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From “A Suburban Country Place”

THERE have been times when the word «suburban» rang pleasantly in the ears of the citizens of New York. Such must have been the times, long ago, when Greenwich village and Chelsea village were the summer resorts of local magnates, and when Harlem village (legend affirms it) was a health-resort so placidly umbrageous, Dutch, and small that people who could not sleep in town were sent out there, assured of a week of unbroken slumber. And such, again, were the nearer times when all the isle was still suburban north of Washington Square, covered with farms, and dotted with country mansions that were often set in forest-like domains, and often fronted on the East or the North or the Harlem River.

Claremont, at the end of Riverside Drive, near the tomb of General Grant, suggests in a rather humble way what these mansions were, and in a very magnificent way what their outlooks were. Others linger, desecrated, here and there, closely pressed by new-laid brick and stone. And away up at the extreme tip of Manhattan there are still a few quiet, shady places which may call themselves suburban in the old and honorable sense. But everywhere else around the outskirts of Manhattan the term has gained an unattractive, hybrid meaning. To speak it with pleasure, New-Yorkers must apply it to those remoter regions which can be reached only by a railway journey of considerable length. And then it is incorrectly applied, for a real suburban place is rural in aspect, but urban in convenience — private, green, and peaceful in itself, yet close in touch with the true self of the town. …

— by M. G. van Rensselaer
“A Suburban Country Place”
The Century Magazine,
May 1897
Published at 8:36 pm on Thursday 15 May 2008. Categories: History New York Tags: , .
Comments

“a real suburban place is rural in aspect, but urban in convenience — private, green, and peaceful in itself, yet close in touch with the true self of the town.”

That’s a great description!

Nice find. How did you happen to browse through an issue of The Century Magazine from 1897?

— Alessandro 15 May 2008 10:04 pm

What on earth else would I be doing than browsing through an issue of The Century Magazine from 1897?

— Andrew Cusack 15 May 2008 10:40 pm
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