100 Years Ago, People Wanted to ‘Stretch' Manhattan 4 Miles to Create a ‘Super-Greater New York'
By Adam Warner ••
What to Know
An engineer from New York City wanted to extend Manhattan more than 4 miles into New York Harbor in the 1910s
He said the "stretched" island would give more room for people and commerce
City officials considered the plan and it was featured on the cover of the New York Times, but ultimately never happened
A century ago, a New York engineer proposed extending Manhattan 4 ½ miles into New York Harbor, a vision described in 1918 as a “magnificent yet entirely practical scheme.”
By the early 20th Century the city was growing rapidly and needed more space for people and commerce. Enter engineer T. Kennard Thomson and his proposal to “stretch” the congested island miles into the harbor.
The plan, first proposed in 1911, was estimated to cost $500 million and projected to take about 10 years to complete. Thomson said the idea would pay for itself with taxes and dock rental fees.
The added land, built by depositing dredged earth into the new zone, would be a half-mile wide and nearly the length of Manhattan south of Central Park. At its tip would be the (relocated) Statue of Liberty. Governors Island would be consumed by Manhattan, images from the New York Public Library show.
Thomson envisioned the new land having a double-decker subway system, garden-topped buildings connected with walkway arches, tracks for passenger and freight trains, and rows of new docks that could handle huge amounts of cargo. He said it’d be the “main warehouse center of the Super-Greater New York.”
Thomson’s idea would change over the 1910s as he proposed it to Mayor William Gaynor and the now-defunct New York City Board of Estimate.
At one point, Thomson suggested filling in the East River so Manhattan would be connected to Brooklyn and Queens. He also proposed adding to Staten Island and to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Newly built tubes and tunnels would connect them to the boroughs.
In a 1918 article in The World, Thomson said New York would “enter upon an era of material growth which would enable her to outstrip herself and become indeed the Empire City which men of vision have pictured.”
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Young boys and homeless men on the East River waterfront south of the Brooklyn Bridge in the early 1960s. The location is currently the site of the South Street Seaport's Pier 16-17.
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A mother and her son stand on the north side of East Fourth Street, just east of Second Avenue, in the late 1960s.
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An ice vendor in a sombrero on the Lower East Side in the 1960s.
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The intersection of Delancey and Orchard streets in the late 1960s.
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Vendors and shoppers in front of 210 Canal St. in the early 1980s.
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"Mr. Purple" at the Eldridge Street Garden on Eldridge Street in 1980.
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Street artists in 1980.
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The Alamo cube on Astor Place, near Cooper Square, in the early 1980s.
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An accordion player and his audience in Washington Square Park in the 1970s.
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A mural at 500 Broome St. in the mid-1980s.
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Women on the steps of 263 E. 10th St. in the mid-1980s.
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Payphones at 36 St. Mark's Pl. in the early 1980s.
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A woman walks by 26 E. First St. in 1991.
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A man gives a haircut at Paul McGregoir Haircutters at 15 St. Mark's Pl. in 1970. The shag haircut was invented at the location, which was also the inspiration for the film "Shampoo."
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The facade of the old Penn Station in 1963. The station was undergoing demolition at the time.
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The Bread and Puppet Theater Parade on Bleecker Street in 1980.
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Orchard Street, just north of Delancey Street, in the 1970s.
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Norman Mailer campaigning for mayor in 1969.
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The skyline of Midtown as photographed from First Avenue at Fourth Street.
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A man roasts meat on a sidewalk spit.
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Lincoln Swados, the brother of writer Elizabeth Swados, in front of 99 E. Fourth St. in the early 1980s.
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A Latino church procession marching south on Second Avenue in the 1970s.
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Hare Krishnas dancing on Second Avenue in 1969.
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The filming of "The Godfather" on East Sixth Street, between avenues A and B, in 1971.
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The St. Mark's Theater in 1980. It was showing the Martin Scorsese film "Taxi Driver."
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A woman with a parrot in the early 1980s.
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Men riding a bus in the late 1970s.
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What's believed to be the Feast of San Genero in the 1970s.
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A man reading a newspaper on a couch on Second Avenue, between 3rd and 4th streets, in the late 1970s.
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People on the corner of West Broadway and Broome Street in the mid-1980s.
In 1921, the idea was featured on the cover of the New York Times. By this point, the plan had gotten even more ambitious: it would extend Manhattan six miles into the harbor. A judge at the time said “there are no formidable legal obstacles to the plan.”
If you hadn’t noticed, it never came to fruition. Although the sliver of reclaimed land known as Battery Park City, completed in 1976, could be called a start.
