City on a Grid

When it was conceived in the early 19th century, New York City’s rigid rectilinear street grid was intended to end the notorious chaos of “old New York,” spreading unplanned from Manhattan’s southern tip.

Turning the rocky hills and swampy valleys into the city we know today was a vast project of physical and social engineering. Gerard Koeppel tells the story of New York’s iconic street grid and how it came to be.