Editing Washington Heights, Manhattan (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:A Topographical map of North. Part of New York Island, exhibiting the Plan of Fort Washington now Fort Knyphausen with the Rebels Lines to the Southward.jpg|thumb|A topographic map of northern [[Manhattan]] made by the British in November 1776 following the fall of [[Fort Washington (Manhattan)|Fort Washington]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]<ref name=knyphausen/>]]
[[File:Old Blue-Bell Tavern, Kingsbridge Road (NYPL b13512825-424351) - Smaller Image.jpg|thumb|Blue Bell Tavern on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]]]]
[[File:Paterno Castle postcard.jpg|thumb|Paterno Castle]]
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area was traversed by American Indians from the [[Woodland Period|Early Woodland Period]],<ref name=encnyc2/>{{Rp|117}} who left remains of shellfish and pottery at the site of the present-day [[Little Red Lighthouse]].<ref name="indianpathsmetro">{{cite book|title=Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis|first=Reginald|last=Pelham Bolton|access-date=April 21, 2020|year=1909|publisher=[[Museum of the American Indian]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2O-FAAAAIAAJ}}</ref>{{Rp|79}} Washington Heights is part of the section of [[Upper Manhattan|northern Manhattan]] that is the homelands of the [[Wecquaesgeek]]s (originally a name for the area meaning "birch-bark country"),<ref name=ftpresbyterianhd>{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2337.pdf|title=Fort Washington Presbyterian Church|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=May 12, 2009|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]}}</ref>{{Rp|3}} a band of the [[Wappinger]] and a [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people.<ref name="gotham">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xF4NDALYWSAC|title=Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898|first1=Edwin G.|first2=Mike|last1=Burrows|last2=Wallace|author-link1=Edwin G. Burrows|author-link2=Mike Wallace (historian)|year=1999|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780199741205}}</ref>{{Rp|5}}<ref name="forttryonhighlights">{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/history|title=Fort Tryon Park Highlights|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]}}</ref><ref name="audubonparkhd">{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2335.pdf|title=Audubon Park Historic District|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|date=May 12, 2009}}</ref> The winding path of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] north of 168th Street and [[St. Nicholas Avenue]] to its south is living evidence of the old Wecquaesgeek trail which travelled along the [[Hudson Valley]] from [[Lower Manhattan]] all the way through [[Albany, New York|Albany]].<ref name="indianpathsmetro"/>{{Rp|74}}<ref name=encnyc2>{{cite enc-nyc2}}</ref>{{Rp|442}} On the plateau west of Broadway between 175th and 181st Streets, the residents had been cultivating crops in a field known to [[Dutch people|Dutch]] colonists as the "Great [[Maize]] Field".<ref name="heightseventful" />{{Rp|133}}<ref name="lighthousehd">{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1654.pdf|title=Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse|access-date=May 1, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|date=May 14, 1991}}</ref>{{Rp|2}}

===17th century===
Arriving in 1623, the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch]] initially worked as trade partners with the American Indians but became more and more hostile as time went on, with the natives frequently reciprocating.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City's History|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8EgsHmSEAsC|publisher=[[Henry Holt and Company]]|first=Eric|last=Homberger|isbn=9780805078428}}</ref>{{Rp|20}} The Dutch referred to the elevated area of northwestern Washington Heights as "Long Hill" while the [[Fort Tryon Park]] area specifically carried the name "Forest Hill".<ref name="forttryonhd">{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1417.pdf|title=Fort Tryon Park|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|date=September 20, 1983}}</ref>{{Rp|2}}

===18th and 19th centuries===
None of the land in present-day Washington Heights was under private ownership until 1712, when it was parceled out in lots to various landowners from the village of [[Harlem]] to the south.<ref name="ftvicinitylandmark"/>{{Rp|745}} Even after repeated attempts by the Dutch to drive them out, including the bloody [[Kieft's War]] (1643–1645), some Wecquaesgeek managed to maintain residence in Washington Heights up until the Dutch paid them a settlement for their last land claims in 1715.<ref name="audubonparkhd"/>{{Rp|5}} For the greater part of the next two centuries, Washington Heights would remain a home to wealthy landowners seeking a quiet location for their suburban estates.<ref name=encnyc2/>{{Rp|3,542}}

During the [[New York Campaign]] of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], [[George Washington|General George Washington]]'s [[Continental Army]] secured a small but much-needed victory over the pursuing [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British Army]] at the [[Battle of Harlem Heights]], after having suffered a series of defeats in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776: With a Review of the Events of the Campaign|access-date=April 22, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTdCAAAAIAAJ|year=1897|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|first=Henry P.|last=Johnston}}</ref>{{Rp|56}}<ref name=washcrossing/>{{Rp|102}} Not long after their victory, the Continental Army suffered one of its worst defeats at the [[Battle of Fort Washington]], in which nearly 2,900 troops were captured.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/generalgeorgewas00leng|title=General George Washington|isbn=9781588364807|first=Edward G.|last=Lengel|publisher=[[Random House]]|year=2005|author-link=Edward G. Lengel}}</ref>{{Rp|165}} [[Fort Washington (Manhattan)|Fort Washington]] was a group of fortifications on the high points of Washington Heights, with its central site at present-day [[Bennett Park (New York City)|Bennett Park]] (known then as Mount Washington)<ref name="ftvicinitylandmark">{{cite book|title=Fort Tryon and Vicinity: A Landmark History|first=Edward Hagaman|last=Hall|access-date=April 22, 2020|year=1917|publisher=[[American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADAbAQAAIAAJ&q=%22fort+tryon+and+vicinity%22+%22edward+hagaman+hall%22&pg=PA735}}</ref>{{Rp|737}} built a few months prior opposite [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]] to protect the [[Hudson River]] from enemy ships.<ref name="gotham"/>{{Rp|229}}<ref name="forttryonhd"/>{{Rp|2}}<ref name=washcrossing>{{cite book|last=Fischer|first=David Hackett|author-link=David Hackett Fischer|title=Washington's Crossing|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2006|isbn=0-19-518121-2|url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonscross00fisc/page/112/mode/1up}}</ref>{{Rp|111}}

Under British control, the position was renamed Fort Knyphausen for the [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessian]] general [[Wilhelm von Knyphausen]], who played a major part in the victory;<ref name="greateststreet">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZD6DgM70pUC|title=The Greatest Street in the World: The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from Bowling Green to Albany|first=Stephen|last=Jenkins|year=1911|access-date=April 22, 2020|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]|isbn=9783849676384 }}</ref>{{Rp|326}}<ref name=knyphausen>{{cite web|url=https://collections.mcny.org/Collection/Principal-Map-of-the-North-Part-of-New---York-Island,-exhibiting-the-Plan-of-Fort-Washington,-now-Fort-Knyphausen-2F3HRG6VE3V.html|access-date=April 22, 2020|date=1777|title=Principal Map of the North Part of New – York Island, exhibiting the Plan of Fort Washington, now Fort Knyphausen|first1=David Thomas|first2=George|last2=Hayward|last1=Valentine|publisher=[[Museum of the City of New York]]}}</ref> its lesser fortification at present-day Fort Tryon Park was renamed for [[William Tryon|Sir William Tryon]], the last governor of New York before it was taken back by the Continental Army.<ref name="heightseventful"/>{{Rp|158}} The park holds a plaque dedicated in 1909 to [[Margaret Corbin]], an American who took over at her husband's cannon after his death in the Battle of Fort Washington;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/monuments/533|title=Fort Tryon Park Monuments – Fort Tryon Memorial|access-date=April 22, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]}}</ref> she was also honored with the naming of Margaret Corbin Drive in 1977.<ref name="forttryonhighlights"/>

