The Kips Bay area is located in Manhattan stretching from East 23rd Street to East 34st Street and Park Avenue. It is along the East River and is across from Queens and Brooklyn.  The history of Kips Bay is quite rich, reaching back into the first Dutch Settlements in the United States. Much of its early history and New York’s History can be traced back to the Dutch family that settled in the area in the 1600s. The region is now a hub for education and medical care. Baruch College, several schools, multiple Hospitals and medical training schools are all located within an eleven-block area. To this day, Kips Bay has made its mark on the history of New York.

 

According to Frederic Ellsworth Kip, a member of the Kips family, The De Kype family were originally from France. Ruloff Kip was born in the 16th century and in his later life was said to be apart of the Catholic Protestant war in France. He fought for the Protestants, and lost. Consequently, “his chateau was taken and burned and he fled to Holland with his three sons, where they lived for several years under an assumed name” (Kip 1). The interesting idea that stemmed from this migration was that “many...refugees [that fled to Holland after persecution] later were among the colonizers who founded the new world of America" (Kip 20). The Americas was founded upon immigration that stemmed from persecution elsewhere. Several generations after Rulloff Kip, the Dutch would settle upon New Amsterdam in America, with a member of the Kips family being one of the pioneers. A descendent,  Hendrick Hendrickson Kip (Kype), in 1637 settled  in New Amsterdam with family. It is quite surprising, considering the development of the area now, that the Kips Bay region was once a plantation in the early 1600s. In 1654 The son of Hendrick, Jacob Kip bought "some 150 acres on the road running towards Kingsbridge....This was later added to and eventually comprised all the land north of 26th Street and south of 42nd Street, and east of Lexington Avenue, Third Avenue and Second Avenue to the East River” (Kip 57). Members of this family owned a large portion of land and had power in the Manhattan area. This family, in many ways, represents the history of immigration New York; formerly oppressed people over generations coming to America to seek new opportunities and having great success. This can be seen with the influx of Jewish immigrants to the United States after Russian oppression. A lot of what America represents, or what it is supposed to represent, is religious freedom, and many of the people that came to this country, at one point or another did not have this liberty.

 

Towards the mid 18th century, Jacob Kip’s grandson took over the Kip family mansion just prior to the time of the Revolutionary War. The mansion was the site of “the landing of Sir William Howe's great army on the front of Kip's Bay Farm...early on the morning of September 15th, 1776, after the British victory in the battle of Long Island” (Kip 62). The British cut off the bay and caused the Patriots to flee during a cannonade. Once Washington heard of this, he was outraged and rallied the troops, along with General Putnam’s troops and fought the enemy at Harlem Heights and won. This was a pivotal win for the Patriots and raised morale tremendously. It sparked the defeat of the British in other Battles shortly after and was significant in the American Revolution. However, there is no denying the initial cowardice of the troops when they ran away from their competitors. Yet, because of this initial reaction, the leadership of Washington and other pivotal figures in the Revolution was put on display. This proved the importance of strong leadership, it can change the events of a war, it can change the  history of the world. The power and strength of the leadership in New York and the United States can be the determinant of the power and strength of the US as a world power.

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Major development of the city of New Amsterdam, or New York, from the 1600s to the 1850 can largely be attributed to the decisions of members of the Kip Family. The city prior to some of these major developments contained natives hostile to some of the settlers and a large numbers of animals on farms. After the British took over in 1674, over the next couple of centuries, changes in architecture shifted from Dutch models to more British and eventually American models with the creation of the skyscraper in the dawn of the 20th century. During the early to mid 1800s, the Kip family still owned large portions of land along with other families like the Vanderbilts, the Rutgers and so forth. One well known development was the Bellevue hospital that opened during the earliest Dutch settlements of New Amsterdam. The hospital was closed so the new “institution officially opened on April 29, 1816” (Bellevue) in the Kips Bay Area. Bellevue is associated with many medical advances that are still used today. 

