New-York tribune., 1901-12-29
LOCAL NAMES REVIVED.
HOW DISTRICTS OF LOCAL IMPROVE
MENTS ARE DESIGNATED BY
NEW CHARTER

with the various localities which GO make up
the great extent of territory embraced within the
city limits When the commission which framed
the first charter for the greater NeY-York made
its preliminary draft of the document 1T provided
for nine borcughs, and such local names as Bowl
ing Green and Harlem were suggested designa-
ticn~ of portions of what afterward was included
Ii. the Borough of Manhattan when the number
reduced five.
BY the terms of the new charter these and many
- iccaIi-ioS of restricted extent are
tc retained designate the districts of local i'm
pre- tvements
The entire territory Of the city has been subdi-
vided irto twenty-five of these districts, the pri
mary purpose being home rule In the mat
ter of local improvements in street paving. bridge
building. the laying of parks. the construction
of terminals the building of sewers, the placing of
lamp posts the setting Of signs and similar
public works for which the property owners ipdi-
vidually interested provide the cost without the
| burden being laid upon the entire city
Of this more of districts. the boroushs
of Manhattan and The Bronx-the old-time city OF
New-York-has fourteen; the Borough of Brooklyn.
| the former city of that has eight the Bor-
| ough of Queens has two. and the Borough OF
| Richmond has These districts numbered
| in the reverse order, No l being in Richmond
| County. and No. 25 the northernmost part OF The
Bronx. The districts in the boroughs Of Manhattan
| and The Bronx numbered from twelve TO twen-
ty-fve from the Battery northward- The fine local
| flavor of the designations is shown by simple list
| of the names, which Bowling Green. the Bow
| cry Corlear's Hook. Greenwich. Kip's Bay. Murray
Hill. Chelsea Hudson. YOrkville. Riverside. Wash
| ington Heights Harlem Morrisania and Chester.
| AL to recall the early history of Manhattan
Island ard its neigh5or the southern part of West
! chester County which became part of the metrop-
| oils many years
| In the main the boundaries of the districts are
those OF the State Senate districts which laid
| out under the constitution of the State OF
New York adopted 1894, but the numerical des-
ignation is not the same. The name Bowling Green
! IS given TO the Twelfth Local Improvement Dis
| trict, which Is identical with the Xth Senate Dis
| trtct. and comprises the lower part OF the Bor-
/ ough of Manhattan II extends from the Battery
| to CanaI-st. the Hudson River This Bowl
| ing Green District also includes Governors.
! Bedlow's Ellis islands. The name. all IN
| any way familiar with the early history OF New
i York know. comes from the green where the early
inhabitants engage r the of bowls. balls.
l on the greeusy-aru and which is cOmmemoratei
| by Bowling Greer Park. the foot of Broadway.
hich is surrounded by the iron fence which stood
| the-s the time OF the Revolution. and which
4 shows where the tops of the posts which bore the
\ royal arms broken off by the same patriots
who melted into bullets the leaden statue of King
| George which stood within the inclosure.
| The name of the Bowery has been bestowed on
the thirteenth district the limits of which those
| of the XIth Senate District. The historic name
which this district bears dates back 10 the time OF
Governor Stuyvesant. whose 'bOuerie,' farm
| with the famous pear point which Is
now Thrd-ave. and Thirteenth-st.. crossed By
| the Boston Road. q portion OF which is now known
as the Bowery, the place where they say such
| things and they do such things The word
bowery in Dutch means farm garden. and serves
| TO recall the days when the crowded tenement
| house region farm land.
| Corlear's Hook. the geographical designation of
the point of land projecting into the East River
the eastery side OF the island Manhattan nearly
| opposite the Navy Yard on the Brooklyn shore is
| the name bestowed the fourteenth of the local
| Improvement districts Coterminous with the XIIth
| Senate District The of Corlear serves TO
| recall the doughty trumpeter of the early Dutch
| days. and another Van Corlear Jacobus the first
| schoolmaster in New-Amsterdam whose farm tn
| Old Greenwich Village. to which the earIy resi-
dents OF New-YCrk were accustomed TO drive from
| their homes III Wall and neighboring streets, and
nishes the nne for the ffteenth district which In
GHoes the territory OF the AlllLh Senate District.
Of GREENWICH Viase Try rT1a5 TsfansS ana lanes
more puzzling to the stranger than almost any
crosses West Tenth-St. and West TWelffS"st' and
Little West Twelfth-st add to she confusion The
residents :rs who org nj it with them from England.
its name from that Dart 6 the 61 ai PiIe5 Ryar Sakns
front near the foot of East Twenty-third-st..
erty which Included what was once Jones's Wood
West OF this district lies that TO be known as
from the high ground through which the Fourth
in the days when the trains ran down to Centre
now occupied by the Madison Square Garden, This
district has the boundaries of the XVth Senate
west. bears the name Chelsea from the territorial
erty of the General Theological Seminary is stu
ated. and which dates back early New-York
The boundaries are those of the XvIth Senate
District. IN, In old Chelsea & lived Clement C. Moore,
been everywhere recalled this week
Which, Includes Rs ePTtory G Hns5ssesd
The portion OF the city locally known Yorkvile
will bear this name. and be in the twentieth dis
Senate District extending from Fifty-second-st to
| Eighty-fourth-st east of Third and Lexington
like East New-York in Brooklyn. and North New
York. in westchester County. represents effort
city in its early days to differentiate themselves
from their surroundings. but the use OF the name
The twenty-frsI district is designated River
side taking its name iron KiyerSlde so Psrk The
Drive since that fine roadway was opened in 1850.
Assembly districts lying between Sixtieth and
One -hundred-and- nineteenth SITS and the river and
CoIumbus-ave. with sweep eastward in Ninety,
back in -hundred-and-tenth-st TO Seventh-ave.,
The washington Heights District includes the re-
naming portion OF the island north of Grants
and XXXIst Assembly districts. and including his
| toric ground where Revolutionary memories be
p9 r the ey a to be far Better Known when S
extension Of Riverside Drive TO connect with the
sible to those seeking recreation within the city
| The Harlem District is numerically the Twenty
| third including the XXth Senate District and that
part Of the XXIst District Iyng south OF the Har5
| along this so-called river. which is merely
OF , arm e 9 1ne sef s of Hsse es in yeT @
| land. and bestowed the name on the water and the
| was far more easily reached by steamboat from
| Peck Slip before the days or elevated roads than
6y the SOW norssc,rs ana sne S,0wgI sS1s WHICH
The Boroush OF The Bronx contains the twenty