At the northwest corner of 181st Street and Broadway (then Kingsbridge Road) was the Blue Bell Tavern, built in the early-mid 18th century as an inn and site of social gatherings.<ref name=heightseventful/>{{Rp|65}}<ref name="greateststreet"/>{{Rp|331}} When [[New York Provincial Congress|New York's Provincial Congress]] assented to the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] on July 9, 1776, the head of the statue of [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] ended up on a spike at the Blue Bell Tavern, broken off by a "rowdy" group of civilians and soldiers at [[Bowling Green (New York City)|Bowling Green]].<ref name="gotham"/>{{Rp|232}}

During the [[Evacuation Day (New York)|British evacuation of New York]] in 1783, [[George Washington]] and his staff stood in front of the tavern as they watched the American troops march southward to retake the city.<ref name="Renner">{{cite book|last=Renner|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OavdyyxSYcQC|title=Images of America: Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|year=2007|isbn=9780738554785}}</ref>{{Rp|17}} After changing ownership several times, the tavern moved to a new building in 1885, following the original structure's destruction for the widening of Broadway.<ref name=heightseventful/>{{Rp|65}}

===20th century===
[[File:The Riviera at 790 Riverside Drive (Manhattan).jpg|thumb|A 1910 photograph of The Riviera at 156th Street and Riverside Drive]]
In 1915, the tavern was demolished again to build the 3,500-seat [[Coliseum Theatre (Washington Heights)|Coliseum Theatre]], which was demolished in 2021 after denial of its landmark status.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/13/ghost-light-illuminating-our-citys-theatres-rko-coliseum-edition|title=Ghost Light: Illuminating Our City's Theatres: RKO Coliseum|publisher=[[New York Public Library]]|first=Jeremy|last=Megraw|date=January 13, 2012|access-date=April 11, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/washington-heights-theater-could-be-demolished-soon-report-says|work=[[Patch (website)|Patch]]|date=August 9, 2018|access-date=April 11, 2020|title=Washington Heights Theater Could Be Demolished Soon, Report Says|first=Brendan|last=Krisel}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecuriousuptowner.com/post/the-100-year-old-coliseum-theater-in-washington-heights-is-now-mostly-rubble|access-date=May 30, 2021|date=November 10, 2020|title=See it: the 100-year-old Coliseum theater in Washington Heights is now mostly rubble|website=The Curious Uptowner}}</ref>

Before the apartment development of the 20th century, many wealthy citizens built grand mansions in Washington Heights. The most famous landowner in the southwest part of the neighborhood was ornithologist [[John James Audubon]], whose estate encompassed the {{convert|20|acres}} from 155th to 158th Street west of Broadway.<ref name="audubonparkhd"/>{{Rp|7}} A mystery surrounds his family home by [[Riverside Drive (Manhattan)|Riverside Drive]], which was deconstructed and moved to a city lot to make room for new development in 1931, only for its remnants to vanish without a trace.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/realestate/audubons-home-and-columbus-circles-past.html|title=Audubon's Home, and Columbus Circle's Past|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 11, 2020|date=November 27, 2005|first=Christopher|last=Gray}}</ref>

On the eastern side, by Edgecombe Avenue between 160th and 162nd Streets, the [[Morris–Jumel Mansion]] has been successfully preserved to this day.<ref name="morrisjumelwebsite">{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisjumel.org/history|title=History – Morris-Jumel Mansion|access-date=May 11, 2020|website=www.morrisjumel.org}}</ref> The land of the estate had been owned by Jan Kiersen and her son-in-law Jacob Dyckman before it was bought by British colonel [[Roger Morris (British Army officer)|Roger Morris]] in 1765 and completed the same year.<ref name="heightseventful"/>{{Rp|120}}<ref name="jumelterracehd">{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0638.pdf|title=Jumel Terrace Historic District|access-date=May 11, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|date=August 18, 1970}}</ref>{{Rp|1}} In 1776, the house was commandeered as a headquarters by George Washington, and after changing hands a few times was purchased by Stephen and [[Eliza Jumel]] in 1810.<ref name="greateststreet"/>{{Rp|318}} In 1903, the City bought the mansion and it became a museum, the oldest surviving house in Manhattan.<ref name="Renner"/>{{Rp|11}}<ref name="jumelterracehd"/>{{Rp|1}}

With a picturesque view of [[The Palisades (Hudson River)|the Palisades]], the elevated ridge of northwest Washington Heights became the site of a few modern castles. The first of these was Libbey Castle, built by Augustus Richards after he purchased the land from Lucius Chittenden in 1855.<ref name="heightseventful"/>{{Rp|160}} Located near Margaret Corbin Circle,<ref name="creatingthecloisters">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5lbloWdrisC|title=Creating the Cloisters|first=Timothy|last=Husband|year=2013|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|isbn=9781588394880}}</ref>{{Rp|23}} this estate was once owned by [[William "Boss" Tweed]] but got its current name from William Libbey, who purchased it in 1880.<ref name="castlesinthesky">{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/castles-in-the-sky|title=A Neighborhood of Castles in the Sky: Washington Heights before The Cloisters|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|access-date=May 12, 2020|date=November 15, 2013|first=Danielle|last=Oteri}}</ref> Even more extravagant, Paterno Castle was situated on the estate of real estate developer [[Charles Paterno]] by the Hudson River at 181st Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://forgotten-ny.com/2000/12/postcards-from-the-edge-of-town/|access-date=May 12, 2020|website=[[Forgotten NY]]|date=December 22, 2000|title=Postcards From the Edge of Town}}</ref> Built in 1907, the mansion was demolished thirty years later for Paterno's [[Castle Village]] complex, where pieces of the original structure still remain.<ref name="Renner"/>{{Rp|12}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/08/07/archives/paterno-castle-to-be-demolished-6000000-apartment-project-planned.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 7, 1938|title=Paterno Castle To Be Demolished – $6,000,000 Apartment Project Planned by Dr. Paterno Overlooking Hudson – Five Houses To Be Built – Occupy Seven-Acre Tract on Washington Heights South of Tryon Park Project to Cost $6,000,000 Large Landscape Area|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref>

The neighborhood's largest estate was the property of industrial tycoon [[C. K. G. Billings]], taking up {{convert|25|acres}} in the southern part of Fort Tryon Park.<ref name="Renner"/>{{Rp|20}}<ref name="creatingthecloisters"/> Although the [[Louis XIV]]-style mansion at present-day Linden Terrace burned to the ground in 1925, Billings Terrace remains, supported by the elegant stone archway that originally led to the Billings mansion.<ref name="forttryonhd"/>{{Rp|10}}<ref name="castlesinthesky"/>

