What is now Midtown Manhattan was first settled by the
Munsee Native Americans. With European colonization in the 17th century, the site was called Belmont and was part of the common lands of New York City.
18th century Robert Murray (1721–1786) moved from Philadelphia to New York City in 1753. During that decade, he became a prosperous merchant, purchasing three vessels and obtaining an ownership stake in another. Murray had a townhouse on
Pearl Street in
Lower Manhattan, which was close to his wharf on the East River at
Wall Street, as well as to his retail store.
Creation of Murray estate By the late 1750s, Murray was relatively successful and wished to build his own mansion. Murray's house was built on a since-leveled hill at what is today
Park Avenue and 36th Street. At the southern end, the plot was narrow, but at the northern end it extended from approximately
Lexington Avenue to a spot between
Madison and
Fifth Avenues. The great square house, west of the
Eastern Post Road, was approached by an avenue of mixed trees leading from the road. It was flanked on three sides by verandas and contained apartments on either side of a large hall. The Murray farm was bounded to the north by Thomas Bridgen Atwood's farm, which was on the western side of the Eastern Post Road between modern-day 38th and 41st Streets, and to the east by
Jacobus Kip's farm, along the eastern side of the same road from 28th to 39th Street extending to the East River. The site overlooked the East River and
Kips Bay. One descendant wrote that Robert Murray "entertained at various times almost every foreigner of distinction who came to the American shores". Early in 1773, and again in 1774, advertisements for the Inclenberg estate were circulated, positioning the house and farm as a summer mansion. and succeeded in delaying the British troops for a period sufficient to allow a successful American retreat. The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage said she saved American independence by detaining Lord Howe long enough to permit
Israel Putnam to pass up the Greenwich road from the city and join the forces of George Washington in the north end of the island, before Howe was able to overtake him. The 3,500 men led by Washington were able to escape safely. James Thacher, a surgeon with the
Continental Army, wrote in his journal: "It is a common saying among our officers that Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army." According to later scholarship, the Murrays did not have such a large influence on the landing at Kip's Bay than was portrayed in contemporary sources. One contemporary rumor posited that Mrs. Murray and her two daughters had used "feminine wiles" to convince the officers to stop by for tea. However, later scholarship stated that Howe had ordered his troops to stand down until all the British Army troops had landed at Kips Bay. According to these writers, it was unlikely that Mrs. Murray would have known that Putnam was escaping on Manhattan's west side, given that the farm was on the island's east side. Furthermore, Robert Murray traded with both Continental and British Army soldiers. The
Daughters of the American Revolution placed a plaque in 1926 near the site of the Murray mansion, commemorating the family's wartime actions. From 1776 to 1783, when the British Army occupied New York, British soldiers often visited Inclenberg. After the end of British occupation, the Murray family was associated with unpatriotic acts during the war, and one son,
Lindley Murray, moved to England. His daughter Susannah was bequeathed the farm,
19th century Initial development John Murray and his wife Hannah Lindley had four children. After John Murray's death in 1808, Hannah Lindley and their children moved into Inclenberg. Two of their children, Mary and Hannah, did not marry and instead lived in apartments that were specifically created for them at the estate. In the winter of 1808 during the embargo that closed New York Harbor, a work relief program kept out-of-work dock workers busy reducing the height of Murray Hill. Between twenty and forty feet were sliced off its summit and used for fill. Around that time, the area was subdivided into a regular street grid with the enactment of the
Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Under the plan, what is now Third Avenue was opened between 1815 and 1821. The locomotives, which had met the horse-cars that ran through the city's streets at the station at 27th Street, could pass the reduced hill. By an act of 1850 the city permitted to roof over the cut for the passage of steam locomotives. This
Park Avenue Tunnel, enlarged and relined, has been devoted to automobile traffic since 1937. However, when
J. P. Morgan built his conservative brownstone free-standing mansion in 1882 on
Madison Avenue at 36th Street (later part of
The Morgan Library & Museum), it was considered a fashionable but slightly old-fashioned address, as the rich were filling Fifth Avenue with palaces as far as
Central Park. Instead stylish merchandising was changing the neighborhood;
Madison Square Park, at this time considered a part of Murray Hill, was bordered by the fashionable
ladies' shops of the day on Fifth Avenue. In 1925, the architectural firm Margon & Glaser designed the Griffon, a residential building at 77 Park Avenue and 39th Street. The Griffon which was converted into a condominium in 1969 and is known for its stunning lobby as well as its oversized apartment layouts with original details and fireplaces. The Griffon is included in the NRHP's Murray Hill historic district. Since the late 1990s, many young people in their twenties have moved to the area from the suburbs of New York. As reported in
The New York Times in 2011, "...recent college graduates can find themselves among fellow alumni, meet up for familiar drinking rituals and flock to the frozen-yogurt shops and sushi bars that help them stay fit and find a mate for the next stage of life". On weekends, the raucous restaurant-and-bar scene along Third Avenue, beyond the traditional eastern limits of Murray Hill, particularly reflects this change. In the late 1990s, Murray Hill began to attract an influx of young college graduates, leading to a "work-hard, play-hard" atmosphere, which has since been referenced in several media sources such as
The New York Times Con Edison's lots were placed for sale in 1999. The billionaire developer
Sheldon Solow purchased the three plots of land in 2000 and demolished the sites in anticipation of the construction of a multi-building complex. However, these plans stalled with the
2008 financial crisis, and the land lay unused. Solow later sold the 35th–36th Streets plot, and the
American Copper Buildings were built on that site, opening in 2017–2018. Solow commissioned architect
Richard Meier to design a residential tower on the 39th–40th Streets plot,
685 First Avenue, which began construction in 2016 and was completed in 2018. , the 38th–41st Streets plot was still unused, but Solow intended to construct a four-building condo and office complex on that site. ==Demographics==