# New York in the 1900s

> A newly consolidated metropolis of immigrants, tenements, garment shops, Tammany politics, and a subway opening under City Hall.

- Place: New York (40.713, -74.006)
- Years: 1900 to 1909
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/new-york-new-york/1900s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=New%20York%2C%20New%20York%2C%20United%20States&at=40.7128,-74.0060&year=1905

## Looking around

You stand by City Hall Park[9], in the city that has only lately become five boroughs under one municipal government[5]. Around this lower Manhattan point is the largest American city, with 3,437,202 people in 1900[1] and still more by the decade’s end. The streets above are crowded enough that reformers argue over tenements, fire escapes, air, and windows[3]. Underfoot, work has changed the city: the first subway begins here, and by 1904 trains run from City Hall to 145th Street[9]. South and west, the harbor brings newcomers toward Ellis Island[4], where more than a million people pass in 1907. North of here and across Manhattan, hundreds of textile factories[6] employ immigrant garment workers. The city’s calendar and arguments are public ones: Times Square celebrations[5], shirtwaist strikes[8], and the daily authority of a mayor, borough presidents, comptroller, and Board of Estimate.

## Work: Needles and long hours

A large share of industrial work visible from lower Manhattan belongs to clothing: more than 450 Manhattan textile factories[6] employ about 40,000 garment workers[6]. In the shirtwaist trade, weeks of 65 to 75 hours[8] are reported.

## Who lived here: An immigrant metropolis

New York is already enormous, with 3,437,202 people in 1900[1]. At Ellis Island, the decade peaks in 1907 when more than one million people pass through[4] the immigration station.

## Home & table: Tenement reform world

Housing is a political and bodily question: laws require fire escapes and a window for every room[3] facing light and air. The census counts 249,991 dwelling places[2] for more than three million city residents.

## Money: Pay by skill and place

In the shirtwaist shops, learners often earn $3 or $4 a day[8], while semi-skilled operators may make $7 to $12[8]. The difference marks gender, training, bargaining power, and the subcontracting system.

## Law & power: A new municipal machine

The city has recently become five boroughs under one municipal government[5]. By 1901 its charter gives formal power to a mayor, borough presidents, a comptroller, a City Council president, and a Board of Estimate[7].

## In the air: Labor, suffrage, reform

The great public argument of 1909 is work itself: the Uprising of the 20,000[8] brings young immigrant women into the street. Shirtwaist workers are also linked to Yiddish-speaking Jewish and Italian immigrant communities[8] and to women’s suffrage agitation.

## What people feared: Fire, illness, overcrowding

Tenement law speaks to everyday danger through fire escapes, air, and windows[3]. Ellis Island records show another fear: from July 1905 to June 1906, 1,990 immigrants were admitted to New York City hospitals[4].

## Roads & news: Subway and spectacle

News arrives through newspapers, crowds, and public ceremony: the subway opens from City Hall[9] in 1904. The city also invents a new annual spectacle when the illuminated Times Square ball[5] first drops for 1908.

## Year by year

- **1898** (here): Greater New York came into being when Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island were consolidated under one city government.[5]
- **1900** (here): The census counted New York City at 3,437,202 people, making it the largest city in the United States.[1]
- **1901** (here): The New Law tenement era began as housing reformers pressed the state to regulate light, air, sanitation, and fire safety.[3]
- **1904** (here): The first subway opened from City Hall, changing how ordinary New Yorkers could cross Manhattan.[9]
- **1906** (the country): The San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed much of that city and would have filled New York newspapers with disaster reports.
- **1907** (nearby): Ellis Island processed more than one million immigrants in its busiest year.[4]
- **1908** (here): The first Times Square ball drop marked the arrival of the new year.[5]
- **1909** (here): The Uprising of the 20,000 made young immigrant women garment workers a central force in the city’s labor politics.[8]