Initial residential development in Washington Heights began in the late 19th century with the construction of row and wood-frame houses in the southern portion of the neighborhood, particularly near [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Amsterdam Avenue]].<ref name="jumelterracehd"/>{{Rp|2}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-09f1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Atlas of the City of New York – Plate 30: Bounded by W. 166th Street, Croton Aqueduct, Edgecomb Road, W. 155th Street, Exterior Street (Harlem River), W. 147th Street and (Hudson River) Eleventh Avenue|first=E.|last=Robinson|date=1885|access-date=July 23, 2020|publisher=[[New York Public Library]], Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref> In 1886, the [[Third Avenue Railway]] was extended from 125th Street to 155th Street along Amsterdam Avenue.<ref>{{cite book|first=Charles L.|last=Ballard|title=Metropolitan New York's Third Avenue Railway System|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IieuDuvtohUC|isbn=9780738538105}}</ref>{{Rp|7}} However, higher residential density would not be supported until the extension of the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] (IRT)'s [[Early history of the IRT subway|first subway line]] (now part of the [[IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line|Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line]]).<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|76}} The IRT built the [[157th Street station|157th Street]], [[168th Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|168th Street]], [[181st Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|181st Street]], and [[Dyckman Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|Dyckman Street]] stations between 1904 and 1906 (the [[191st Street station]] opened as an [[infill station]] in 1911).<ref name="audubonparkhd"/>{{Rp|12}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ5RAAAAYAAJ|title=Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|date=November 12, 1904|publisher=F. W. Dodge Corporation|access-date=May 16, 2020}}</ref>{{Rp|1026}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112111474968|title=1910–1911 Annual Report of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company For The Year Ended June 30, 1911|publisher=[[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]]|year=1911|access-date=May 16, 2020}}</ref>{{Rp|60}}

Although skyrocketing land values sparked early predictions that upper-class apartment buildings would dominate the neighborhood, such development was limited in the pre-[[World War I]] period to the [[Audubon Park Historic District, New York City|Audubon Park]] area west of Broadway and south of 158th Street.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|14}}<ref name=citytrenches>{{cite book|title=City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U3XAAAAQBAJ&q=city+trenches+ira+katznelson+%22the+making+of+northern+manhattan%22&pg=PT107|year=1981|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|first=Ira|last=Katznelson|isbn=9780307833402}}</ref>{{Rp|75}} Buildings such as the 13-story Riviera included elaborate decor and generous amenities to attract higher-paying tenants.<ref name="audubonparkhd"/>{{Rp|15}}

The southern and eastern parts of Washington Heights experienced a construction boom in the years leading up to [[World War I]].<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|77}} The downtown access provided by the IRT prompted a rapid increase in density through the proliferation of five- and six-story [[New Law Tenement]]s, the vast majority of which remain.<ref name=Lowenstein>{{cite book|title=[[Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson|Frankfurt on the Hudson: The German-Jewish Community of Washington Heights, 1933–1983, Its Structure and Culture]]|publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]]|year=1989|first=Steven M.|last=Lowenstein|isbn=978-0814323854}}</ref> Many of the new residents came from crowded immigrant neighborhoods such as the [[Lower East Side]],<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|15}} which saw its density halved between 1910 and 1930.<ref name="pop1890to1930">{{cite book|title=Population of the City of New York, 1890–1930|first=Walter|last=Laidlaw|year=1932|publisher=Cities Census Committee|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001640473}}</ref>{{Rp|73}}  As a result of the development of new housing, the total population of Manhattan north of 155th Street grew from just 8,000 in 1900 to 110,000 by 1920.<ref name="pop1890to1930"/>{{Rp|53}} The incoming residents of Washington Heights were a diverse group of people of European descent. In 1920, nearly half were [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestant]], most of whom had parents born in the United States; the remainder was split between [[Judaism|Jews]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], typically immigrants or born to immigrant parents.<ref name="pop1890to1930"/>{{Rp|292}}

The next wave of urbanization for Washington Heights came in the 1920s, coinciding with the construction boom occurring across the city.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|79}} The population increased significantly in the central area west of Broadway, and drastically in the area north of 181st Street, populating the last of the undeveloped areas just south and west of Fort Tryon Park.<ref name="pop1890to1930"/>{{Rp|93}} Transit for new residents was improved with the construction of the [[Independent Subway System]] (IND)'s [[IND Eighth Avenue Line|Eighth Avenue Line]] in 1932, with stops at [[175th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)|175th Street]], [[181st Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)|181st Street]], and [[190th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)|190th Street]] along [[Fort Washington Avenue]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Gay Midnight Crowd Rides First Trains in the Subway; Throngs at Stations an Hour Before Time, Rush Turnstiles When Chains Are Dropped. No Official Ceremonies But West Side Business Group Celebrates Midnight Event With Ride and Dinner. Last Rehearsals Smooth Delaney, Fullen and Aides Check First Hour of Pay Traffic From Big Times Square Station. New Subway Opens; Trains Crowded|first=Paul|last=Crowell|date=September 10, 1932|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 20, 2020|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/09/10/archives/gay-midnight-crowd-rides-first-trains-in-the-subway-throngs-at.html}}</ref>

The demographics of the neighborhood were undergoing significant change. While the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] population remained stagnant, first- and second-generation [[Irish Americans|Irish]] and [[Eastern European Jews]] continued to move in<!-- (the Irish, however, were most concentrated in Inwood)-->.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|79}} By 1930, nearly a quarter of Manhattan's Jewish residents lived north of 155th Street.<ref name=neighborsinconflict/>{{Rp|152}} The neighborhood also saw an influx of [[German Jew]]s escaping [[Nazism]] in the 1930s and 1940s, a history documented by Steven M. Lowenstein's book ''[[Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson]]'' (a nickname referencing the origin city of many in the diaspora).<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|25}} One attractive aspect of Washington Heights for German Jews was likely its [[Eastern Europe]]an Jewish presence, but an economic pull was its abundance of housing stock from the 1920s construction boom.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|16}} Although rents were higher than average, many landlords offered some free rent to draw new tenants, and apartments were nonetheless spacious for their cost.<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|45}}

In the first half of the 20th century, tensions broke out between Catholics and Jews, who were not very segregated residentially but remained in separate social spheres.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New York Irish|year=1997|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|editor1-first=Ronald H.|editor1-last=Bayor|editor2-first=Timothy|editor2-last=Meager|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfCmS90xyEIC|isbn=9780801857645}}</ref>{{Rp|439}} Around the start of [[World War II]], Irish groups such as the [[Christian Front (United States)|Christian Front]] arose, drawing large crowds to their [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] rallies, coupled with the vandalism of synagogues and beating of Jewish youth by Irish youth in gangs such as the Amsterdams.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23887201|access-date=February 23, 2021|first=Stephen H.|last=Norwood|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|journal=[[American Jewish History]]|date=June 2003|volume=91|issue=2|title=Marauding Youth and the Christian Front: Antisemitic Violence in Boston and New York During World War II|pages=233–267|doi=10.1353/ajh.2004.0055|jstor=23887201|s2cid=162237834|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Rp|236}}<ref name=neighborsinconflict/>{{Rp|155}} After continual charges of police negligence, a committee was created to combat the violence and many members of the Irish gangs were arrested. By 1944, the local Catholic Clergy were pressured to speak out against the prejudice, and Jews, Catholics, and Protestants began working together on solutions to ease the tensions.<ref name=neighborsinconflict/>{{Rp|157}}

