Washington Heights |
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Address
City Hall
Washington Heights, NY 10007
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Phone
212-NEW-YORK |
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Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War at the highest point on Manhattan island to defend the area from the British forces. The fort was captured by the British on November 16, 1776 at great cost to the American forces; 130 soldiers were killed or wounded, and an additional 2,700 captured and held as prisoners, many of whom died on prison ships anchored in New York Harbor. The progress of the battle is marked by a series of bronze plaques along Broadway.
The neighborhood has a large Dominican population (the area is sometimes called "Quisqueya Heights"), and Spanish is commonly heard being spoken on the streets. Since the 1980s, the neighborhood has been the United States' most important base for Dominican empowerment in the political, non-profit, cultural, and athletic arenas.
There is also a significant Jewish population, particularly in the more upscale Hudson Heights subsection, descended from a previous wave of immigration, as well as students (and recent graduates) of the neighborhood's Yeshiva University. The term "Hudson Heights" was created by one of the local real estate firms to attract more wealthy residents in the area. It worked, and the gentrification has been continuing in recent years. It brought a Starbucks to 181st Street, and other upscale stores, spas, gourmet markets, and restaurants.
The German-Jewish population is based around Khal Adath Yeshurun, a direct continuation of the pre-war Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, colloquially called "Breuer's" after Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer, founder and first rabbi of the congregation. Washington Heights is also served by a number of smaller orthodox synagogues, as well as the Hebrew Tabernacle, a reform congregation.
The neighborhood was severely impacted by the crack cocaine epidemic of the early/mid-1980s. Homelessness was rampant. Today, its crime rate, along with that of neighboring Harlem, is quite low. Unfortunately, homelessness is becoming a big problem again.
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