New York City

NEW YORK (CITY), the largest city in the United States, is situated at the mouth of the Hudson river, here sometimes called the North river. The five boroughs comprising the city are : the Bronx (Bronx county), 42.74 sq.m., on the south-eastern most part of the mainland adjoining Westchester county and separated from the borough of Manhattan by the Harlem river (a canalized waterway connecting the Hudson and East rivers) ; Manhattan (New York county), 22.20 sq.m., on Manhattan island between the Hudson and East rivers; Queens (Queens county), 109.88 sq.m.; Brooklyn (Kings county), 74.14 sq.m., on the western end of Long island, adjoining Nassau county and sepa rated from the Bronx and Manhattan by the East river; and Richmond (Richmond county), 59.99 sq.m., on Staten island south-west of Brooklyn and separated from it by the Narrows (a strait connecting Upper and Lower bays) and from the main land of the State of New Jersey by tidal estuaries known as Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill. The City Hall, near the southern end of Manhattan island, is in lat. 42' 43" N., and long. 74° 0' 29" W. The greatest width of the city, east and west, is 24 m. and the greatest length, north-east and south-west, is 35 miles. Its area, including small islands of 13.09 sq.m., is 308.95 sq.miles. The more important of the small islands are : North and South Brother, Riker's, City, Hunter, Hart, Governor's (occupied by a U.S. military reservation), Welfare (formerly Blackwell's), Ward's, Randall's (the latter three occupied by State and city institutions) and numerous islands in Jamaica bay. Bedloe's island (on which stands the Bartholdi statue of Liberty) and Ellis island (occupied by the Federal Government as an immigrant station) are in Upper bay, within the bounds of New Jersey. The total water front is 578 m., of which Manhattan has 43 m. ; Brook lyn, 201 m.; the Bronx, 8o m.; Queens, 197 m.; and Richmond, 57 miles.

Population.

In 1626 there were fewer than 200 inhabitants, 1,000 in 1656, and but 14,000 in 1760. About 1783 New York began its rapid growth as the leading port. Between 1786-96 the population had nearly doubled, and by 1871 it was i,000,000. In 1920 the total population was 5,620,048; in 1930 6,930,446 divided as follows: Manhattan 1,867,312, Bronx 1,265,258, Brooklyn 2,560,401, Queens 1,079,129, Richmond 158,346. The increase in the decade 1920-30 was 1,310,398 or 23.3%. In 1898 five boroughs were united to form Greater New York.

The negro population (327,706 in 1930) is centred in the Harlem district, between I I6th and I50th streets, in an area bounded on the east by Fifth avenue and on the west by St. Nich olas avenue. The Chinese quarter is in the neighbourhood of Chatham square, on Mott, Pell and Doyers streets. Congestion of

population has somewhat diminished since 1910 chiefly as a result of the development of rapid transit facilities. The density of population in 46 blocks of the "Lower East Side" declined from 970 persons per acre in 1905 to 438 per acre in 1930 according to the report of the Cities Census Commission, Inc., and that of the adjacent "Lower West Side" blocks dropped from 1,013 to 462. In the same period the figures for the "Upper East Side" fell from 853 to 546. A high proportion of New York's population in these areas is foreign-born or of foreign parentage. For all three dis tricts the average reduction of congestion during the period was about so per cent. The city of New York has more Jews than any other city, approximately 1,800,00o; the centre of the Jewish population has recently shifted from the borough of Manhattan to Brooklyn.

Harbour.

The harbour is naturally divided into several parts. At the entrance from the Atlantic is the outer harbour (about 122 sq.m.), known as Lower bay. Raritan bay lies adjacent to the Lower bay on the west and Raritan river and Kill van Kull flow into the west side of Raritan bay. The Ambrose Channel is the chief of several channels crossing the broad bar at the entrance to the outer harbour. It leads north-westward and then northward into the inner harbour, through the Narrows, a neck about I m. wide between Long Island and Staten island. The inner harbour consists of the Upper bay, 4 m. long and 4 m. wide, lower Hudson river, East river, Long Island sound and tributary waterways. The tributary waterways to the east are Gowanus creek, Newtown creek, Harlem river, Bronx river, Westchester creek, Flushing bay and creek and Eastchester creek. Tributaries to the west are Kill van Kull, Arthur Kill, Newark bay, Passaic river, and Hackensack river. Anchorage channel, an extension of Ambrose channel, ex tending through the Upper bay to the mouth of the Hudson river at the Battery and marking the southern extremity of Manhattan island, affords a depth of 4o ft. at mean low water for a width of 2,000 feet. The direct water frontage of the port of New York is 771 m. and the developed frontage measured around piers and the heads of slips is about 35o miles. The frontage measured around piers and along shore line is 1,000 miles. The mean tidal range is 4.6 ft. in the Lower bay and 4.5 ft. in the Upper bay. The harbour also has two northern entrances : the north-east entrance from Long Island sound by the East river, principally used by New England coasting vessels; and the North (lower Hudson) river, by which the inland water-borne traffic of the Hudson river and the Erie canal is brought to the port of New York.