Around this time, Washington Heights also gained its first substantial population of black residents, by 1943 numbering around 3,000 and concentrated mainly in the southeastern part of the neighborhood.<ref name=1940swhprofile/> The black population of Washington Heights was dwarfed, however, by that of [[Hamilton Heights]], where white residents were 63% of the population in 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/347374/m21-profile.pdf|title=1943 Profile of the City College, Manhattan area|date=1943|access-date=August 20, 2020|publisher=[[Graduate Center, CUNY]]}}</ref> It was during this period that the popular boundary of Washington Heights shifted from 135th Street to 155th Street, as many residents of European descent refused to include African Americans in their conception of the neighborhood.<ref name=encnyc2/>{{Rp|4585}} This attitude was expressed in a phrase heard in the time period: "Washington Heights begins where Harlem ends."<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|33}}<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|125}} In fact, many of the neighborhood's new Jewish arrivals had left from Harlem as it became increasingly populated by black people from the South during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].<ref name=neighborsinconflict/>{{Rp|152}}<ref name=encnyc2/>{{Rp|1890}}

====Segregation and racism====
[[File:555 Edgecombe Avenue from south.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|[[555 Edgecombe Avenue]]]]
[[File:St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church 124 Wadsworth Avenue.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church]]]]
Despite the growth of the black population, racial segregation remained very rigid. While in the vast majority of blocks less than 2% of housing units were occupied by non-white residents, nearly every block east of Amsterdam Avenue and south of 165th Street was over 90% non-white by 1950.<ref name=1950manhattanblockstats>{{cite book|title=1950 United States Census of Housing: Manhattan Borough Block Statistics|author=[[United States Census Bureau]]|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office]]|access-date=August 29, 2020|year=1952|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/housing-volume-5/15870149v5p6ch03.pdf}}</ref>{{Rp|38}}

The process underlying this segregation is exemplified in the history of one of Washington Heights' most famous apartment buildings: [[555 Edgecombe Avenue]]. Built in 1914, the 14-story building rented to various relatively affluent white people until 1939, when the owner cancelled all the tenants' leases and began renting exclusively to black people.<ref name=555edgecombe>{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1862.pdf|title=555 Edgecombe Avenue Apartments|access-date=August 30, 2020|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|date=June 15, 1993}}</ref>{{Rp|5}} While organizations like the Neighborhood Protective Association of Washington Heights had kept the neighborhood virtually all-white throughout much of the 20th century,<ref>{{cite book|title=Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto|first=Gilbert|last=Osofsky|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|url=https://archive.org/stream/harlemmakingofgh00osof?ref=ol0|year=1971|isbn=9781566631044}}</ref>{{Rp|248}} the overcrowded conditions of Harlem led to growth in demand for apartments outside the neighborhood.<ref name="Schneider">{{cite book|first=Eric C.|last=Schneider|title=Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York|year=1999|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|access-date=August 20, 2020|isbn=9780691074542|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NhTzoKrUVkC}}</ref>{{Rp|35}}

Throughout the 1940s, the building had a number of notable black residents, such as [[Paul Robeson]], [[Kenneth Clark (psychologist)|Kenneth Clark]], and [[Count Basie]].<ref name=555edgecombe/>{{Rp|6}} The presence of middle-class black people in 555 Edgecombe and other higher-class buildings in southeast Washington Heights led many to associate it with [[Sugar Hill, Manhattan|Sugar Hill]], the Harlem sub-neighborhood spanning between Edgecombe Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue to its south.<ref name=555edgecombe/>{{Rp|4}}

In addition to segregation, racism also manifested itself in gang culture, where youth often defined themselves by race or ethnicity and violently defended their respective territories. These tensions were brought to a climax in 1957, with the assault of two teenagers of European ancestry, Michael Farmer and Roger McShane, members of the majority-Irish "Jesters" gang.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsSiXoVuKTIC|year=1970|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|first=Robert|last=Hamlett Bremner|author-link=Robert H. Bremner|isbn=9780674116139|title=Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, Volumes 2-3}}</ref>{{Rp|1043}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/vics-early-gang-violence-beaten-clash-nyc-pool-article-1.3312175|access-date=February 23, 2021|first=Mara|last=Bovsun|title=Two victims of early gang violence pummeled, stabbed by warring factions at NYC pool|date=July 9, 2017|work=[[New York Daily News]]}}</ref> The incident took place in the [[Highbridge Pool]], a [[Works Progress Administration]]-funded pool built in 1936 which had no racial restrictions but was nonetheless an environment of racial hostility in the changing landscape of the neighborhood.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|48}}

The assault, which ended in Michael Farmer's death, was perpetrated by an alliance of the African-American Egyptian Kings and the Puerto Rican Dragons, both based in West Harlem just south of the Heights. The supposed motive for the attack was to counter the perception that Highbridge Pool was "owned" by the Jesters, and black and Latino youths were often called racial slurs and chased away from the surrounding blocks.<ref name="Schneider"/>{{Rp|79}} As Eric Schneider analyzes in ''Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York,'' the incident illustrated the effects of the neighborhood's demographic shift: The Jesters defined themselves as fighting against black and Latino occupancy of the neighborhood even as they included newly arrived black people in their ranks (similar diversity was seen in the membership of the Dragons and Egyptian Kings).<ref name="Schneider"/>{{Rp|88}}

====White flight and Latino immigration====
While signs were slowly appearing for the first half of the 20th century that Washington Heights would not forever be a neighborhood of European Americans, the 1960s and 1970s featured full force demographic shifts. Washington Heights' upwardly mobile white residents began to leave in great numbers, and lower-income Latino population saw great increases.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|138}} Apart from the allure of suburban homes and their economic capacity to buy them, white residents were spurred to leave by the demographic changes themselves, increasing negligence of residential buildings, and rising crime (having more than doubled between 1969 and 1982).<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|128}}<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|224}} Compared to the [[white flight]] occurring in other neighborhoods such as the West Bronx, the process was much slower and less destructive as few buildings were outright abandoned or burned.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|156}}<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|216}}

While [[Stateside Puerto Ricans|Puerto Ricans]] had been the dominant Latino group in the 1950s, by 1965 [[Cuban Americans|Cubans]] and [[Dominican Americans|Dominicans]] had overtaken them in number, and by 1970 native [[Spanish language|Spanish]] speakers were the majority group in central-eastern census tracts.<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|215}} Despite being a smaller group, Cuban immigrants in the Heights had an outsized role in business, owning, according to a 1976 estimate, the majority of Latino-owned stores.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/12/archives/spanish-influx-felt-in-washington-heights-spanish-influx-felt-in.html|title=Spanish Influx Felt in Washington Heights|date=August 12, 1976|first=Richard|last=Severo|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref> The neighborhood's black population also increased, numbering over 25,000 by 1980, and residing in all areas of the neighborhood while remaining a plurality in the southeastern section.<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|215}}

