The Upper West Side has a rich history that includes periods of squatting by immigrants and veterans. After World War I, veterans camped along the Hudson River, and during the Great Depression, squatter communities emerged in Central Park and along the river. The 1850s saw the first news accounts of squatters, primarily German and Irish immigrants. By the 1860s, a more organized squatting system developed, with speculators charging nominal rent. As real estate values rose in the 1870s, landowners lobbied for infrastructure improvements, leading to significant development in the area.
The first news accounts of squatters in New York City were published in the 1850s, as impoverished German and Irish immigrants surged into the city. Charles Loring Brace wrote about them for The New York Times, describing the rough cabins they lived in and the rough living many eked out, by picking through the streets to collect and sell anything of value.
By the 1860s, squatting in New York City had a bit more of an organized structure. Real estate speculators, waiting for the value of their vacant properties to increase, charged squatters nominal rent for the right to live on their lands.
Real estate values increased uptown in the 1870s, and landowners began to organize to push for infrastructure that would boost development. The West Side Association, formed in 1866, pushed the city to build streets, a job made difficult by the West Side's rocky outcrops.
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