Good morning, everyone. With our first major assignment done and the story of Robert Moses’s New York brought up to 1945 we are at the symbolic halfway point of the class. It’s hard to believe there are just 5-6 more weeks to go. We hope you have been enjoying the class and learning about the history of this dynamic city. For Discussion Thread #7 please share in 100-300 words what has surprised you the most so far. What is something you feel you know now that you didn’t when we began back in late August? Your response might be about a person, an event, a historic structure, or whatever else upon which you might wish to focus. Posts are due by 11:59 pm Sunday 8 November.
Robert Moses, a familiar name commonly mentioned during our class, famously created the majority of the public parks, bridges, tunnels, and highways that reside in New York City. During the Great Depression, Robert Moses constructed fifteen new affordable housing buildings to resolve the issue of the rising number of slums in New York City. However, he never took to the effects his new developments have caused the people he displaced. During the 1940s and 1950s, the public projected mixed reactions towards Moses’s redevelopment intentions of increasing the use of personal vehicles. Unfortunately, Robert Moses passed away from heart disease in 1981.
“However, he never took to the effects his new developments have caused the people he displaced.”
Good point, Tiffany.
To me, the biggest surprise is the fact that president FDR is permanently paralyzed from the waist down from polio, learning American history I never once came across him being paralysis in the text, if I did I think I would remember it a lot more, most of the time it is talking about his amazing deeds during the time of need. He was such a big figure during the Great Depression and WW2 leading the people during that era and also that surprising third term as the president because he saw the loophole in the system, that no one realized at the time. His achievement really meant a lot more once you know that he is paralyzed from polio and the reason behind all those parks we have now is thanks to him and Rober Moses for striving for a safe and healthy environment for kids.
Yuli, good observation. I think the extent of FDR’s paralysis is indeed little known even today, 75 years after his death. It makes his legacy all the more remarkable.
I never regret taking this class since it has exposed me to a ton of things that I never had any clue about especially with Robert Moses. Him being among the main metropolitan organizers in American History. He led dozens of projects in New York City and examples are, He built highways, bridges, tunnels, parkways, parks, and housing all across New York City. He built the West Side highway and Henry Hudson and the double-decker bridge connecting Manhattan and the Bronx. His impact is still felt every day in New York City and across the state. Again, the question is not why he is only famous in books or in school history classes, but why more individuals don’t know his name simply like how I never knew him and why is he not being celebrated like others.
Michael, we’re glad you are enjoying the class and have learned many new things about the city and the legacy of Moses and other figures.
This class really exposed me to Robert Moses’ name, as I had never heard about him up until this class. He is the main reason for the infrastructure and parks that we see today, but most importantly, how NYC is formed today. But sooner than later, there erupted groups of people who are not so fond of Moses’ work for the effects it had on people. For example, the relationship between Moses and FDR surprised me the most. I never knew that they had an honest distrust and dislike for each other, but they kept up their happy faces for a day that was special to themselves and others when the cornerstone was laid for the Jones Beach West Bathhouse on August 3, 1930. Most likely, they were not fond of each other because of what occurred in 1928 when Roosevelt decided to not keep Moses as his secretary of state after he was elected Governor. Roosevelt most likely had grown a distrust for Moses.
I’m really thankful and happy that I choose this class instead of another disciplinary course. Throughout the beginning of the semester we have covered many topics that I was not knowledgeable about. One topic that stood out to me was the era of the settlement houses’ social movement during the 1880’s- 1886. Jane Addams was an amazing leading immigrants and residents in the neighborhoods to provide settlement housing. This topic was very important to me because there were many resident workers, and people in low income communities who were homeless in the neighborhood.
This era marked the rising of settlement housing that continues to provide resources of living and comfort. It was nice learning and seeing the pictures in class of women, men and children living conditions. The pictures gave me a great appreciation of life. Some of those families did not have access to some resources that provided housing. Many of these families endure many hardships. In today’s society families continue to face the poverty level. The purpose of keeping families together and giving them a safe haven was served. I can truly say that I will be able to pass this course knowing more about memorable events in history that stood for a purpose.