While the overall trend was of exodus among white residents, the rate of this trend varied among different groups. One of the most pronounced changes occurred with [[Greek Americans|Greek]] immigrants, who had reached their peak in the 1950s with the establishment of [[St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church]] and an accompanying school, only to see within two decades nearly all of the congregation had left for the suburbs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/nyregion/thecity/25gree.html|title=Its Flock Dwindling, a Greek Parish Reaches Out and Spruces Up|date=June 25, 2006|first=Alex|last=Mindlin|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintspyridon.net/welcome-to-st.-spyridon/history-of-our-community|title=History of Our Parish|publisher=[[St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church]]|access-date=January 18, 2021}}</ref> On the other hand, the German Jewish exodus was characterized by a decrease in overall population but an increasing presence in the neighborhood's northwestern corner.<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|216}} By the 1970s, evidence of the exodus of the broader Jewish community was present in the changing landscape of the neighborhood, where [[Kashrut|kosher]] stores and Jewish bakeries were gradually replaced by new small businesses with signs in Spanish.<ref name=Lowenstein/>{{Rp|218}}

While some Dominican immigrants had been arriving in Washington Heights throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the pace increased drastically during the regime of [[Joaquín Balaguer]], who took power in 1966 following the [[Dominican Civil War]].<ref name=dominicanprofile1990>{{cite book|title=Dominican New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile, 1990|year=1995|first1=Ramona|last1=Hernández|first2=Francisco|last2=Rivera-Batiz|first3=Roberto|last3=Agodini|author-link1=Ramona Hernández|publisher=[[CUNY Dominican Studies Institute]]|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=dsi_pubs}}</ref>{{Rp|12}} The combination of the recent passing of the U.S. [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], Balaguer's policy of freely granting passports, and the Dominican Republic's high unemployment rate created the conditions for growing emigration from the Dominican Republic to the United States.<ref name=mobilityofworkers>{{cite book|first=Ramona|last=Hernández|author-link=Ramona Hernández|year=2002|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|title=The Mobility of Workers Under Advanced Capitalism: Dominican Migration to the United States|isbn=9780231505185|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hguAUOXscvwC}}</ref>{{Rp|58}} Some of the initial migrants were left-wing revolutionaries exiled by the Balaguer regime, theorized to have been granted visas through an unwritten agreement with the United States, but the majority of arrivals came for better economic opportunities.<ref name=mobilityofworkers/>{{Rp|58}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://journals.dartmouth.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Journals.woa/1/xmlpage/2/article/104|access-date=February 9, 2021|publisher=[[Dartmouth College]]|first=Julissa|last=Reynoso|title=Dominican Immigrants and Social Capital in New York City: A Case Study}}</ref>

In ''Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights,'' Jorge Duany describes how Washington Heights developed as a "transnational community", continually defined by its connection to the [[Dominican Republic]].<ref name=Quisqueya>{{cite book|last=Duany|first=Jorge|year=2008|edition=2nd|title=Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=dsi_pubs|publisher=[[CUNY Dominican Studies Institute]]}}</ref> The majority of Dominican immigrants viewed their stay in the United States as purely economically motivated while they remained culturally attached to the Dominican Republic; many also sent [[remittance]]s home, imagining an eventual retirement to the island.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Morrison|first1=Thomas K.|last2=Sinkin|first2=Richard|title=International Migration in the Dominican Republic: Implications for Development Planning|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2546161|journal=The International Migration Review|year=1982|volume=16|issue=4|pages=819–836|doi=10.2307/2546161|jstor=2546161|pmid=12265312|access-date=February 2, 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Rp|823}}

====School conflicts====
[[File:George Washington Educational Campus from north.jpg|thumb|[[George Washington Educational Campus]]]]
During the 1970s, Washington Heights' School District 6 (including Inwood and Hamilton Heights) was the scene of numerous conflicts over [[de facto]] [[racial segregation]] and unequal resource distribution within the district's schools.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|156}} The School Decentralization Act, passed by the [[New York State Legislature]] in 1969, set up elected boards for New York City's school districts with limited hiring power and control over [[Title I]] funds.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144227931.pdf|access-date=April 24, 2021|first=Kenneth R.|last=McGrail|volume=5|issue=2|title=New York City School Decentralization: The Respective Powers of the City Board of Education and the Community School Boards|year=1977|journal=[[Fordham Urban Law Journal]]}}</ref>{{Rp|271}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/11/archives/a-history-of-decentralization.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 11, 1971|title=A History of Decentralization}}</ref> At the time, District 6's demographics were rapidly changing due to white students' withdrawal from the public school system and the broader trend of white flight, while the black and Latino student population rapidly increased.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|157}}

This resulted in a stark gap between the district's few racially integrated schools, which enjoyed better academic reputations and access to resources, and the remainder of schools with very few white students and serious overcrowding problems.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|162}}<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|94}} Fierce competition between different factions for educational funding and new schools was compounded by the disproportionate representation of the majority-white northwestern Heights on the board, creating an environment in which public meetings were plagued by incivility and at times even violence.<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|153}}

George Washington High School, located on 193rd Street and Audubon Avenue near [[Highbridge Park]], faced numerous issues representative of the changes and conflicts of the neighborhood's public schools, which intersected in 1970 to produce a situation of extreme chaos.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|99}} Located in a grand building with a [[Works Progress Administration]] mural by [[Lucienne Bloch]],<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/11/18/music-and-art|first=Mindy|last=Aloff|date=November 10, 1991|title=Music and Art|access-date=April 1, 2021|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref> the school was relatively prestigious in the decades after its 1925 founding, graduating people such as [[Alan Greenspan]], [[Henry Kissinger]], and [[Murray Jarvik]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World|last=Greenspan|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Greenspan|publisher=Penguin Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59420-131-8|oclc=122973403|title-link=The Age of Turbulence}}</ref>{{Rp|24}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Isaacson|title=Kissinger: A Biography|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|date=1992|isbn=978-0-671-66323-0|url=https://archive.org/details/kissinger00walt}}</ref>{{Rp|37}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/health/13jarvik.html|first=Bruce|last=Weber|date=May 13, 2008|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Murray Jarvik, 84, Whose Research Helped Lead to Nicotine Patch, Dies}}</ref> Although George Washington remained racially mixed through the early 1970s, the school had a tracking system that saw white students leave the school better prepared for college, and violence frequently broke out among gangs identifying by race.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|100}}

Discontent with academics and school policy led to a wave of student demonstrations, supported by a group of parents who pushed to set up an information table in the school's lobby in order to answer questions and hear complaints regarding the school.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|102}} However, the [[United Federation of Teachers]] – which had also clashed with students and parents over the [[New York City school boycott|1964 school boycott]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/04/archives/boycott-cripples-city-schools-absences-360000-above-normal-negroes.html|date=February 4, 1964|access-date=April 1, 2021|title=Boycott Cripples City Schools; Absences 360,000 Above Normal; Negroes and Puerto Ricans Unite; School Boycott Keeps Hundreds of Thousands of City Pupils Away; Picketing is Calm in Racial Protest; 2,600 Marchers Show Up at Buildings – Donovan Is Critical of Leaders|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and the [[New York City teachers' strike of 1968|1968 teachers' strike]]<ref name=citytrenches/>{{Rp|156}} – perceived this as an attempt to subvert teachers' authority, leading them to start a local strike after the administration reached a compromise with parents over the table.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/07/archives/head-of-george-washington-high-school-resigns.html|first=Martin|last=Arnold|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=March 7, 1970|title=Head of George Washington High School Resigns}}</ref>

