Lower Manhattan has effectively been America’s town square since its discovery in 1524. Virtually every major event of local, national and global significance has played out in some way on this stage. Some have been forgotten and some have been transformative in our culture and many have fallen between. This is both a project in urban archeology and a way of describing the city over time in a printed map. The map captures the multiple and overlapping stories that are woven throughout our city’s life in a single document. It embraces America’s history as the museums, monuments and memorials that dot its streetscape do.   It highlights many of the concerns, events and places that the people who lived, fought, worked and visited here thought were important at their moment in time.   It takes another look at the issues that they were preoccupied with and how they solved them:  their politics, religion, social protest, health and safety, commerce, disasters and defense, scandals and crime, education, publications, art and culture, parades and celebrations, architecture and engineering. It encapsulates the events that shaped the physical and cultural landscape within the changing geography at the water’s edge. And it raises questions that need to be considered as we plan a more resilient city in our future.  

Sites after 1900 that are located along the tour route are overlaid on the current GIS map.

This map illustrates some of the historic places situated along the route of the Commons Tour overlaid on the Ratzer map of 1767. 

Sites after 1900 that are located along the tour route are overlaid on the current GIS map.

Lower Manhattan has effectively been America’s town square since its discovery in 1524. Virtually every major event of local, national and global significance has played out in some way on this stage. Some have been forgotten and some have been transformative in our culture and many have fallen between. This is both a project in urban archeology and a way of describing the city over time in a printed map. The map captures the multiple and overlapping stories that are woven throughout our city’s life in a single document. It embraces America’s history as the museums, monuments and memorials that dot its streetscape do.   It highlights many of the concerns, events and places that the people who lived, fought, worked and visited here thought were important at their moment in time.   It takes another look at the issues that they were preoccupied with and how they solved them:  their politics, religion, social protest, health and safety, commerce, disasters and defense, scandals and crime, education, publications, art and culture, parades and celebrations, architecture and engineering. It encapsulates the events that shaped the physical and cultural landscape within the changing geography at the water’s edge. And it raises questions that need to be considered as we plan a more resilient city in our future.  

This map illustrates some of the historic places situated along the route of the Commons Tour overlaid on the Ratzer map of 1767. 

Aerial Photo of the Commons with Foley Square behind

The Centennial Map of Concord, created by H.W. Blaisdell in 1875, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Concord, a pivotal event in the American Revolutionary War. This detailed map distinguishes between buildings and structures that existed in 1775 and those present in 1875. It also shows the route of the centennial procession held on April 19, 1875.The map provides valuable historical insights by naming landowners and highlighting the locations of significant structures from both periods. Relief is shown by hachures, adding a topographical element to the map.