Squatter Settlement
This lithograph from 1858 shows a squatter settlement near 38th Street between First and Second Avenues along the banks of the East River. The ramshackle appearance of the houses, the stagnant pool in the foreground, and the profusion of farm animals all give the impression of life that is literally on the margins. A church on the hill in the background next to a tall tree and securely enclosed by a fence is perhaps a moral commentary, contrasting the circumstances of the slum dwellers with those of proper Christian living. The 1854 Perris Fire Insurance Atlas from just a few years earlier shows a completely empty block in this location; this probably does not indicate that the settlement did not exist, but rather that there was nothing there that bore on insurance. By 1857, however, the map shows the hodgepodge arrangement of dwellings that we see in the original image - a marked contrast to the regularity of the Manhattan street grid. By 1867, the area seems to have been claimed by more organized industries, and the area is filled with lumberyards, stables, and the Kips Bay Malt House. By 1885, orderly brownstones fill the block.
