Opinion Today: The history that New York City takes for granted

"The greatest city in the world" deserves the greatest party in the world.

View in browser|nytimes.com May 13, 2024 By Chris Conway Senior Staff Editor, Opinion What's the big deal about the year 1625? If you live in New York City, it's important because that was the year that "Dutch settlers moved their cattle to Lower Manhattan from Governors Island," according to Sam Roberts, the longtime chronicler of the city for The Times. And that is one of the reasons New York City fixes its birth to the year 1625. Which means that next year is its 400th birthday. This being New York, there is debate, of course, over whether 1625 really is the right date. Some argue it's 1624, others 1626, even 1653. But the city's official seal is embossed with the year 1625 for the establishment of New Amsterdam. So, at least for the city's officialdom, that seems to have settled it. Still, you may not have heard much if anything about the impending birthday, and that worries Kenneth T. Jackson, perhaps the pre-eminent historian of the city and the editor in chief of both editions of The Encyclopedia of New York City. City officials say they have begun the planning, but 2025 is only eight months away, and as Jackson points out, when he oversaw Columbia's 250th anniversary 20 years ago, it was a decade-long undertaking. In a guest essay, Jackson writes that "New York has never sufficiently communicated its historical record over its many centuries." He argues that "no other 'city' in the United States is so old or so historic" or more deserving of a celebration equal to its standing as "the greatest city in the world." It would be a shame if New York didn't embrace its long history with an all-out commemoration that looks not only to its past but its future. Read the guest essay: Antonio Giovanni Pinna Guest Essay The History That New York City Takes for Granted Gotham's 400th birthday calls for a celebration worthy of the great metropolis it is. By Kenneth T. 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