History And Simultaneity

A partial list…

• 402 years ago, the first European outpost in our area started.
• 400 years ago, the town of Nieuw Amsterdam was created.
• 369 years ago, the Flushing Remonstrance, an early statement of religious tolerance in the North American colonies, was written about five blocks from where my elementary school would be built 291 years later.
• 362 years ago, geopolitics led to New Amsterdam becoming New York.
• 250 years ago, the creation of the United States started.
• 250 years ago, the Great Fire^[1] leveled a fair chunk of New York.
• 227 years ago, New York state outlawed slavery here.
• 199 years ago, the last slaves in New York state were finally freed.
• 191 years ago, the Great Fire^[2] leveled a fair chunk of New York.
• 181 years ago, the Great Fire^[3]leveled a fair chunk of New York.
• 151^[4] years ago, the first^[5] skyscraper was built in lower Manhattan^[6].
• 128 years ago, the city of New York swallowed Brooklyn^[7], Queens, and Staten Island whole, having recently finished digesting the Bronx.
• 95 years ago, the building our office is in was completed.
• 67 years ago, the apartment house I grew up in was completed. When my family moved there, it was 9 years old.
• 40 years ago, the apartment house I’ve lived in for the last 3 years was completed. I had walked by the site a few times when it was an empty lot.
• 34 years ago, I started Friedman Structural Engineering.
• 19 years ago, I started Old Structures Engineering.

A long time ago, before written history, people started spinning plates. It’s our job to keep them spinning a while longer, and then hand off the responsibility to the next crew. Today’s an anniversary with a lot of celebration – which is great, have fun! – and tomorrow we spin the plates some more.

1. First.↩︎
2. Second.↩︎
3. Third.↩︎
4. Or maybe 152, or maybe 137, or maybe 136…Since no one will ever agree on terms, take your pick and be happy with it.↩︎
5. See footnote 4.↩︎
6. See footnote 4.↩︎
7. See “The Great Mistake.“↩︎