Not the first grid but the most famous

New York City is built to a famous grid system (well most of it) and while not the first or the only place to feature the grid, it’s certainly the most famous. But it all came from a single plan.

The plan began when the Common Council of New York City, seeking to grow the city in an orderly way as settlements began to form all the way up Manhattan island, ask the New York State government to step in, because local politics was not allowing anything to get done. A commission was formed in 1807 and their grid plan for the city was presented in 1811.

The Commissioners were Gouverneur Morris, a Founding Father of the United States; the lawyer John Rutherfurd, and the state Surveyor General, Simeon De Witt. Their chief surveyor was John Randel Jr., who was 20 years old when he began the job.

Initially viewed as monotonous and rigid in comparison with the random patterns of older cities, it has come to be viewed far more favourably by urban planners, and downright far-reaching and visionary by historians!