blog
Immigration and the Village
…the talk about immigration reform in the news lately, it got us thinking here at Off the Grid about the effect of United States immigration laws on the history of…
Read MoreSearch Results for Immigration
blog
Roundup of posts on immigration and the Village
…tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Photo courtesy of avvo.com. Immigration is a core theme in the history of New York City, and in the…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating Immigration in Greenwich Village
…rich immigration history by taking the map’s “Immigration Landmarks” tour. The Chinese Consulate & Mission In the late 19th century, Chinese immigrants to the United States faced rampant discrimination and…
Read Moreevent
The NEW New York: 19th Century Immigration – Kleindeutschland: Little Germany in New York City
The NEW New York: 19th Century Immigration – Kleindeutschland: Little Germany in New York City This talk will explore a detailed history of the development of the German American community…
Read Moreevent
The NEW New York: Immigration, 1820s to 1880s – An Overview
The NEW New York: Immigration, 1820s to 1880s – An Overview Immigration in the 19th century brought diverse cultures together, illuminated global struggles, triumphs, and movements, and made our neighborhoods…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating the Landmarks of Immigration in the Greenwich Village Historic District
…District is so rich in immigrant history and preserved landmarks, you can celebrate both at once! The examples which follow are from our “Immigration Landmarks” tour on our Greenwich Village…
Read Moreevent
The NEW New York: 19th Century Irish Immigration and the Revolution
The NEW New York: 19th Century Irish Immigration and the Revolution This talk will look at archbishops, saints-in-waiting, gangsters, rogues, jesters and other colorful characters. There will be a special…
Read Moreevent
Immigration in Greenwich Village, 100 Years Since the Emergency Quota Act
…New York has again become a center for international immigration, and immigrant New Yorkers have profoundly shaped our neighborhoods. In this Jane’s Walk led by historian and tour guide Lucie…
Read Morepage
Immigration in the South Village
…Village. Students explore the immigrant experience through the lens of mass Italian immigration in the late 19th century, Session 2: Walking Tour Travel back in time as you join us…
Read Moreblog
11 landmarks of immigration in Greenwich Village
Each year, immigrant history week is celebrated in late April, commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants came through Ellis Island than any other day in history. More than…
Read Morepress
Campaign Update
May 2025 Programs: Architecture, Immigration, the City Council, and More
Did you know that Village Preservation members receive advance notice of many of our public programs? Our tours and other programs sometimes offer limited capacity, and often fill up quickly….
Read Moreblog
“The NEW New York” – Immigrant Heritage Learning at Village Preservation
Immigration means something different to everyone — it reminds us of our ancestors, of how the world is constantly changing, or of how, as people, we are always on the…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating Our Neighborhoods’ Immigrant Heritage
…the story of immigration. We are proud of and celebrate our neighborhoods’ history of immigration and the legacy it has engendered. Below is a roundup of some of our stories…
Read Moreblog
When They Stemmed the Flow of Immigrants into New York City
…on immigration from eastern and southern Europe. NYC was deeply impacted until the immigration law of 1965 altered the situation, allowing immigrants from Asia and the Caribbean to enter the…
Read Moreblog
East Village Building Blocks Tour: Little Ukraine
…to the east and 3rd Avenue to the west. Ukrainian immigration to New York coincided with other mass European immigration in the late 19th century. Another mass Ukrainian immigration occurred…
Read Moreblog
Pioneers Converge on MacDougal Street: Dr. Robert Hogan, Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, and Sarah Smith Garnet
…Digital Collections. The Irish Emigrant Society would station representatives at the Battery (when the Battery’s Castle Clinton was the city’s immigration processing center, before Ellis Island) to meet people immediately…
Read Moreblog
The Irish Emigrant Aid Society’s Greenwich Village Roots
…Collections. The Potato Famine of 1845 is often considered the main driver of Irish immigration to America, but large-scale Irish immigration had begun prior to that. In the 1830s about…
Read Moreblog
2014 Year In Review: GVSHP Programs
…of immigration to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, this 3-volume book covers art, literature, food, religion, and so much more. Topics slated for discussion with this panel include the Stanton Street…
Read Moreblog
Robert Hogan: Unsung Hero of Irish New York, and Resident of MacDougal Street
…transformed the experience of immigration from Ireland, but also played an integral role in strengthening the size and influence of the city’s Irish community. Hogan also helped organize the city’s…
