Lower Manhattan Tutors

About Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan—the southernmost portion of Manhattan—is New York City to many people. Also known as Downtown Manhattan, the area contains the core of NYC’s government, business, and culture. Here, Dutch immigrants in the 1600s created dirt paths between farms—paths that the British later paved into roads that still exist. No wonder that the roadways in Lower Manhattan are a little, shall we say, irregular!

Lower Manhattan is unique within NYC in that no other place has such emotional impact. Visitors can literally stand in spots where history was made, whether hundreds of years ago or in the twenty-first century. A historical tour of Lower Manhattan could therefore take days, but the following places are some of the best to visit:

Trinity Church
Originally an Episcopalian church chartered in 1697 by King William III, the current building dates to 1846 and includes a burial ground that includes the graves of many historical figures, including Alexander Hamilton, Robert Fulton, and William Bradford.

Federal Hall
On April 30, 1789, George Washington stood here on a balcony overlooking Wall Street and took the presidential oath. The building has a long history, hosting, at different times, New York’s city hall, Congress, the Supreme Court, executive branch offices, a customs house, and the U.S. Sub-Treasury.

St. Paul’s Chapel
The only remaining colonial church in New York City, St. Paul’s Chapel was George Washington’s place of worship after his inauguration. Despite being across the street from the World Trade Center, the church survived the 9/11 events without even a broken window and became a place of refuge for workers in the chaotic days that followed.

City Hall
This huge building, completed in 1812, housed not only three branches of local government, it also held small jails, a chapel, and a wine and beer cellar. The site still houses city services, including the office of the mayor.

One World Trade and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum
One of the most emotionally charged spots in the world, One World Trade Center needs no introduction. The new building that replaced the twin towers reaches 1,368 feet—symbolically the same as the twin towers. (Including the spire, the building reaches 1,776 feet.) The museum contains photos of the victims and artifacts from the devastating day.

New York Stock Exchange
In the late eighteenth century, traders gathered under a buttonwood tree at one end of Wall Street to trade informally. This was the beginning of the New York Stock Exchange. The current Exchange building, dating to 1903, boasts impressive and bold architecture.

Downtown Manhattan is clearly a place saturated with emotion and rich with history. Lower Manhattan tutors and teachers need not look far to find places that vividly illustrate American history for their pupils. Students who work with a Lower Manhattan tutor can fully appreciate the grittiness of historical figures whose foresight and sacrifices created the America we know today.