of the borough can explain why it held such opposition to the idea. This thesis also aims to understand how when, in 1894, consolidation was put to a public referendum it changed the movement by turning it away from the city¿s elite and towards the public. I conclude this thesis by exploring how the final consolidation bill was passed, and how loyalist movements, political machine bosses, and a lot of political compromise created the complicated, convoluted, and controversial City of Greater New York.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Urban history","The Gilded Age","New York City"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 33910