By the end of 1970, the high school had seen the resignation of three principals and multiple incidents of violence against students, teachers, and security guards;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/03/archives/washington-high-gets-fourth-principal-this-year.html|first=C. Gerald|last=Frase|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 3, 1970|title=Washington High Gets Fourth Principal This Year}}</ref> while many safety improvements were made throughout the 1970s, its academic performance continued to decline.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|109}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/01/archives/washington-high-from-riot-to-hope-washington-high-from-riot-to-hope.html|first=William K.|last=Stevens|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 1, 1971|title=Washington High: From riot to Hope}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/19/nyregion/albany-issues-list-of-schools-in-trouble.html|first=Sam Howe|last=Verhovek|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 19, 1989|title=Albany Issues List of Schools In Trouble}}</ref> In 1999, the school took its present form as the [[George Washington Educational Campus]] composed of four smaller schools.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/nyregion/coach-steve-mandls-suspension-erased-by-city-school-officials.html|first=Eric P.|last=Newcomer|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 25, 2012|title=Education Dept. Retracts School Coach's Suspension}}</ref>

===Late 20th and early 21st centuries===
====Immigration trends====
For the remainder of the 20th century, the Dominican community of Washington Heights continued to increase considerably, most notably during the mid to late 1980s, when over 40,000 Dominicans settled in Washington Heights, [[Hamilton Heights]], and [[Inwood, Manhattan|Inwood]].<ref name=Quisqueya/>{{Rp|30}} Around the year 2000, the Dominican community reached its peak and became a slim majority of Washington Heights and Inwood,<ref name=Bergad>{{cite book|title=Washington Heights/Inwood Demographic, Economic, and Social Transformations 1990 – 2005 with a Special Focus on the Dominican Population|first=Laird|last=Bergad|author-link=Laird Bergad|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=clacls_pubs|publisher=Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies, [[CUNY Graduate Center]]|year=2008|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|10}} propelling the neighborhoods' combined population to 208,000, the highest level since 1950.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p1_cd.pdf|title=Table PL-P1 CD: Total Population New York City Community Districts 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|date=July 2011|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/historical-population/pop_density_1950_2010.pdf|title=1950 to 2010 Population Density by Census Tract|access-date=February 3, 2021|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]}}</ref>

Even as they arrived in great numbers, Dominicans who came to the neighborhood faced a difficult economic situation, with many of the manufacturing jobs they disproportionately occupied having disappeared throughout the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name=dominicanprofile1990/> This was clear by 1990, when the proportion of Dominican New Yorkers living in households below the poverty line was 36%, more than double the citywide rate.<ref name=dominicanprofile1990/>{{Rp|19}} In addition to service work, many residents found local jobs in the small-scale garment sector and factory work in [[New Jersey]].<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|140}}<ref name=Quisqueya/>{{Rp|37}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/26/business/resurgence-of-sweatshops-reported-in-new-york.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2021|date=February 26, 1981|title=Resurgence of Sweatshops Reported in New York|first=Sandra|last=Salmans}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-buzz-for-dominicans-minimum-wage-maximum.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2021|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Buzz; For Dominicans, Minimum Wage, Maximum Uncertainty|first=Seth|last=Kugel|date=September 5, 1999}}</ref>

During the late 20th century, other immigrant groups began to make their home in the neighborhood as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a moderate influx of [[Soviet Jew]]s occurred following a loosening of the country's emigration policy,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gold|first=Steven J.|author-link=Steven J. Gold|year=1994|title=Soviet Jews in the United States|url=https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/94so/94soviet.pdf|pages=3–57|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|volume=94|doi=10.2307/2547125|journal=[[American Jewish Year Book]]|jstor=2547125|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|17}} predominantly professionals and artists pushed out by [[antisemitism]] and drawn by economic opportunity.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|138}} The makeup of the neighborhood's Latino population also began to diversify beyond an exclusively [[Caribbean]] background, most prominently through the arrival of [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]]s and [[Ecuadorian Americans|Ecuadorian]]s, who together numbered over 6,000 by 2000 and over 10,000 a decade later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/nny2000/newest_new_yorkers_2000.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers 2000|date=2004|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|70}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/nny2013/chapter3.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers, 2013 Edition|date=2013|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|49}}

Smaller communities of [[Central American]]s, [[Colombian Americans|Colombian]]s, and [[Chinese Americans|Chinese]] immigrants had also developed.<ref name=acsfactfinder2020/> The neighborhood's African-American population began to decrease from its height in the 1970s, making up less than one-tenth of the neighborhood by 2000.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|138}}<ref name=PLP3A>[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p3a_nta.pdf Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010], Population Division – [[New York City Department of City Planning]], March 29, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2016.</ref> In the present day, Washington Heights also has an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community served by numerous [[synagogue]]s, many of which have noticed more young Jewish families move into the neighborhood during the 2000s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|first=Lindsay|last=Armstrong|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights' Jewish Population Thriving After Lean Years|work=[[DNAinfo]]|date=November 4, 2013|archive-date=January 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123204341/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/washington-heights-jews-caught-in-a-growth-bind/|first=Rivka|last=Oppenheim|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights Jews Caught In A Growth Bind|work=[[New York Jewish Week]]|date=August 11, 2010}}</ref>

====1980s crime and drug crisis====
[[File:TransManhattan Expressway from Audubon Avenue.jpg|thumb|The [[Interstate 95 in New York|Trans-Manhattan Expressway]], one of several highway connections that made Washington Heights a hotspot for the [[cocaine]] trade in the 1980s.]]
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Washington Heights was severely affected by the [[Crack epidemic|crack-cocaine epidemic]], as was the rest of New York City.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|158}} Washington Heights had become one of the largest drug distribution centers in the [[Northeastern United States]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/01/nyregion/washington-heights-cocaine-trade-thrives.html|title=WASHINGTON HEIGHTS: COCAINE TRADE THRIVES|first=Peter|last=Kerr|date=April 1, 1986|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://academics.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/Chem102/war/html%20pages/ny-heights-crime.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 9, 2021|date=May 18, 1998|first=David M.|last=Halbfinger|title=In Washington Heights, Drug War Survivors Reclaim Their Stoops}}</ref> bringing a negative reputation to Dominican Americans as a group.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/22/nyregion/talk-in-washington-heights-fear-drugs-and-now-corruption.html|date=June 22, 1992|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 11, 2021|first=Maria|last=Newman|title=Talk in Washington Heights: Fear, Drugs, and Now Corruption}}</ref> Then-U.S. Attorney [[Rudy Giuliani]] and Senator [[Al D'Amato|Alphonse D'Amato]] chose the corner of 160th Street and Broadway for their widely publicized undercover crack purchase,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/10/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-answer.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Answer|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2020|date=July 10, 1986|first1=Susan|last1=Anderson|first2=David|last2=Dunlap}}</ref> and in 1989, ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the neighborhood "the crack capital of America".<ref name="crackdestruction">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/01/magazine/crack-s-destructive-sprint-across-america.html|title=Crack's Destructive Sprint Across America|last=Massing|first=Michael|date=October 1, 1989|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2020}}</ref> By 1990, crack's impact on crime was evident: 103 murders were committed in the 34th Precinct that year, along with 1,130 felony assaults, 1,919 robberies, and 2,647 burglaries.<ref name="NYPD 34th Precinct"/>

