Eight parts of one city

He did not map a city.
He mapped eight neighbourhoods
that happened to touch.

Lower Manhattan before 1900 was not one place. The Swamp smelled of tanning hides; four streets away the Exchange was moving more money than anywhere in America. Five Points and the Cast-Iron District shared a border and almost nothing else.

These divisions come from his own map — each one anchored on landmarks and street names he drew himself.