November 4, 2012, Sunday, 308

The Upper East Side

From The Peopling of New York City

Central Park copy2.jpg


Links

Introduction


The main questions we will address are:

  1. What made the Upper East Side become the home of the wealthy?
  2. How did the building of Central Park change the Upper East Side?
  3. What has changed in the Upper East Side since the building of the park and how does it continue to change?


Metropolitan Museum UES3.JPG Presbyterian church, started in 1899


The Upper East Side ranges from 59th street to 96th street and Fifth Avenue to the East River. [1]

The Upper East Side is in many ways the home of the upper class. It borders on Central Park and has some of most expensive real estate in the United States. It housed several of the wealthiest families in history, including the Vanderbilts and the Rockafellers.

What made the Upper East Side become such a draw for the wealthy?
In many ways it was the creation of Central Park. Central Park is often described as the crown jewel of the New York City park system. It was constructed between 1850 and 1880 by Olmsted and Vaux. People began building their mansions on Fifth Avenue because of the beautiful view of the park, and with the covering over of the Park Avenue Railroad, the entire neighborhood quickly began housing the wealthiest names in New York City. [2]

Today the Upper East Side houses some of the city's top private schools and some of the most famous museums in the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as well as five others on what has come to be known as the 'Museum Mile'. [3]





Click Here to Return to The Upper East Side


  1. "New York's Upper East Side Megasite."Regional Web Enterprises. 1999-2008. <http://www.uppereast.com>
  2. "Department of Parks 1850-1960." NYC.gov The City of New York. 2008.
    <http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/collections/collections_parks.shtml>
  3. "Museum Mile." NY.com Mediabridge Infosystems.Inc. 1994-2008 <http://www.ny.com/museums/mile.html>