Historical Maps

The Changing Shoreline of New York City

Manhattan below City Hall is 50% larger than in the 1620s. Maps show the Heere Gracht canal (1626-1676), English water lots that added 500 acres by 1776, Castle Clinton built 300 feet offshore in 1808, Egbert Viele’s 1865 map showing landfill extent, Battery Park City’s 92 acres from World Trade Center excavation (1968-1976), and T. Kennard Thomson’s 1911 plan to dam the East River.

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Population

How U.S. State Population Centers Shifted Over a Century

Most U.S. states have seen their population centers shift over the past century. California’s center is now closer to its southern coast and Bay Area than it was in the 1900s. Texas moved southeast as its big cities expanded. Florida’s center went south down the peninsula. Arizona’s shifted toward Phoenix. New Mexico’s moved toward Albuquerque. A handful of states like Wyoming, Vermont, and Rhode Island have barely budged from where they started.

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