Read Moreblog
Immigrant Heritage Week: The Importance of Preserving Immigrant History in Our Neighborhoods
…immigrants in New York City. A ship of Irish immigrants arriving at Ellis Island Our neighborhoods have attracted immigrants from across the globe for centuries. Immigration and the diversity of…
Read Moreblog
The Fascinating Maritime Architecture of Mr. Boring
…and maritime life. Born on September 9, 1859, he was known for his design of key structures like the Ellis Island Immigration Station and what is now called the Jane…
Read Moreblog
Walking East 3rd Street: Tenement Synagogues & Jewish Life
…include the expansion of the subway further into Brooklyn, and the Immigration Act of 1924, which effectively drove Jewish immigration to a full halt. 65 E. 3rd Street, 2012. During…
Read Moreblog
Sullivan-Thompson Historic Historic District Gets Its Landmark Street Signs
…lasted from before the Civil War until just before World War I. This period coincided with waves of immigration transforming the area, and the building of countless tenements of all…
Read Moreblog
Immigrant Heritage Day – Taking a Walk to the Immigrant East Village
Immigration history in New York City is long, storied and full of notable events and movements which are personal and political. The City of New York is the ultimate city…
Read Moreblog
The Many Illustrious Arrests of Anarchist Emma Goldman
…of Goldman’s Mugshots The Immigration Act of 1903, also known as the Anarchist Exclusion Act, was passed by Congress on March 3, 1903. This law tightened immigration rules and added…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day
…Immigration, 1820s to 1880s – An Overview Immigration in the 19th century brought diverse cultures together, illuminated global struggles, triumphs, and movements, and made our neighborhoods what they are today….
Read Morepage
Neighborhood History
…1870-1900 2.4 Immigration in the Village 3. The Twentieth Century 3.1 Bohemia, 1900-1929 3.2 Art in the Village, 1930s 3.3 The “Beat Movement” and Happenings, 1950s-1960s 3.4 The Historic Preservation…
Read Moreblog
The Ukrainian National Home’s Surprising History
…single-family rowhouse to its present form was the immigration of huge numbers of Germans to New York in the mid-19th century, largely settling in today’s East Village. The area came…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating 30 Years of Educating Students, With Big Plans for Spring!
…work with the GO Project each summer. In 2010 we published “A Journey for Carmela” for K-2nd grade students to learn about immigration in the South Village From A Journey…
Read Moreblog
Asian-American History in Greenwich Village and the East Village
…as a pamphlet, condemning both the Act’s immigration restrictions and its denial of citizenship to Chinese-Americans. The resolution demanded that the act make a formal distinction between recent Chinese immigrants…
Read Moreblog
The Gilded Village: Where Two Thirds of the Population Lived
…workers’ wages and prompted immigration from countries not experiencing the same prosperity as the United States. The ever-expanding railroad was shrinking the country, making it easier for those settled in…
Read Moreblog
Little Ukraine in the East Village
…New York coincided with other mass European immigrations in the late 19th century. Another mass Ukrainian immigration occurred during and after World War II, as Ukrainians escaped the Nazis and…
Read Moreblog
Children’s Education by GVSHP
…neighborhood changes over time. The second program, Immigration in the South Village, teaches students about immigrant life and how large-scale immigration led to new building forms in New York City, from…
Read Moreblog
Irish Parade Riots
…both Irish and American. Much of mainstream America was not ready to embrace the Irish Catholic immigrants as Americans, however. Increasing immigration heightened tensions between the newcomers and so-called native-born…
Read Moreblog
Our Irish Heritage
The history of Greenwich Village is a history of immigration. Although the St. Patrick’s Day Parade as we know it follows an uptown route along 5th Avenue, the original Irish…
Read Moreblog
Lost Neighborhoods of New York: Goulash Row
New York is renowned for its vibrant immigrant history, and the many diverse neighborhoods born out of years of heavy immigration in the 19th and early 20th-centuries. But for all…
Read Moreblog
Kleindeutschland Roundup
…stemming from large-scale Jewish immigration to the area, and the stigma during and after World War I attached to German identity. Remnants of Kleindeutschland can still been seen today in…
Read Moreblog
Sullivan-Thompson, a District of Immigrants
…stated by the LPC research staff in their presentation before the Commissioners’ vote, “The architecture in the proposed district reflects the waves of immigration that transformed this neighborhood and much…
Read Moreblog
New Historic Images Show Italian Immigrant Life in the South Village
…The Saint Raphael Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants interceded for her with the Labor Department’s Immigration Board, and she was allowed to depart the island March 24, 1911….
