Morningside Depths: Lunatics, Orphans, and the 1890s Gentrification of Columbia’s Neighborhood

Morningside Heights of today is a quiet neighborhood anchored by a wealth of august educational, religious, and cultural institutions: Columbia, Barnard, St. John the Divine, Riverside Church and many others. But in the late 1800s it hosted a different set of institutions, serving less genteel clientele. This walk examines Columbia’s neighborhood before and after Columbia, tracing the creation, by chance or design, of “New York’s Acropolis.”