The causes behind the severity of the crisis for Washington Heights, however, were more intricate. One was the neighborhood's location: The [[George Washington Bridge]] and its numerous highway connections made for easy access from the [[New Jersey]] suburbs.<ref name=CB>{{cite book|first=Robert W.|last=Snyder|title=Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quqMBQAAQBAJ|isbn=9780801449611|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|year=2015}}</ref>{{Rp|162}} Another contributing factor was that, as Dominican dealers such as [[Santiago Luis Polanco Rodríguez]] brought the group higher status in cocaine operations, the heavily Dominican Washington Heights became increasingly important as a strategic location.<ref name="crackdestruction"/><ref name="cocaine kids">{{cite book|first=Terry|last=Williams|date=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/cocainekids00terr_0/|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=9780306820861|title=Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring}}</ref> Washington Heights also had a high level of unemployment and poverty in the 1980s and 1990s, providing ample economic motivation for young people to enter the drug trade.<ref name=Bergad/>

The effects of the crack trade extended beyond physical danger to a breakdown in trust and widespread fear provoked by violence in public places as well as murders of people uninvolved in the drug business.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|178}} It was common for police and detectives to note unresponsiveness from residents during murder inquiries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-09-mn-10061-story.html|title=Hispaniola to New York Streets: Immigrant Dreams Gone Awry|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 9, 1994|access-date=April 1, 2020|first=Dana|last=Kennedy}}</ref> Overall distrust of the police may have stemmed from the perception of corruption, which was alleged numerous times concerning the 34th Precinct overlooking drug crimes for bribes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/19/nyregion/us-is-investigating-reports-of-corrupt-new-york-police.html|title=U.S. is Investigating Reports of Corrupt New York Police|date=June 19, 1992|first=Craig|last=Wolff|access-date=April 1, 2020|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Tensions between residents and the [[New York Police Department|NYPD]] came to a head on July 4, 1992, when José "Kiko" Garcia was shot by 34th Precinct Officer Michael O'Keefe on the corner of 162nd Street and [[St. Nicholas Avenue|Saint Nicholas Avenue]]. Although evidence later supported that the killing was a reaction to violence initiated by Garcia, many residents quickly suspected wanton [[police brutality]].<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|180}} The suspicion was not unfounded, as O'Keefe already had several civilian complaints of unnecessary aggression in arrests.<ref name="cowboys">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTfK24Yon1QC|title=Wild Cowboys: Urban Marauders & the Forces of Order|first=Robert|last=Jackall|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674018389}}</ref>{{Rp|320}} What began as a peaceful demonstration for Garcia's death turned into a violent riot, causing multiple fires, 15 injuries, and one death.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|181}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/07/nyregion/angered-by-police-killing-a-neighborhood-erupts.html|access-date=April 1, 2020|title=Angered by Police Killing, a Neighborhood Erupts|date=July 7, 1992|first=James|last=Dao|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Then-mayor [[David Dinkins]], who had met with the Garcia family following the killing, pleaded for an end to the rioting: "You do not build a better city by destroying it. ... There is much anger in the community about the death of Jose Garcia and other incidents. But you do not obtain justice by being unjust to others."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-08-mn-1523-story.html|first=John J.|last=Goldman|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Dinkins Appeals for Calm After N.Y. Disturbances : Inner city: Police pour into neighborhood to quell violence. Democratic chairman predicts that tensions will ease before convention.|date=July 8, 1992|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref>

====Crime drop and community improvement====
[[File:Heather Garden.jpg|thumb|Heather Garden, one of Fort Tryon Park's areas that was refurbished during the 1980s and 1990s<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/the-gardens-heather-and-alpine/|title=Heather Garden and Alpine Garden|access-date=July 25, 2021|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust}}</ref>]]
During the mid to late 1990s, Washington Heights experienced a drastic decrease in crime that continued through the 21st century. From 1990 to 2023, reported motor-vehicle thefts, murders, and burglaries each fell by over 85%, felony assaults, rapes, and robberies by over 65%, and grand larcenies by around 45%.<ref name="NYPD 33rd Precinct CS"/><ref name="NYPD 34th Precinct CS"/> The 30th and 32nd precincts to the south of Washington Heights, which cover most of [[Harlem]] north of 133rd Street, experienced just as drastic crime drops during the past decades.<ref name="crime map"/><ref name="NYPD 30th Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-030pct.pdf|title=30th Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf|title=32nd Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref>

The crime drop, which was felt across all major U.S. cities, owed itself largely to the decrease in new users and dealers of crack cocaine, and the move of existing dealers from dealing on the streets to dealing from inside apartments.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/where-has-your-neighborhood-drug-dealer-gone.html|title=Where Has Your Neighborhood Drug Dealer Gone?|last=Rohde|first=David|date=August 17, 1997|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/us/crack-s-legacy-a-special-report-a-drug-ran-its-course-then-hid-with-its-users.html|first=Timothy|last=Egan|access-date=April 17, 2020|date=September 19, 1999|title=Crack's Legacy: A special report; A Drug Ran Its Course, Then Hid With Its Users|work=[[The New York Times]]|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In Washington Heights, this meant a move back to the established cocaine dealing culture that had existed before the introduction of crack. As Terry Williams observes in ''The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring'', many dealers from the pre-[[freebasing]] period put greater emphasis on knowing their customers and hid their operations more carefully from police, as opposed to dealers of the crack days who would deal openly and fight violently in the competition for the drug's high profits.<ref name="cocaine kids"/>

Many also credit actions taken on the neighborhood level in increasing safety in Washington Heights. In 1994, after years of advocacy from residents, the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] split the 34th Precinct to create the 33rd Precinct for Washington Heights south of 179th Street in order to devote more resources to crime prevention.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|170}}<ref name="nrprecinctsplit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-police-hit-streets-in-a-new-precinct.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Police Hit Streets In a New Precinct|first=Randy|last=Kennedy|date=October 9, 1994|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Another local policing strategy was the "model block" initiative, first attempted in 1997 on 163rd Street between [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Amsterdam Avenue]], a location notable for the dealers who set up a "fortified complex" complete with traps and electrified wires to prevent police raids on their apartment.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|192}}  In an attempt to disrupt drug activity on the block, police officers set up barricades at both ends of the block, demanded proof of residence from anyone coming through, patrolled building hallways, and pressured landlords to improve their buildings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City – Chapter 3|access-date=April 16, 2020|url=https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nypolice/ch3.htm|date=August 2000|publisher=[[United States Commission on Civil Rights]]}}</ref> The program was controversial, facing criticism from the [[New York Civil Liberties Union]] and resistance from residents for its invasion of privacy.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|193}} The initiative was later expanded throughout the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-violence-chicago-new-york-los-angeles-met-20150918-story.html|date=September 18, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|first1=Jeremy|first2=Annie|last1=Gorner|last2=Sweeney|title=A tale of 3 cities: LA and NYC outpace Chicago in curbing violence}}</ref>