## What the sources say

- New York City had 3,437,202 people in the 1900 census, including 1,850,093 in Manhattan and 1,166,582 in Brooklyn. (from the sources)[1]
- The city had been consolidated on January 1, 1898, uniting Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island under one municipal government. (from the sources)[5]
- The 1879 Tenement Act required fire escapes and a window for every room facing fresh air and light, and the 1901 “New Law” was still part of the decade’s housing reform argument. (from the sources)[3]
- The 1900 census counted 249,991 dwelling places in New York City for its 3,437,202 inhabitants. (from the sources)[2]
- Ellis Island reached its peak in 1907, when more than one million people passed through the immigration station and 11,747 arrived on April 17 alone. (from the sources)[4]
- The subway opening ceremonies of October 27, 1904, began at City Hall, with Mayor George B. McClellan taking the controls of the first ceremonial train. (from the sources)[9]
- When the first subway opened on October 27, 1904, it ran from City Hall to 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. (from the sources)[9]
- At the turn of the century, Manhattan alone had more than 450 textile factories employing about 40,000 garment workers, many of them immigrants. (from the sources)[6]
- New York’s shirtwaist industry in the first decade was divided among about 600 shops and factories, employing 30,000 workers and producing about $50 million in goods annually. (from the sources)[8]
- The New Year’s celebration moved to Times Square in 1904, and the first illuminated ball descended there at midnight on December 31, 1907. (from the sources)[5]
- The shirtwaist strike that began in November 1909 became known as the Uprising of the 20,000 and was largely a strike of young immigrant women. (from the sources)[8]
- Garment workers’ normal weeks could be 65 hours and, in season, as much as 75 hours. (from the sources)[8]
- In the shirtwaist trade, “learners” often earned only $3 or $4 a day, while semi-skilled operators typically made $7 to $12. (from the sources)[8]
- The shirtwaist workforce was dominated by immigrants, with Yiddish-speaking Jews about half of the total and Italians about one-third. (from the sources)[8]
- The garment workforce described for the shirtwaist trade was about 70 percent female, and about half of the workers were under 20 years old. (from the sources)[8]
- By 1901 the city charter included a mayor, borough presidents, a comptroller, a City Council president, and a Board of Estimate. (from the sources)[7]
- The subway contract was awarded on December 18, 1897, and work began on March 24, 1900. (from the sources)[9]
- The city’s first subway was built with public authority but operated day to day by the private Interborough Rapid Transit Company. (from the sources)[9]
- Between July 1905 and June 1906, 563 people were ill at Ellis Island and 1,990 immigrants were admitted from there to New York City hospitals. (from the sources)[4]
- No single online source opened here gives a street-by-street description of ordinary houses at the City Hall coordinates in the 1900s. (not known)

## Sources

1. Total Population: New York City & Boroughs, 1900 to 2010. New York City Department of City Planning. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/historical-population/nyc_total_pop_1900-2010.pdf
2. Twelfth Census of the United States: Statistics of Population. U.S. Census Bureau, 1900. https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/33405927v2ch02.pdf
3. NYC Timeline: Tenement House Act. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Archaeological Repository. https://archaeology.cityofnewyork.us/collection/nyc-timeline/tenement-house-act
4. Ellis Island (U.S. Immigration Station), HABS No. NY-6086. Historic American Buildings Survey / Library of Congress. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ny/ny1200/ny1252/data/ny1252data.pdf
5. New York City and the New Year. U.S. Census Bureau, 2023. https://www.census.gov/about/history/stories/monthly/2023/january-2023.html
6. What is a Shirtwaist?. PBS American Experience. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/triangle-fire-what-shirtwaist/
7. A History of Land Use and the NYC Charter. New York City Charter Revision Commission, 2025. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/charter/downloads/pdf/2025/A-History-of-Land-Use-and-the-NYC-Charter.pdf
8. New York shirtwaist strike of 1909. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_shirtwaist_strike_of_1909
9. New York City's Independent Subway System Opened. Library of Congress. https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/september/new-york-city-independent-subway-system-opened

## The same place in other decades

- [New York County in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/new-york-new-york-county-new-york/1930s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey in the 1910s](https://yorehistory.com/place/montclair-essex-county-new-jersey/1910s/md) (21 km)
- [Princeton, New Jersey in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/princeton-new-jersey/1930s/md) (68 km)
- [Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the 1870s](https://yorehistory.com/place/bucks-county-pennsylvania/1870s/md) (102 km)
- [Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the 1890s](https://yorehistory.com/place/doylestown-bucks-county-pennsylvania/1890s/md) (105 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-12 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "New York in the 1900s", https://yorehistory.com/place/new-york-new-york/1900s