 

The prominent Bellevue Hospital in the Kips Bay area was influential in the medical field. They are known for implementing one of the first official Nursing Training Schools in the country as early as the 1860s, rooted in the ideas of Florence Nightingale. These ideas being that nursing training schools should have a financed training school, head of the nurses reporting directly to head of the hospital, an understanding on sanitary or hygienic practices and technical training in the field. These ideals amounted to trainees undergoing, “a two years course of instruction and practice...this first year on duty as a pupil and assistant nurse in the wards of the hospital and in private families"(The Nurses Training School). This was pivotal in integrating women into the medical field and also ensuring that medical staff were properly trained for their duties. These principles are still used in our era. Additionally, Bellevue was the first hospital to use an Ambulance as of 1969 (Bellevue). The original ambulance was a horse drawn carriage but over the years has developed into motorized vehicles. This advance has allowed for people to have access to hospitals on a global scale. The area to this day is well known for their hospitals and medical schools. The Tisch (NYU) Hospital, Bellevue Hospital Center, Hunter School of Nursing, Veteran’s Hospital, NYU College of Dentistry, the NYU Medical Center, NYU Langone Cardiology Associates and the New York Chief medical examiner, all call Kips bay home. Within NYU Langone is the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. This children’s hospital has an abundance of specialized doctors that conduct a variety of difficult surgeries and medical procedures. Notably the “chief of pediatric and adult congenital cardiac surgery at NYU Langone Health, Ralph S. Mosca MD...has performed more than 6,000 open heart surgeries" (Twins Born With Rare Heart Defect). In recent years, operated on twins with congenital heart defects. The twins are still alive and as healthy as ever. Even in this day an age, Kips Bay is at the forefront of the medical field with quality care for people of all ages.

 

The Kips Bay area was also progressive in other areas. As early as the 1930s, “Kips Bay Day Nursery…[was] opened” (Kips Bay Day Nursery Ceremony). This may seem small but opening this establishment allowed for more women to enter the workforce. Appropriate care for children meant that women could seek employment and learn skills beyond the home. In addition since the 1920s, the Kips Bay Boys Club was established to address the issues of gang disturbance associated with young men in the area. Within the first year of the program, they mentored 105 boys by “organizing recreational activities for them, such as boxing matches and games” (History:Kips Bay). They saw a problem and used what the boys already enjoyed to motivate them into being better citizens. The Kips Bay Boys team was quite reputable, they even beat Columbia, 24-21 in 1935 in a basketball match (Columbia Cubs Beaten). In the early 20th century, the Kips Bay area implemented programs that bettered the social life of the people within the community with things such as these. 

 

As the 1940s came around the Kip’s Bay area saw new developments. The building of the Queens-Midtown tunnel led to105 buildings being demolished to create the tunnel plaza. This also came at a great loss. “Included among the demolished buildings were a church, a school, a branch of the New York Public Library, a fire house, the Columbia University Dental School and many loft buildings and tenement houses. Most of these buildings were at least fifty years old” (Sees home revival) at the time. People lived, worked and used these buildings and their demolition affected the population of Kips Bay. However, shortly after the tenements were taken down, plans for new housing in Kips bay arose. In 1942, “a six story apartment house for tenants of moderate incomes” (Oi)ern housing gives new life) was developed to meet the housing demand in the area. As time went on, old tenements and boarded up buildings were sites of renewal and the area became more attractive, in terms of appearance, and more housing opened up. Then in 1960, Kips Bay Plaza began to rent studio and three-bedroom apartments. The apartments were in two twenty-story buildings and had amenities like, “recreation areas, a reflecting pool..a shopping center...a motion picture theater, a supermarket, a bank” (Glenn) and so forth. This was a luxury place to live. To have all these recreational activities and services in this complex, that was located near the Queens-midtown tunnel, made the location highly coveted. The plaza was later bought out and now is under new owners. The Kips Bay Plaza is now known as a hub for retail in the highly residential area. There are supermarkets, restaurants and other stores available at the convenience of Kips Bay residents.

In more recent history Superstorm Sandy caused major damage to the area. In 2012, “200 patients, including 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit” (Evacuations) were evacuated from NYU Tisch Hospital. This was due to major power outages in the region a result of flooding. Considering the location Kips Bay, the area will be subject to more environmental damage if the waterline is not appropriately equipped to weather damage as the effects of climate change and rising sea levels continue to develop. Despite projects that are being undertaken, the question of whether more green-infrastructure can be implemented in the area to combat these issues. Could the development of parkland or marshes along the waterfront help protect this culturally rich are from the damage like that of Superstorm Sandy in the future? What are other means of infrastructure that could mitigate the damage of large storms in the bay? What we should really be asking is

"how can we better address climate change on the water front?"

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Moreover, Kips Bay is a pivotal historical site for the city of New York. Hidden behind a residential area is a gem. A place that played a major role in early European settlements, that saw the American Revolution unfold, one that was apart of the history of medicine and building developments in New York. Kips Bay is more than a pretty view, it is an important iconic historical site. And because of this history, New York should do all it can to protect its future from the realities of climate change.