# When was Manhattan pretty much fully built up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166 "2015-10-19T19:55:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166/21 "2015-10-20T21:03:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I always wanted to use that line. The closest was when a poster called me [“Sister Clare.”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8895979&postcount=8) > > I really wanted to say “I am fucking Sister Clare” but I realized that could be a double entendre.😃 Alright, here you go. Are you ready? I shall say to **Elendil’s Heir** : What are you, the fucking hummingbird? Take it away! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166/22 "2015-10-21T15:12:45Z")
No, thanks. My friend Dan in Brooklyn passed this along to me - there was a working farm in Manhattan even in the early 1930s: [The Last Working Farm – | My Inwood](http://myinwood.net/the-last-working-farm/) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166/23 "2015-10-21T19:46:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Nobody donated the land.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park)[wiki cite and excerpt to history of Central Park and settlers on the land] … Seneca Village: [Seneca Village - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village) In detail: [Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City on JSTOR](http://www.jstor.org/stable/25617485?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) I am happy to say I am a neighbor and friend of one of the principal investigators of the site. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166/24 "2015-10-21T21:42:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > No, thanks. > > My friend Dan in Brooklyn passed this along to me - there was a working farm in Manhattan even in the early 1930s: [The Last Working Farm – | My Inwood](http://myinwood.net/the-last-working-farm/) For what it is worth, my father use to take the train from an immigrant area of Manhattan\* to the Bronx to get out to the country. He also use to swim in the East River which sounded inconceivable when I was a kid. But Manhattan was pretty close to built up by the 1930s. - I think east side, probably close to where the UN is today. Think tenements. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166/25 "2015-10-21T23:01:12Z")
This question reminded me of Jack Finney’s time travel novel “Time and Again” which has some very good descriptions of life there in 1882, when it was not built up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-manhattan-pretty-much-fully-built-up/735166.md?page=1)