New York City
Located approximately halfway between Boston and
Washington D.C., New York City has a brief but colorful
history. Although visited several times by Europeans in
the 16th and 17th centuries, white Dutch immigrants
first settled the region circa 1624, when the city of New
Amsterdam began life on what is now known as Governors
Island. Two years later, the Governor of New Amsterdam
purchased Manhattan Island on behalf of the Dutch West
India Company from the local Lenape people in exchange
for 60 Guilders worth of trade goods.
By 1760, now named New York (in honor of King Charles
II’s brother after the British seized the settlement from
the Dutch in 1664), it had become the second-largest city
in the American colonies, surpassed only by Philadelphia.
It wasn’t until 50 years later that it became the largest city
in the Western hemisphere, eclipsing even the mighty
London in terms of population by the 1920s. After serving
briefly as the constitutional capital following the American
Revolutionary War, New York then grew to become the
fledgling country’s trade capital in the early years of the
19th century.
Having formerly consisted largely of Dutch and British
immigrants, as well as freed slaves, the city’s population
swelled during the mid-1800s thanks to waves of new
arrivals from Germany and Ireland, who together made
up more than half the city’s inhabitants by the 1860s.
They were followed by those fleeing Italy and Eastern
Europe (predominantly Russian and Polish Jews). All came
looking for a brighter future and to escape poverty and
persecution in their homelands. More than 12 million
immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and
1924 when the center closed, by which time a little over 40% of New York’s inhabitants were foreign-born. National quotas for immigrants were instituted as a result, although
large numbers of black Caribbean citizens took advantage
of the British quota to make New York their home. They
joined with those who traveled to the city during the Great
Migration (the relocation of African-Americans from the
South that began during the Great War) to become part
of the thriving community centered around Harlem.
Most of the city’s buildings are of brick and stone
after the Great Fire of New York in 1835 prompted a
massive burst of reconstruction. The type of building
in a neighborhood may tell you something about the
relative affluence of the area in which it is found: “good”
residential areas tend to consist of buildings known
as “brownstones” (four-story townhouses accessed by
a steep staircase—the stoop—that leads to the second
story entrance) or, in poorer areas, crowded, decaying
tenement buildings, also known as “walk-ups.” However,
the shifting patterns of occupation often mean that
the brownstones of formerly prosperous areas may now
function as boarding houses.
Geography
Sitting at the mouth of the Hudson River and on the edge of
an immense natural harbor, the modern city is largely built
on three main islands: Long Island, Manhattan Island, and
Staten Island (predominantly referred to as Richmond until
1975). The East River separates the Bronx and Manhattan
from Long Island, while the Harlem River (between the
East and Hudson Rivers) separates the Bronx from much
of Manhattan. However, New York as we know it today did
not technically come into being until 1895. Prior to that, its
five boroughs (Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Richmond,
and Manhattan) existed as separate enclaves. “Greater New
York,” consisting of all five, was officially consolidated in
January 1898.
Manhattan is the smallest but most densely populated
of the five boroughs and is the cultural, financial, and
administrative heart of the city. Wall Street forms the
core of the city’s Financial District in Lower Manhattan,
having developed from the city’s first official slave market.
In October 1929, the New York Stock Exchange is the
scene of Black Tuesday, the stock market crash that
heralds the Great Depression. Times Square, known as
Longacre Square until the New York Times opened their
new offices there in 1904, and famous for its electric signs
(the first of which also appeared in 1904), was allegedly
the inspiration for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927 the
area becomes increasingly seedy through its association
with gambling and prostitution throughout the 1920s and
1930s. Another of New York’s famous landmarks, Central
Park, opened in 1857 and was the first landscaped park
in an American city.
Brooklyn lies on the western tip of Long Island and
is home to the famous Coney Island Amusement Park.
Although once known as “Sodom by the Sea” for its racy
atmosphere and attractions (including a brothel housed in
a building shaped like a giant elephant), family-oriented
entertainment, initially in the form of Luna Park, began
appearing at the turn of the 19th century. The Wonder
Wheel, built by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company,
opened in 1920, with the Cyclone wooden roller coaster
following in 1927. Brooklyn is connected to Manhattan
via the Brooklyn Bridge.
Queens can also be found on Long Island, to the north
and east of Brooklyn. Richmond (Staten Island), to the
southwest of Brooklyn, is linked to Manhattan by ferry,
although hopes of linking it to the Manhattan subway
system collapse with the abandonment of the Staten Island
Tunnel project in 1925.
The Bronx lies to the northeast of Manhattan and is the
only one of the five boroughs to be mostly situated on the
American mainland. Many of the immigrants who flooded into New York after the Great War settled in the Bronx,
and it was a hive of gang activity during the Prohibition
era. It is also the location of the Bronx Zoo and Yankee
Stadium, home of the New York Yankees baseball team
between 1923 and 1973.
Climate
hanks to its location, New York tends to suffer from hot,
humid summers and chilly, damp, windy winters. In July,
temperatures average out at around 25⁰C (77⁰F) while those
in January (the coldest month) fluctuate around 0⁰C (32⁰F),
although they can fall as low as –12⁰C (10⁰F). Spring and fall
tend to have variable weather, ranging from cool to warm.
Rainfall is spread pretty evenly throughout the year.
The weather in January 1925 is especially unpleasant.
The city is brought to a standstill by a two-day snowstorm
on January 2, followed by a fresh storm ten days later.
This last storm brought enough snow to shut down most
transportation into and around the city, with roads blocked,
railway lines covered, and even ferry travel disrupted by ice
on the rivers. Fierce winds buried sidewalks with snowdrifts.
While the city authorities drafted in thousands of workers
to shovel the snow and restore order, it’s a slow process
getting the city moving again.
When the investigators make their way to their meeting
with Jackson Elias, snow is still piled high on the sides
of the streets, and regular flurries add to the disruption.
When it would add to the tension, the Keeper should
make use of the snow as a complication during chase
scenes, surveillance attempts, and general movement around
the city. Howling winds and sub-zero temperatures mean
that most people venturing outdoors wear heavy layers of
clothing, including scarves and hats, which may make it
difficult for the investigators to identify characters they
encounter on the streets. Another two serious blizzards
hit the city on January 20, and heavy snowfall brings more
problems on January 27.
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