Figure: Population Density Map of the Lower East Side in 1900

This map, created by the newly-formed Tenement House Department, shows the populations, population densities and predominant nationalities for each block in the 10th Ward in 1900. The block bound by Broome, Delancey, Orchard and Allen Streets had a density of 1,089 per acre, one of the densist blocks on planet earth at the time. Consider a “typical” suburban family today, with say 5 people in a house on a quarter acre lot. This gives a density of 20 people per acre. In 2010, Census Tract 18, which includes the block above, had a population density of 157 people per acre.

 

Figure: Population Density across Manhattan in 1900.

This map shows a 3D rendering of population density across Manhattan north of about Chamber Street and south of 155th Street. The greatest concentration of population was in the Lower East Side and the wards just north of City Hall. Source: First Report of the Tenement House Department of the City of New York (1903).

Figure: Population Density by Race and Ethnicity in 1890.

These maps show the relative concentration of different racial and ethnic groups in each of Manhattan’s Sanitation Districts, which were the size of large neighborhoods. An 1894 report by the Census Bureau tracked the health status and mortality rates of residents by Sanitation District from data collected in the 1890 Census.

Figure: Population Density by Race and Ethnicity in 1900.

These maps show the relative concentration of ethnic groups in Manhattan in 1900 at the block level. Each maps shows the number of heads of households whose parents were of a particular nationality. The data set was collected as part of the 1900 census and was summarized in the First Report of the Tenement House Department of the City of New York (1903). The Italians were living in the most central area that had the lowest-cost housing. To the northeast of them was the Russian-Jewish enclave. The Irish has formed two enclaves, one on the east side and one on the west. There were two German enclaves: the newer immigrants were living north of the Jewish ward in the historic Kleindeutschland, and a newer, higher-income German enclave existed in Yorkville, just south of Harlem, which also had Jewish and Italian neighborhoods. On average, the location of an enclave was determined by residents’ time in the country, income levels and occupation choices.