Read Moreblog
Immigrant Heritage Week
…the buildings and areas and speak with some of the people featured on the tour. GVSHP has written extensively on how immigration has shaped our neighborhoods. Read about the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District-…
Read Moreblog
Viewers Choice: Top 5 Village Preservation Program Videos of 2018
…Dr. Tara Rider, presenting on Irish immigration and experiences in New York. This program was held in a partnership with the Merchant’s House Museum. Irish scholar Tara Rider is also…
Read Moreblog
Welcome to March! Celebrate Irish Heritage and Women’s History with Village Preservation Programs
…waves of Irish immigration to New York beginning in the 17th-18th century and the ways in which they shaped our city’s history. One central idea throughout Ryder’s talk is the…
Read Moreblog
Why Isn’t This Landmarked?: San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite
…in America with the immigration of the Eastern Europeans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The see of the Russian Orthodox Church in America was moved from Alaska…
Read Moreblog
The Irish Immigrant Community of the Far West Village
…greatly affected its development, the Far West Village. A drawing of Irish immigrants arriving in New York City. The beginnings of what would become a huge wave of Irish immigration…
Read Moreblog
Why Isn’t This Landmarked?: The Hebrew Technical Institute, 9th and Stuyvesant Streets
…landmarked. On December 1, 1917, the Evening Post wrote: “The tide of Jewish immigration to this country had begun in 1883, following the first of the Russian massacres, and the…
Read Moreblog
A Young Italian Immigrant Who Almost Didn’t Make It Into America
…Image Archive. The sixteen images, all of which date from the early 20th century when Italian immigration to our city was at its height, are from the center’s Our Lady…
Read Moreevent
The Irish Bridget: Celebrating Immigrant Heritage & History Month
The Irish Bridget: Celebrating Immigrant Heritage & History Month Who was the Irish Bridget? What relevance does her story have to the history of Irish immigration to America? Margaret Lynch-Brennan…
Read Moreevent
Our Lady of Greenwich Village
Our Lady of Greenwich Village A discussion of Irish Catholic immigration to Greenwich Village with authors Dermot McEvoy and John Strausbaugh Authors Dermot McEvoy (Our Lady of Greenwich Village, Terrible…
Read Morepage
2011 Annual Meeting
…the neighborhood and today, it continues its ministry to those most in need. Over its many years in service, Judson has sponsored arts initiatives, advocated for health issues, provided immigration…
Read Moreblog
Chinese American Activists Fight for Their Rights in Our Neighborhoods
…from receiving bail in habeas corpus proceedings. At its first meeting, the Chinese Equal Rights League passed a resolution, published as a pamphlet, condemning both the Act’s immigration restrictions and…
Read Moreblog
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and the Fight for Chinese American and Women’s Rights
…obtaining United States citizenship and therefore denied their voting rights. Furthermore, just four years after the 19th Amendment passed, Congress passed the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, which strengthened restrictions on Chinese…
Read Moreblog
The Greenwich Village church that threw a presidential election
…burned down in 1855. It was quickly rebuilt, but by April 1902 it burned down again, both times faithfully recreating the original 1840s design. In the subsequent years, as immigration…
Read Moreblog
East 12th Street’s “Ghost Church”: From Pathbreaking House of Worship to NYU Dorm
…New York. This jarring juxtaposition results from a confluence of powerful New York forces, including religion, immigration, real estate, and the expanding appetite of one large institution, New York University,…
Read Moreblog
Politicians, Playwrights, and Parades: The Irish legacy of the East Village and Greenwich Village
…and lesbians, artists, punks – Irish immigration in the mid-19th century profoundly shaped both neighborhoods. Irish Americans and Irish immigrants played a critical role in building immigrant and artistic traditions…
Read Moreblog
Greenwich Village: Immigrant Mecca
…of the newcomer from foreign lands, as there are many key landmarks to the history of immigration to be found in our own communities. One great way to explore that…
Read Moreblog
Explore Local Korean American Restaurants!