Tameeka, thoughtful post. I’m glad you are enjoying the class and are finding it beneficial.
Pamela, you captured the essence of the Moses/Roosevelt relationship.
I think it’s very interesting that in half of the semester I’ve learned so much more about NYC than in the past years. I’ve never heard of Robert Moses until this semester. Robert Moses played a larger role in shaping the physical environment of New York City than probably any other figure in the 20th century. He was responsible for a lot of major public construction projects like the Triborough Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Henry Hudson Bridge, etc. I think what really surprises me is how much accomplishments he has made in his lifespan and how we have so many amazing structures and public projects that we use day to day thanks to him.
“Robert Moses played a larger role in shaping the physical environment of New York City than probably any other figure in the 20th century.” –Yes
Throughout the semester in this class, I have learned a lot. One particular person who I didn’t know a lot about was Robert Moses. Before the class started, I heard of him from my cousin who is interested in urban planning, but I did not really know what he had accomplished in his lifetime. It was also fascinating to learn more about New York City. The only borough in New York that I am familiar with is Brooklyn. I was born and raised there and stayed in my little bubble. The class allowed me to learn about development and different neighborhoods. I enjoy this class because it is a great opportunity to educated me more about the evolution of New York.
Shantel, I’m glad the class has you thinking outside the “bubble” of Brooklyn. In the dailiness of our lives it is so easy to get caught up in our immediate surroundings and lose sight of the bigger picture.
For me, what I learned most so far was definitely about Robert Moses. Prior to this class, I had never heard that name before let alone anything that he done. Being from New Jersey I don’t know a whole lot about New York, especially things about different areas and communities so to see how much involvement Robert Moses had with building the city as we know it today was interesting to me. And to extrapolate on that it was interesting to see the growth of that in his time and seeing the people he knew like Roosevelt, and his political involvement that helped him to accomplish what he did.
Gillen, nice post. Thanks for sharing.
Over the past 2 and a half months I have learned a lot about our beautiful city that I didn’t know before. For example the Tammany men and all their corruption and how Boss Tweed used his influence as the head of Tammany to become a politician. Tammany was particularly interesting because they held such a big influence on decisions that were made in the city and they were basically the mafia before the mafia existed. Tammany is not well known and that also adds to its allure. It’s crazy that to think that our lives were impacted by these people who lived 100+ years before we were even alive.
Sebastian, it’s true: the decisions Tammany men and others made more that a century ago still influence our lives today.
As we have reached our mid point of our Learning Places course, many things have surprised me that I have not known until taking this course. What surprises me most, is discovering the amount of work Robert Moses has touched base on throughout New York City. From observation, its easy to describe him as a founding father of many important projects throughout history, but it is also surprising to see that he wasn’t as appreciated throughout his career, which to me is very surprising. This may be due to some of his not so liked, controversial projects, such as what is known now to be many of the low income housing.
Another one of my favorites was our graphic reading towards the beginning of the semester. The settlement house was a very informative subject to dive into. The from in which Mary and her husband essentially inserted themselves into these tenements, to learn more about the life style in which the tenants were living in this units, were facing, and the strategies she used to quickly get to work in changing this way of living. She was very impactful in this community, which says a lot since she was a middle class woman. She was dedicated to giving back to others by assisting them in improving their way of living.
Albert, I enjoyed your post and am glad you liked the graphic novel about Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch and the settlement house movement. It’s interesting that her story was one of the dozens included within Wonder Women comic books back in the day.
