- Mid-1800s: Peak of Irish immigration to New York resulting heavily from the Great Famine in Ireland. (Where Do New Yorkers Come From?)
- 1855: Castle Garden starts receiving immigrants, becoming the country’s first immigrant processing center. (Castle Garden)
- 1860s-1890s: Peak of German immigration to New York for economic reasons and following the Revolution of 1848 in Germany. Thousands move to the Bronx. (Where Do New Yorkers Come From?, The Bronx County Historical Society)
- 1868: The January 7 issue of the German-language newspaper New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, founded in 1834, became the first in New York made entirely of ground-wood pulp. (New York State Library)
- 1870: Rowell’s American newspaper directory lists New York City as having 90 newspapers in print. (New York State Library)
- 1874: Towns west of the Bronx River – Morrisania, Kingsbridge and West Farms – became part of the city (and county) of New York. (The Bronx County Historical Society)
- 1880s: Amid the advent of steam power making the trip to the United States easier, immigrants increasingly came from southern and eastern Europe, as well as Canada and Asia. (The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation)
- 1890: Castle Garden ceases operations.
- 1892: Ellis Island takes over immigrant processing.
- 1895: Towns east of the Bronx River – parts of Eastchester and Pelham, Wakefield and Westchester – annexed to New York; they would later form Westchester County. (The Bronx County Historical Society)
- 1898: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island join Manhattan on January 1 to create the “City of Greater New York,” the unofficial name for the city after the consolidation of Manhattan (New York County) with its neighboring municipalities.
Also see Here Grows New York, which presents animated visuals of the expansion of New York City from 1609 to the present.
