March 22, 2014 — 208th Anniversary of Manhattan’s Grid System
On March 22, 1811, the Commissioners of Streets and Roads in the City of New York filed their report and plan for the grid system for Manhattan’s streets above 14th Street.
The grid is made up of rectangles that are separated by wide avenues that run north-south streets and narrower streets that run east-west.
There are several wider cross streets: 14th 23rd, 42nd, 57th, 72nd, 86th, etc.
Broadway, which was already was in place, slices diagonally across the grid.
The new grid system was retroactively applied in part south of 14th street, producing such effects as the interesting intersection of West 4th Street with 11th and 12th Street.
One of the retangles is Washington Square Park. But why isn’t it called Washington Retangle Park?
Did you know that’s no square at Times Square?: http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/urbanmagazine/2011/05/09/times-square-is-not-a-square