It’s hard to believe that we have already progressed this far into the semester. I guess if I had to choose something that surprised me the most that I have learned in this class, it’s the involvement of Robert Moses, and just how much he contributed to the development of NYC. Not only that, But his involvement has not only lead to the creation of a multitude of places that I have already visited, but it’s just starting to dawn to me how without Moses’ influence, I might not have had lived the life or had the same experiences, due to the likelihood that the city’s setting could very much be very different. In addition, I feel as if I have learned a bit about myself as a person as a result of this historical exploration and just what my interests in NYC really are
It’s hard to believe that we have already progressed this far into the semester. I guess if I had to choose something that surprised me the most that I have learned in this class, it’s the involvement of Robert Moses, and just how much he contributed to the development of NYC. Not only that, But his involvement has not only lead to the creation of a multitude of places that I have already visited, but it’s just starting to dawn to me how without Moses’ influence, I might not have had lived the life or had the same experiences, due to the likelihood that the city’s setting could very much be very different. In addition, I feel as if I have learned a bit about myself as a person as a result of this historical exploration and just what my interests in NYC really are
Dawson, what a beautiful post. Thank you for sharing.
Over the first half of the semester I have learned so much about my city, New York and about the man known as Robert Moses. To know that he had a hand in many of New York’s structures is astounding in itself. From the Brooklyn Public Libraries that I presented for the slides at the beginning of class and how he funded almost half of the libraries in Brooklyn. To Jones Beach, he and FDR had a complicated relationship with distrust and dislike for each other however, they were able to put those feelings aside for a day that was special which was the production of Jones Beach.
Manny, I’m glad you feel you’re learning a lot about the city and Moses’s involvement in its evolution.
What have surprised me the most from this class so far were the bridge that connected the boroughs together. The idea of building such a big project like a bridge interest me. I was also interested from other classmate’s presentations like the many parks I’ve learned from them. I never knew much about the parks presented from them. And the biggest interest is how New York was built from its architecture.
The bridges that tie the boroughs together are something to behold. It’s so easy to take them for granted also, especially when stuck on one in a traffic jam. The city would be a lesser place without its park too, even the small ones.
Personally, I feel this class means important to us. For most of my entire student life, I got educated a lot about a country’s history back to 18 century which appears not so interest to me. But I think learning the history of the living city is more helpful and it reminds me so much about my grandpa and my young age. I feel the existence of this class surprised me such as learning how to bridge buildt, how Robert Moses developed the city, and learning the history of our neighborhoods helps me and the class better identify us.
Yuhang, I’m glad you feel you have gotten something out of the class. It’s funny how some aspects of history do not move us (18th century in your case, as you mention above), and other aspects do. I’m looking forward to the remainder of the semester over these next 4-5 weeks.
What has surprised me through out the semester and learning about projects that were pushed to completion due to Robert Moses. Robert Moses had his mind fixed on modifying an updating New York, this was all done during his prime time during a great economic crash. That was a very interesting factor about Robert mosses New York was at a very low point but was able to get funding and man power to complete his projects. Even though Robert Moses had a bad reputation in the eyes of many people he has done some things that New York city wouldn’t be New York city today. Another factor that supplied me about Robert Moses’ story is that there was another influential person that was at their highest point of the time and her name was Jane Jacobs, Jane Jacobs as a journalist had a strong voice and used her ability to take down one of the most power full men in the construction industry. This feels like a great story to make into movie about seeing the rise and fall of Robert Moses but ends with the benefits and damages the impacted communities then and still today.
Joseph, this is a thoughtful post.
Regarding what surprised me the most, I’m torn between the shantytowns built during the Great Depression (especially the one in the middle of Central Park?!) and discovering the dark side of Robert Moses & his infrastructure. Behind all of the life-changing bridges, tunnels, parks and housing complexes Moses established lies an entire history of corruption and a blatant disregard for minorities / the lower class. He displaced thousands of families in order to realize his vision, abused loopholes in legislation, and essentially had the city under his thumb. His legacy is definitely impressive, but the way he went about it doesn’t sit right with me– and neither does the argument that this was the only way he could’ve achieved it all.