NYC College Walking Tour
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Description
Not only is it important to be an engaged citizen in your home town but as we go off to college it is important to also be civically engaged in our new communities as well!
1. South Street Seaport Museum
Opening in 1967, The South Street Seaport Museum tells the history of New York City’s 19th century waterfront. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District. It features some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan, and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. This includes renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern tourist malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. At the entrance to the Seaport is the Titanic Memorial lighthouse.
2. Titanic Memorial Lighthouse
Located at the entrance to the Historic Seaport District, the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse is a memorial to the passengers, officers, and crew who died as heroes when the steamship Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg on April 15, 1912.
3. St. James Roman Catholic Church
Constructed between 1835 and 1837, this is the second oldest remaining Roman Catholic church in Manhattan and was recognized as an official city landmark in 1966 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The church was dedicated by Bishop Dubois in 1836 and is constructed of fieldstone with a Greek revival brownstone façade. In recent years, the church has been preserved by members and also saved from a devastating fire in 2011. The congregation has also merged with both the Parish of St. Joseph St. James and the Church of the Transfiguration in recent years.
4. Chatham Square
Eight streets converge at Chatham Square, which is named for the Earl of Chatham, William Pitt. The square has a long, rich, and (in some eras) notorious history, having served as an open-air market and a central point of the historic Bowery and Five Points neighborhoods. It is now part of Manhattan's Chinatown.
5. Municipal Archives
Founded in 1950, New York's Municipal Archives preserves and maintains over 220,000 cubic feet of records from over a hundred city agencies. Holdings date back to the Dutch colonial period, including records related to government, land deeds, criminal cases, census records, and items that can help those interested in uncovering their family history. The largest municipal archive in the world, the collection includes over a million photos.
6. New York's Old City Hall Subway Station (1904-1945)
New York’s first subway station opened on October 27, 1904, and was located almost directly beneath City Hall. Elegantly designed with gilded chandeliers and vaulted tile ceilings, this station was the crown jewel of New York's new modern engineering marvel - an underground railroad. The original subway line covered nine miles from City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway. The opening day for the subway saw some 150,000 New Yorkers testing their new form of transit. The old City Hall subway station is no longer in use and is closed to the public, but the station may still be viewed by remaining on the downtown-bound Number 6 Train after its final stop as the train continues and makes a loop before heading uptown. In addition, some of the original skylights can still be spotted by peeking through the foliage in the modern-day City Hall Park.
7. New York City Hall
New York City's City Hall houses the city’s government offices, such as the Mayor of New York City and the chambers of the 51 New York City Council members. It is the oldest city hall in the nation that still serves its original purpose, and is considered one of the finest architectural achievements of its period. Tours are offered to the public; however, they must be scheduled in advanced. It is located at the center of City Hall Park between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street.
