To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald: "A city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the same as one sees for the first time, with its first, wild promise of all the secrets and beauties of the world." That's exactly what the Big Apple is. These little-known facts about New York City will tell you just how many secrets this city holds. Did you know that in 1894, New York City suffered a "horse manure crisis," when approximately 2.5 million pounds of horse manure were dumped on the streets daily? Thanks to the automobile, the crisis was resolved. Here are a few more...
1. New York's famous Wall Street got its name in the 17th century, when the Dutch literally built a wall to protect themselves from pirate attacks and Native Americans. Just a few blocks away, 251 trillion tons of the world's gold reserves are stored.
Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, rife with instability, is world-famous. It's not called "Wall Street" for nothing. In the 17th century, the Dutch built a 12-foot wall to protect against attacks by Native Americans and pirates.
The other side of the wall, where the Dutch lived, was then known as "New Amsterdam." The area near the wall became known as "Wall Street." The financial industry in this area began to develop on May 17, 1792. Long before, in 1699, the British colonial government tore down the wall.
Just a few blocks from Wall Street, beneath the streets of Manhattan, lies over $200 billion in gold. Five stories underground, lies the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Few know of its existence. It holds 251,000,000 pounds of the world's gold reserves, owned by 48 foreign central banks and 12 international organizations. Only 51,000,000 pounds belong to the United States government. (1,2)
2. New York City is the most linguistically diverse city on Earth. Its residents speak more than 800 languages, and 371 of them were born in another country.
More languages are spoken in the New York City borough of Queens than anywhere else in the world. New Yorkers speak over 800 languages. About 511,000 of the population speak English, while the remaining 491,000 speak languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Russian, French Creole, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Hebrew, Yiddish, Indonesian, and others.
About 371,000 New Yorkers are immigrants from all over the world. At the beginning of the 20th century, most immigrants to America's third-largest city were European. Of these 371,000, the top ten countries of origin were the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Jamaica, Guyana, Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and India. (1,2)
3. There are 42 buildings in New York City so huge that each has its own zip code. But only about 40 people live above 800 feet (about 240 meters). This is the privilege of the super-rich.
You've probably heard that the Empire State Building has its own ZIP code, but it's not alone. Buildings like 101 Park Avenue, 605 Third Avenue, 250 West 57th Street, the Kratter Building, the Equitable Building, the Chanin Building, Avenue of the Americas, and others have their own unique ZIP codes. These unique ZIP codes are assigned not based on size or the number of people living in the building, but rather on delivery zones and routes. The iconic One World Trade Center, despite its enormous size, doesn't have its own ZIP code.
In New York City, living above 800 feet is a luxury, and according to The New York Times, only about 40 people can afford it. A few buildings, such as Trump World Tower, One57, and 8 Spruce Street, exceed this limit. Buying an apartment in a New York skyscraper costs a fortune. One penthouse sold for $95 million. At least 14 residential skyscrapers are planned for construction in New York City by 2020. (1, 2)
4. In New York, there are fake buildings that hide subway ventilation shafts and other infrastructure.
The answer to New York City's flawless skyline lies in the false buildings that serve as mere facades concealing other, less attractive infrastructure. Building substations or subway ventilation shafts underground requires a lot of space and money. When seen aboveground, they are conspicuous and unsightly. So the New York City government constructed false buildings to disguise what they deemed unsightly structures.
For example, the four buildings above New York City's Holland Tunnel are fake structures designed to house air vents. Another fake building is located in Brooklyn Heights at 58 Joralemon Street. It actually conceals a vent and emergency exit between Borough Hall Station and Bowling Green Station. There are many more similar fake buildings throughout the city that are difficult to spot. (source)
5. Manhattan Island was purchased from the Native Americans in 1626 for approximately $1,000 in today's dollars.
A letter from Dutch merchant Pieter Schlage, addressed to the directors of the West India Company on November 5, 1626, now held in the National Archives of the Netherlands, provides evidence of the sale of Manhattan. It states: "They bought the island of Manhattan from the savages for 60 guilders." The "they" refers to the Dutch. However, historians disagree on who exactly purchased the island.
The most popular historical sources say that the letter was sold by Native Americans because it used the word "savages," which refers to primitive people.
Nineteenth-century historians converted "60 guilders" into the equivalent of 24 US dollars at the time. Converting these 24 dollars to modern exchange rates, according to the International Institute of Social History, yields a sum of approximately 1,000 US dollars. (source)