…after the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, which lifted the restrictions on immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and other places outside of Northern and Western Europe that were enacted in…
Read Moreblog
Filomena: the thirteen-year-old martyred virgin once celebrated in the South Village
…Italian nation. The story of how the feast came about, and why it was unceremoniously ended, tells us a lot about the history of immigration, religion, and myth-making that has…
Read Moreblog
Emma Lazarus and the Poem on Lady Liberty’s Pedestal
…Europe, as well as helping immigrants. Lazarus proclaimed herself a Jewish poet, expressing her views on Judaism and immigration through verse, essays, and the 1882 published collection Song of a…
Read Moreblog
Celebrating the Origins of the South Village
…its longest-standing small businesses, and so many layers of immigration, local migration, and cultural history. We can trace these stories through the structures and streetscapes that are now thankfully protected…
Read Moreblog
Politicians, Playwrights, and Parades: The Irish legacy of the East Village and Greenwich Village
…and lesbians, artists, punks – Irish immigration in the mid-19th century profoundly shaped both neighborhoods. Irish Americans and Irish immigrants played a critical role in building immigrant and artistic traditions…
Read Moreevent
The Last Ships from Hamburg
…exodus that spared millions from persecution. He offers insights into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration nativism, and war, and delivers a crucial perspective into the burgeoning refugee…
Read Moreblog
149 Second Avenue
…escape being “tenementized” (heightened and converted to house multiple families) during the era of heavy immigration to the neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The house certainly…
Read Moreblog
Pushcarts on Bleecker Street
…beginnings, but it was really in the post-Civil War era of heavy immigration that pushcart peddlers became so prolific. They were most frequently found in the immigrant communities of the…
Read Moreblog
What’s in a Name?: The Saul Birns Building
…such as at 149 Second Avenue and at the landmarked Isaac Hopper House at 110 Second Avenue. Beginning in the 1850s, the neighborhood began to change. Waves of immigration caused…
Read Moreblog
This Columbus Day, Save the South Village
…Anthony’s is the oldest extant Italian-American church in the nation. The South Village is one of New York’s great immigrant neighborhoods from the last great wave of immigration to New…
Read Moreblog
Russ & Daughters: An Extraordinarily Ordinary Place
…tenement building design, check out this post on 226 East 13th Street. A strict new immigration law in 1924 cut the number of new Jewish immigrants to the neighborhood and…
Read Moreblog
Three Cheers for Father’s Heart Church!
…Village is one of the City’s most richly historic neighborhoods with sites that reflect the eras of colonialism, immigration, progressivism, counter culture movements and urban reclamation. With all of this…
Read Moreblog
Thanksgiving Ragamuffins
…US with increased European immigration, and the term is most likely taken for the word given to poorly clothed, often dirty children, indicating that the practice—and the immigrant class who…
Read Moreblog
The Backstory on Backhouses
…immigration to New York City increased exponentially. Somewhat unusually, based upon our research on the history of every building in the East Village, it appears that the four-story backhouses behind…
Read Moreblog
A Sign That Tells More Than Just Street Names
…(image courtesy NYPL digital library) Begun in 1868, as New York was experiencing its post-Civil War boom in immigration and industry, the El was not only the first such elevated…
Read Moreblog
Walking East 7th Street: Elizabeth Blackwell’s New York Dispensary
…us many things about the relationships between immigration, ethnic stereotypes, poverty, disease and the development of the ideals and practices of public health in the 19th century. In 1850, this…
Read Moreblog
Sullivan Street Playhouse: Gone But Not Forgotten
…story of the last great wave of immigration to New York and the United States at the turn of the last century. Though it was too late for the Sullivan…
Read Moreblog
Welcome East 10th Street Historic District
…the neighborhood experienced waves of immigration in the late 1800’s. The area attracted a large number of German immigrants, whose influence on the built environment of the neighborhood can still…
Read Moreblog
Researchers Rejoice 1940 Census Released!
