2. • New York has been the unrivaled capital of the old American national industrial economy.
Experts wonder if New York can dominate the new American global information economy.
• AOL Time Warner is in position to lead efforts to reverse the erosion of New York City’s
position as the cultural and economic center of the world’s most influential nation.
• The rapid economic growth in the Sunbelt and the advent of cable television, personal
computers and the internet led to erosion of New York City’s economic leadership in the
United States.
• AOL has what New York needs; strategic location in new e-economy, the company’s center
of gravity will shift to New York where it can exploit the city’s financial infrastructure,
strategic experience and capacity to create content.
• West Coast’s major metropolitan regions have important comparative advantages, with
Silicon Valley’s computer giants that create and distribute technologies driving the digital
revolution. Hollywood dominates entertainment industry, and Yahoo and Amazon are based
in the West.
• Corporate and regional leaders in the West have yet to develop a grand strategic vision based
on the broader, global social importance of their company’s.
• Unless company’s such as Disney, Microsoft and Yahoo overcome their rivalries and
develop a common vision, New York will end the debate about which city will emerge as the
“capital of the next American century.”
A Merger That Puts New York on Top
3. • Sept. 2, 1699 the Dutch hired an English
explorer to find a fastest route to the riches
of the Orient. Henry Hudson discovered
New York harbor.
• In 1624 the first colonists arrived. The Dutch
West Indies Co. owned and operated the area
named New Amsterdam.
• In 1626 the first slaves arrived from Angola.
The Native Americans sold Manhattan for
$600.
• The Dutch came to Manhattan to make money
on beaver furs. Modern capitalism was invented
here.
• By 1654 the new colony was diverse in immigrants, due to the fact that this was a
business colony and nobody was turned away.
• In 1664 the English took the colony over with little fighting from the Dutch. New
Amsterdam was a gift to the Duke of York and the colony was renamed New York
Episode 1: The Country and the City
1609-1825
4. • English surpassed the Dutch and became
the most powerful maritime empire. The
English connected the colony to a network
of trade that stretched around the globe.
• In 1773, Alexander Hamilton arrived in
New York and preached to people about
equal rights and rebelled against the British
crown.
• After the American Revolution, Alexander
Hamilton’s vision was key to New York
City’s rise. He set up banks and kept capital
in New York City, which became the commercial center
of the New World.
• In 1790, Alexander Hamilton offered a remarkably modern economic vision based on
investment, industry, and expanded commerce. Hamilton kick-started the most powerful
economic engine on earth.
• By 1804 New York had , in less than a decade, double its population to 80,000 surpassing
Philadelphia. New York is a monument to Hamilton’s stunning achievement.
• Vanderbilt launched first steamboat ferry service in 1807. This became the greatest shipping
empire on earth.
Episode 1: The Country and the City
1609-1825
5. • In 1817, The Blackball Line began
regularly scheduled departures out of
New York harbor. This initiated a
revolution in trading and attracted
more trading to New York port.
• DeWitt Clinton did more for New York
than anyone else. Known as the
greatest New Yorker of all time, he
finished Hamilton’s vision.
• In 1811, as governor Clinton developed
growth north of Manhattan by leveling
the land and setting up a grid plan. All
streets led to the water producing a
great commercial advantage.
• 1811 - Clinton initiated the development of the
Erie Canal across 363 miles of wilderness,
which pulled all of United States trade together.
The Erie Canal was the most important public
works until the road system of the 1950s.
• 1825 – The Eric Canal, the greatest engineering
feat of its time, was completed. The Erie Canal
made New York City the Empire State, and grew
like no other city. Immigrants came in waves between
1825 - 1860
Episode 1: The Country and the City
1609-1825
6. • The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in
1886 and became a beacon of hope to
the immigrants who entered New York
harbor.
• In 1903 a plaque with The New Colossus
poem written by Emma Lazerus in 1883
was mounted at the Statue of Liberty.
• In 1900 Ellis Island was completed. Twelve
thousand immigrants a day came through
Ellis Island. By 1907, 1,200,000 people lived
in New York City
• Immigration created industrialization in New York City. Every four years New
York City adds to itself a city the size of Boston.
