Our project was about the development of Lincoln Center specifically through the lens of urban planning, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs. We developed the project as a timeline spanning from when New York was mostly nature, to New York before the grid system, Lenapehoking, to San Juan Hill, and then to Modern day Lincoln Center. We created a collage for each of these stages and corroborated them with historical pictures. We also brought up Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and discussed quotes and her other projects, specifically the protection of Washington Sq. Park. We also had people contribute their problems with gentrification on post-its and put them up on our board.

History:
The Lincoln Center area was part of Lenapehoking, the Lenape’s ancestral homeland. It featured a mix of forests, streams, and marshes, which provided ample resources for fishing, hunting, and farming.
The Lenape established villages and seasonal camps, particularly along waterways like the Hudson River. They relied on agriculture, cultivating crops such as corn, beans, and squash (“The Three Sisters”), supplemented by fishing and foraging.
The Lenape lived in small, family-based communities and maintained strong spiritual and cultural ties to the land. They were known for their diplomacy and trade networks with neighboring Indigenous groups.
The Lenape shaped the landscape in subtle ways, clearing areas for seasonal settlements and planting crops. They maintained trails that wound through the forests and along the riverbanks, connecting different parts of the island.
After the Dutch and British began to settle the area, the natural landscape was gradually altered. Hills were leveled, wetlands drained, and forests cleared to make way for farms, roads, and early buildings.
In 1807 John Randel Jr. led a commission that was appointed by the NYS legislature to develop a plan for the city’s future growth.

African-Americans moved into the area around the late 19th century from Little Africa in Greenwich Village, where an earlier African-American community existed.[3][4] Before the construction of Lincoln Center and the subsequent destruction of San Juan Hill, jazz and art thrived in this area as its popularity began to grow.

Historian Marcy S. Sacks writes that San Juan Hill had many tenement basement clubs ranging from dives to higher-level clubs. And that there were also poolrooms, saloons, dance halls, and bordellos.

Before there was Harlem, there was San Juan Hill. Like Harlem, heavily populated by Black people

San Juan Hill was mostly erased due to the mid-20th-century sweep of urban renewal to create Lincoln Center, displacing thousands of families, and removing the history that the neighborhood existed.

In the 1950s, the neighborhood was almost completely torn down and Lincoln Center was built. By 1955, Robert Moses struck a deal with the Met Opera to develop the neighborhood north of Columbus Circle into a home for the arts. Other organizations such as Fordham University, the New York Philharmonic, and the Juilliard School of Music soon followed suit moved their headquarters and campuses to the center.[16] The area had been the home of over 17,000 residents.[17][5][18] Construction on the development project started in 1959.