Fireplace Remodeling in Union Square, NY

Prior to the area’s settlement, the area around present-day Union Square was farmland. The western part of the site was owned by Elias Brevoort, who later sold his land to John Smith in 1762; by 1788 it had been sold again to Henry Spingler (or Springler). On the eastern part of the land were farms owned by John Watts and Cornelius Williams. The northwestern corner of the park site contained 1 acre (0.40 ha) of land owned by the Manhattan Bank, which supposedly was a “refuge” for businesses during New York City’s yellow fever epidemics.

When John Randel was surveying the island in preparation for the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) angled away from the Bowery at an acute angle. Because it would have been difficult to develop buildings upon this angle, the Commissioners decided to form a square at the union. In 1815, by act of the state legislature, this former potter’s field became a public commons for the city, at first named Union Place. Union Place originally was supposed to extend from 10th to 17th Streets. Several city officials objected that Union Place was too large and requested that it be “discontinued”, and in 1814, the New York State Legislature acted to downsize the area by making 14th Street the southern boundary.

Residential neighborhood[edit]

In 1831, at a time when the city was quickly expanding and the surrounding area was still sparsely developed, Samuel Ruggles, one of the founders of the Bank of Commerce and the developer of Gramercy Park to the northeast, convinced the city to rename the area “Union Square”. In doing so, Ruggles also got the city to enlarge the commons to 17th Street on the north and extend the axis of University Place to form the square’s west side, thus turning the common from a triangular to a rectangular area. By 1832, the area had been renamed Union Square. Ruggles obtained a fifty-year lease on most of the surrounding lots from 15th to 19th Streets, where he built sidewalks and curbs. In 1834, he convinced the Board of Aldermen to enclose and grade the square, then sold most of his leases and in 1839 built a four-story house facing the east side of the Square. The park at Union Square was completed and opened in July 1839.