• Skyscrapers revolutionized the way commercial buildings were constructed.
This was an American ingenuity that was an emblem of identity and a way of
advertising. Immigrants were fascinated by these huge buildings.
Episode 4 : The Power and the People
1898-1914
7. • By 1905, 4 out of 5 children were born of immigrants or were
immigrants themselves. There journey took them from a life of the
middle ages to New York, the most modern city in the world.
• Miserable housing conditions was the engine of motivation for the
immigrants. They escaped by selling things on the streets; beginning
of street bazaars. In 10 years most families moved up or on and
realized the American dream.
• 1904 the subways opened, consolidating the boroughs of New York
City. It took 4 years to cut 20 miles of the most modern transportation
system ever built.
• Within 15-20 years, the Bronx became the 6th biggest area; mass
migration to different boroughs of New York because of subway
system. Bridges were also built to connect the boroughs.
Episode 4 : The Power and the People
1898-1914
8. • In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt
fought for housing reform;
outlawed tenements. New York
City was pioneer to Entitlement
of Health Care.
• Factories and sweat shops
produced a 10th of all products
to the United States. Sweat shops
had no regulations and nightmarish
conditions.
• Women led the largest strike against all manufacturers. Bitter cold and finances stalled
the strike. Brutal, unsafe and unsanitary conditions continued.
• 1911- Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire killed 146 and influenced building codes, labor
laws and politics in the years that followed. This was the most extraordinary political
transformation that was far reaching in America.
• Every aspect of labor was reformed. Business’ were outraged; politicians started to
think about improving education and housing.
Episode 4 : The Power and the People
1898-1914
9. • During last decade of the 19th century Chicago was the fastest growing city
in the United States. American urbanism got its start here.
• Chicago was formed by the great commercial and industrial expansion of the
late 19th century.
• Steel-frame construction was pioneered in Chicago and the skyscraper was
invented. Steel frame was cheaper and more efficient.
• On October 8, 1871, Chicago suffered a ferocious fire that devastated the
business center and much of the surrounding area.
• Due to the wide range of urban technologies Chicago installed telephone
switchboards, electric lamps, electric lights in railroad car factory, cable cars
and eventually electric trolleys.
• The advent of the elevator allowed taller buildings. Chicago’s Monadnock
building pushed the limit at sixteen stories.
• The skyscraper greatly increased real estate value and altered the character of
the city center.
The City in the Land of the Dollar
10. • Frederick Law Olmsted was inspired by European classical architecture.
• He exerted a powerful influence on the beautification of cities in North
America.
• Chicago and New York were overcrowded,
disease-ridden and noisy industrial cities
in need of healthy green open spaces.
• Olmsted and Vaux created 200 to 600
acre parks, which included lakes, canals,
sports fields, zoos, bicycle and pedestrian
paths and broad carriage roads.
• The change in Chicago was accelerated by
its World’s Columbian Exposition, with its master plan devised by Olmstead
and his associate, Henry Sargent Codman. This plan incorporated their
concept of the fusion of town and country along with classical architecture that
gave the impression of a European city.
The City in the Land of the Dollar
11. • The Exposition brought together an extraordinary group of talented and like-
minded creative individuals…Olmsted,…Burnham,…McKim,…Hunt,…and
Saint-Gaudens. Their aim was to bring European classical ideals to the New
World.
• Washington DC is an example of the plan McKim and members of the Senate
Park Commission produced.
• Civic beautification also produced the grand American railroad stations. The
focus on railroad stations and on urban transportation reflected a concern for the
broad public good.
• The “City Beautiful” movement introduced a formal civic center, which included
the city hall, a public library and an auditorium. There was no place in Burnham’s
vision for downtowns made up of commercial skyscrapers.
• Commercial towers became symbols of the entrepreneurial American city. These
tall buildings made money for its corporate owners were a source of wonderment
to the general public.
• In 1923 the building code was rewritten, with the maximum height of towers
almost unrestricted. Where land values were high, control over development was
essentially impossible.
• In the Land of the Dollar, Burnham’s genteel vision of civic harmony was
replaced by the city profitable.
The City in the Land of the Dollar
