In 1913, the cost of a taxi ride was fixed at 50 cents a mile, a lot of money then. The ailanthus, which has spread throughout the city, from vacant lots to highway roadsides, was incorporated into the design of Central Park by Frederick Law Olmsted, who liked its tropical appearance. Scores of other youths began to imitate him. Coney Island was named by the Dutch for the wild rabbits, konjin, that abounded there. While remembered as a poet, he was also editor and later the owner of The Evening Post and one of the creators of Central Park.
Manhattan comes from the Delaware Indian word for island, menatay.
Jamaica comes from its onetime inhabitants, the Jameco or Yamecah Indians, whose name means beaver in Algonquian.