Copper’s New York: Map of 1864
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Colored Orphan's Asylum:
A Home for the UnwantedThe original site of this orphanage for African-American children was on 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue. However, that building was destroyed by arson during the Draft Riots of 1863 and, after temporarily relocating, rebuilt in Harlem.
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CarmansvilleColored Orphan's Asylum
The first orphanage for African-American children in the U.S, which was established by Quaker women.
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Dr. Matthew Freeman’s House:
Haven from the Storm
Although Dr. Freeman works in Five Points, he and his wife move to the African-American community of Carmansville to avoid the violence, chaos, and racial strife of Lower Manhattan. Befriended by Corcoran during the war, Freeman proves to be a useful ally off the battlefield, too.
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CarmansvilleDr. Matthew Freeman’s House
Residence of Dr. Freeman and his wife, Sara, in the Harlem village of Carmansville, far from the chaos of Five Points.
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Haverford Mansion: Bridging the Uptown-Downtown Divide
Elizabeth Haverford, a British society lady, is more concerned with the welfare of others than the trappings of wealth. Her mansion on Fifth Avenue is typical of upper-class Manhattanites of the time.
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UptownHaverford Mansion
Residence of Elizabeth Haverford, a wealthy socialite who uses her status to help others.
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Pompadou’s Bordello:
Where Money Buys AnythingA higher-class version of Eva’s Paradise, this brothel is run by a much more ruthless madam, Contessa Pompadou. The Contessa has no qualms about employing young girls—as long as there’s a buck to be made.
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Morehouse Mansion: A Gilded Life
The Morehouses built their wealth in the world of finance. However, their son, Robert, finds himself falling short of his father’s expectations to carry on the family trade. Instead, Robert spends his time living it up with prostitutes and alcohol.
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UptownMorehouse Mansion
Home to Robert Morehouse, a handsome bon vivant born to Manhattan aristocracy.
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St. Vincent’s Hospital:
Guardian Angel of the PoorSt. Vincent’s began as a charity hospital with the mission of serving the poor and disadvantaged. The original site of the hospital was a house on West 13th Street. After 160+ years of service, the hospital closed in 2010.
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Lower ManhattanSt. Vincent’s Hospital
Founded in 1849 by Catholic nuns as a hospital to serve the poor.
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Winter Garden Theater:
Drama, Comedy, and ScandalThis theater, one of New York’s most famous, hosted a variety of plays, variety shows, and musicals—as well as some of the biggest actors of the time. One of the most notorious plays featured at the theater was the Octoroon in 1859, which dealt with controversial race issues.
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Lower ManhattanWinter Garden Theater
Built in 1850, this theater was rebuilt several times after a fire brought it down in 1867.
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Tenement Building: The Immigrant’s Legacy
The Tenement Museum provides a glimpse into how the poor lived. More than 7,000 working-class immigrants once called 97 Orchard Street home.
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Lower ManhattanTenement Building
A tenement building from the 1860s, now a museum, preserves the history of the working poor in 19th- and 20th-century New York City.
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Sixth Precinct:
The Beginnings of the NYPD
Detectives Kevin Corcoran, Francis Maguire, and Andrew O’Brien are based in this Five Points police station. Unfortunately, corruption among their ranks means they’re not just fighting crime on the streets.
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Five PointsSixth Precinct
The police station where Detective Kevin Corcoran reports for duty. The Sixth Precinct marks the earliest incarnation of the NYPD.
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Tombs Prison: Hell Within Four Walls
Built in 1835, this prison on the outskirts of Five Points got its name from the Egyptian mausoleums it was modeled on. The terrible living conditions were exacerbated by the fact that the structure was built on swampland—the dampness compounding the unsanitary conditions within. Today, the prison is known as the Manhattan Detention Complex.
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Five PointsTombs Prison
A prison near Five Points where inmates were housed in notoriously bad living conditions.
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Eva’s Paradise: Welcome All Sinners
In lower Manhattan alone, more than 200 brothels like Eva’s Paradise catered to bad behavior and the vice that made Five Points so notorious. Although prostitution was illegal in 19th-century New York, the laws were not strictly enforced, and police took bribes from brothel owners.
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Five PointsEva’s Paradise
A saloon and brothel where New Yorkers from all walks of life indulge their vices.
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Corcoran’s Home: No Rest for the Weary
Detective Kevin Corcoran lives a stone’s throw from the Sixth Precinct where he works in Five Points. Corcoran never knows who may show up on his doorstep, or what crime scene he’ll be called to next.
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Five PointsCorcoran’s Home
Detective Kevin Corcoran lives in the heart of Five Points, a slum where crime is rife.
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New Mission House:
Help for the Hopeless
Begun by Methodist missionaries to convert Catholics, the founders of the New Mission House soon realized the futility of their efforts in a crime-ridden slum like Five Points. Soon after, they became a charitable organization that provided jobs, lodging, and education.
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Five PointsNew Mission House
One of the first U.S. charitable organizations for the poor.
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Harlem
Carmansville: An oasis in Harlem
The African-American village of Carmansville sat on the Hudson between 152nd-157th Streets. At the time, Harlem offered a bucolic alternative to the chaos that reigned Lower Manhattan. “The Evening Post” wrote in 1852 that Harlem was a good place for “the working and laboring classes wishing to settle themselves in New York at moderate rents.”
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19th-century Harlem was sparsely populated farmland—a person could go for days without seeing another soul. However, there were pockets of small communities, such as Carmansville, that housed working-class immigrants.
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Uptown
Where old money meets new money
In the 1860s, the most prestigious address in the country was Fifth Avenue. Many wealthy merchant families lived in brownstones and mansions, some of whose garish decor screamed “nouveau riche.” Explore the resources below to learn about the high society of Uptown Manhattan.
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As the population of New York City grew, the middle and upper classes began moving out of Lower Manhattan. “Uptown” was a relative term, denoting anything between 14th and 59th streets (the southern boundary of Central Park). By the mid-1860s, half of the city’s population was living uptown.
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Lower Manhattan
Give us your poor, huddled masses
Entire families living in one room. Streets reeking of decay. Murder rates that still break records. It’s hard to imagine, but this was Lower Manhattan 150 years ago. Explore the resources below to learn about the people, places, and events that made the area so notorious.
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In the mid-19th century, the Lower East Side quickly went from farmland to being overpopulated by an influx of working-class immigrants. A breeding ground for vice and violence, poverty and disease, Five Points gained such infamy that it became a curiosity for tourists from all over the world, including Charles Dickens.