…in the household including their names, ages, occupation, year of immigration, marital status, and the value of their homes. Farmer completing the 1940 Census Source: National Archives The 1940…
Read Moreblog
190 Homes for 190 Years
…had seen the neighborhood through several waves of drastic change, from its origins as the center of New York City’s shipbuilding industry to its transformation into an immigration hub to…
Read Moreblog
Little India in the East Village
…three again in 1979. In the early 1980’s East 6th Street exploded, due in part to the loosened Asian immigration restrictions that brought thousands of Bangladeshis to New York. A…
Read Moreblog
A History of the East Village in 10 Objects
…name for Avenue C in 1987. By 2000, a surge in immigration and higher birthrates nudged Hispanic New Yorkers past blacks as the city’s second-largest racial or ethnic group. Now,…
Read Moreblog
Your East Village Historic District Guide
…East Side Historic District”. Just from this list alone, it’s easy to see how this area played a big role in New York City history. Fashionable row house development, immigration,…
Read Moreblog
Walking East 3rd Street: The American Movies Theater
…is appealed to directly and without any circumlocution.” At the time of the American Movies Theater’s opening, this zenith of Jewish cultural influence and heightened immigration from Eastern Europe gives…
Read Moreblog
A Catholic leader for the South Village
…groups, worked with local charities, and was active in social services, such as translating documents, finding jobs, and aiding in the immigration process. Following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in…
Read Moreblog
Back to School! GVSHP’s Children’s Education Program
…was very interesting and informative. The kids were engaged. It brought the immigration study close to our school…they felt it “came to life.” Katie H., PS 3, Grades 2-3 teacher…
Read Moreblog
Spotlight On the Ukrainian Museum: Ukrainian Art and Culture in the East Village
…building. The UNWLA and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) purchased the Second Avenue building together and formerly shared the space. Ukrainian immigration to the East Village began at…
Read Moreblog
A Rite of Passage for Jewish Gangsters of the Lower East Side: The Manhattan Third District Magistrate’s Court
…for the major gangsters of the day, and its docket records illustrate the diversity in crime and criminal that followed the huge immigration boom. Kid Dropper Keeping order in the…
Read Moreblog
Europe and Greenwich Village
…Or the tenements that tell the story of immigration to the East Village?” Italianate townhouses on Charles Street, source: www.mns.com Luckily, we don’t have to worry about what the neighborhood…
Read Moreblog
It’s all about the kids!
…time, and how you can see evidence of the past in the Greenwich Village Historic District. We also offer “Immigration in the South Village” which focuses on the immigrant experience…
Read Moreblog
The Jones-Shafroth Act Begins Puerto Rican Migration to the Lower East Side
…of highly restrictive immigration laws in the United States which brought the flow of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe — previously the lifeblood of the neighborhood — to a…
Read Moreblog
Program Recap: The Origins of Little Spain and The Whitney Museum
…the history of the Spanish Benevolent Society as a social center and a resource for immigrants to assist with housing, education, medical needs, and immigration issues. An old tax photo…
Read Moreblog
A Night With The Andy Statman Trio at the Historic Eldridge Street Synagogue
…on September 4, 1887 and flourished for 50 years. Though a deep decline in membership occurred during the next several decades (due to the Great Depression, limited immigration quotas from…
Read Moreblog
Art in Odd Places 2015: RECALL
…public by Builes as an act of solidarity and an affirmation of immigration. Jeff Casper and Sophie Cooke- Water Lines Water Lines. Image courtesy of Art in Odd Places. Examining…
Read Moreblog
Italians of the South Village
…and no one immigrant group dominates. But the flavor of the Italian immigrants remains, and is featured in GVSHP’s Children’s Education program’s Immigration in the South Village curriculum. If you…
Read Moreblog
Business of the Month: Tea & Sympathy, 108 Greenwich Avenue
…in 1982 but had to wait until the end of the 80’s before she could formally begin the process, as her immigration status was sorted out. The shop opened December…
Read Moreblog
Happy Dyngus Day!
…result of the area’s historic patterns of immigration, and some of the establishments founded by these communities have become foundations of the neighborhood. Below we have listed a few standout Eastern…
Read Moreblog
Immigrant Stories – America’s Greatest Asset
…neighborhoods are, for good reason, havens of immigration, innovation, and fusion. Sharing ideas, exchanging customs and inventing new ones is what built this city and how most of our great American…
Read Moreblog
GVSHP 2016 Book List & Holiday Gift Ideas
…history that includes being a national center for immigration into our country, and a longtime magnet for innovative artists, musicians, writers and political activists. The book’s sponsor, Lower East Side…
Read Moreblog
Join Us Tomorrow for an Exciting Evening at the Museum at Eldridge Street
…during the next several decades (due to the Great Depression, immigration quotas from Eastern Europe, and a mass migration to the suburbs), the synagogue has remained an important part of…
Read Moreblog
2016 GVSHP Year in Review
…students and real estate brokers on the history of architecture, immigration, and historic preservation. We released 19 new oral histories, focusing on the South Village and East Village. Our Spring…
Read Moreblog
The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated
…Order targeting immigration to the country. And about a week before that, I happened upon a “junior rally” – kids from a nearby school streamed into the park, bearing their…
Read Moreblog
Irish Churches of the Village
…was originally founded by Irish immigrants during the wave of immigration resulting from the 1840’s famine. This church served relatively middle class “Lace Curtain Irish” (opposed to the lower classes…
Read Moreblog
A History of the East Village in 10 Objects
…for Avenue C in 1987. By 2000, a surge in immigration and higher birthrates nudged Hispanic New Yorkers past blacks as the city’s second-largest racial or ethnic group. Now, let’s…
Read More