The Polytechnic Institute for Boys is established in Brooklyn. Castle Garden becomes an immigrant station. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux win the competition for a plan of development for Central Park. The Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire. A mammoth celebration of the first laying of the trans-Atlantic cable by Cyrus W. Field is held in New York.
Voters register for the first time in New York.
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is established in Astor Place. 1860 Abraham Lincoln, candidate for the presidency of the United States, makes a speech at Cooper Union which introduces him to New York City. Commissioners are appointed to lay out streets north of 155th Street. The first laws are passed requiring fire escapes on tenement houses. 1861 Abraham Lincoln is welcomed, en route to the White House.