As crime decreased, Washington Heights also saw a recovery of many of its community institutions, including parks.<ref name=CB/> [[Fort Tryon Park]] had fallen into a period of decline after the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis]], when evaporated [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|Parks Department]] funds left its walkways and playgrounds in a state of disrepair,<ref name="fort tryon timeline">{{cite web|title=Historical Timeline Listing|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust|date=October 12, 1935|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/historical-timeline-of-fort-tryon-park/|access-date=March 1, 2020}}</ref> and several corpses were found in the park.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/nyregion/body-of-young-woman-is-discovered-in-a-park.html|title=Body of Young Woman Is Discovered in a Park|date=May 1, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/27/nyregion/body-of-girl-9-is-found.html|title=Body of Girl, 9, Is Found|date=March 27, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===21st century===
After work from the [[Fort Tryon Park Trust]] and the [[New York Restoration Project]] throughout the 1990s and 2000s, funded by the city with the help of generous private donations,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/14/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-fort-tryon-park-turns-50.html|title=New York Day by Day; Fort Tryon Park Turns 50. . .|last1=Anderson|first1=Susan Heller|date=October 14, 1985|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2020|last2=Rimer|first2=Sara|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the park and its reputation were restored.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|210}}<ref name="fort tryon timeline"/>

[[Highbridge Park]], however, had the same problems as Fort Tryon Park but went without any major restoration funding for a while, likely due to its location in a lower-income area and lack of a frequently touristed landmark like [[The Cloisters]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/01/nyregion/a-critical-tour-of-the-empire-battery-park-to-high-bridge.html|title=A Critical Tour of the Empire: Battery Park to High Bridge . . .|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=May 1, 1994|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1997, the New York Restoration Project began to work on maintaining the park, but without the necessary funding much of the park's disrepair continued.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2015/6/25/9946618/as-high-bridge-reopens-a-neglected-park-remains-in-its-shadow|first=Nathan|last=Kensinger|date=June 25, 2015|work=[[Curbed]]|access-date=March 31, 2021|title=As High Bridge Reopens, a Neglected Park Remains in Its Shadow}}</ref> In 2016, however, the park received $30 million in restoration funding through the city's Anchor Parks initiative, with the full restoration set to be finished by 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/work-begins-second-phase-30m-highbridge-park-renovation|title=Work Begins On Second Phase Of $30M Highbridge Park Renovation|last=Krisel|first=Brendan|date=July 15, 2019|website=Washington Heights-Inwood, NY Patch|access-date=August 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Neuman|first=William|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/nyregion/5-neglected-new-york-city-parks-to-get-150-million-for-upgrades.html|title=5 Neglected New York City Parks to Get $150 Million for Upgrades|date=August 18, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 14, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/8988|title=Highbridge Anchor Park Reconstruction Phase I|publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]|access-date=February 6, 2021}}</ref>

Throughout the 2010s, Washington Heights residents made modest economic gains. According to [[American Community Survey]] data the neighborhood's poverty rate decreased from 27% to 18% in the approximate 2008–2018 period.<ref name=acsfactfinder2020>{{cite web|url=https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/selection/4ba28aabe2d983a4b7e9fa5c165c2ce00b7a5c36?acsTopics=all&source=acs-change|access-date=October 29, 2021|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|title=NYC Population FactFinder (American Community Survey)}}</ref> In the same period, the unemployment rate decreased from 14% to 9% and the proportion of residents with [[bachelor's degree]]s increased from 29% to 35%.<ref name=acsfactfinder2020/>

Washington Heights has faced [[gentrification]] throughout the 2000s, with data from the [[New York University]] [[Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy|Furman Center]] finding that Washington Heights and Inwood's average residential rent had increased by 29.3% between 1990 and 2014.<ref name=stateofthecity>{{cite book|url=https://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/NYUFurmanCenter_SOCin2015_9JUNE2016.pdf|publisher=[[Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy]]|access-date=February 11, 2021|title=State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods in 2015|year=2015}}</ref> Furthermore, there have been several businesses faced with drastic rent increases, such as Coogan's, a well known restaurant and bar that managed to renegotiate with its landlord, [[NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital]], following outcry by many locals, including [[Lin-Manuel Miranda]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coogans.com/about/|title=About Us|access-date=April 18, 2020|publisher=Coogan's}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/nyregion/coogans-bar-staying-open.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 11, 2021|title=To New Yorkers' Delight, Coogan's Says It Isn't Closing After All|date=January 12, 2018|first=Jim|last=Dwyer}}</ref>

Washington Heights residents face many difficulties with the rental housing market; over a quarter of households pay the majority of their income in rent.<ref name=acsfactfinder2020/> As of 2014, Washington Heights and Inwood have the highest rate of severe crowding in Manhattan.<ref name=stateofthecity/>{{Rp|121}} Washington Heights also has the city's second-highest rate of serious housing code violations and its lowest rental vacancy rate.<ref name=stateofthecity/>{{Rp|174}}

Many have expressed opposition to the neighborhood's gentrification on both commercial and residential fronts. Luis Miranda and Robert Ramirez of the ''[[Manhattan Times]]'' wrote in 2005, "How sad and ironic that many of the same people who fought to save our neighborhoods in the face of thugs and drugs have ultimately been forced to surrender their communities to the almighty dollar."<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|206}} Echoing this sentiment, ''Crossing Broadway'' author Robert W. Snyder said, "The people who saved Washington Heights in the days of crime and crack deserve more for their pains than a stiff rent increase."<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|237}} Fears about displacement in [[Upper Manhattan]] have most recently manifest themselves in the controversy surrounding the 2018 Inwood rezoning plan, which, despite its offers of community benefits and affordable housing, has been accused of accelerating real-estate speculation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/nyregion/inwood-rezoning-nyc-manhattan.html|title=Fighting Over the Future of Inwood, Manhattan's Last Affordable Neighborhood|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 19, 2020|date=August 7, 2018|first1=Jeffrey C.|first2=Aaron|last1=Mays|last2=Robertson}}</ref>

In 2018, ground was broken in 2018 on Amsterdam Avenue and 180th Street by developer Youngwoo & Associates for the [[MVRDV]]-designed Radio Tower & Hotel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/12/radio-tower-hotel-tops-out-at-2420-amsterdam-avenue-in-washington-heights.html|access-date=March 30, 2021|date=December 2, 2020|first=Sebastian|last=Morris|website=New York YIMBY|title=Radio Tower & Hotel Tops Out At 2420 Amsterdam Avenue In Washington Heights}}</ref> The tower, a 22-story multi-use building with office space, retail space and a 221-room hotel, is the first major mixed-use development to be built in Washington Heights in nearly five decades.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/15/18096873/mvrdv-washington-heights-hotel-first-us-project-renderings|title=First look at MVRDV's colorful Washington Heights mixed-use development|access-date=April 16, 2020|first=Tanay|last=Warerkar|date=November 15, 2018|work=[[Curbed]]}}</ref> The hotel opened in July 2022.<ref>{{cite web | last=Rahmanan | first=Anna | title=This colorful new hotel just opened in Washington Heights | website=Time Out New York | date=July 25, 2022 | url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/this-colorful-new-hotel-just-opened-in-washington-heights-072522 | access-date=September 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Washington Heights gets 1st full-service boutique hotel called 'Radio Hotel' | website=ABC7 New York | date=July 25, 2022 | url=https://abc7ny.com/washington-heights-radio-hotel-boutique-nyc/12072430/ | access-date=September 28, 2022}}</ref>