Murray Hill derives its name from the Murray family, 18th-century Quaker merchants mainly concerned with shipping and overseas trade. Robert Murray (1721–1786), the family patriarch, was born in Pennsylvania and came to New York in 1753 after a short residence in North Carolina. He quickly established himself as a merchant, eventually owned more shipping tonnage than any other New Yorker. About 1762 rented land from the city for a great house and farm. His great house, which he named Inclenberg (or Belmont), but which was popularly termed Murray Hill, was built on a since-leveled hill at what is today Park Avenue and Thirty-Sixth Street. The great square house was approached by an avenue of mixed trees leading from the Boston Post Road; it was surrounded with verandas, or “piazzas”, on three sides and commanded views of the East River over KipsBay. The total area was just over 29 acres (117,000 m²). In today’s terms, the farm began a few feet (meters) south of 33rd Street and extended north to the middle of the block between 38th and 39th Streets. At the southern end, the plot was rather narrow but at the northern end it went from approximately Lexington Avenue to a spot between Madison and Fifth Avenues.
The most illustrious member of the family was the oldest child, Lindley Murray (1745–1826). A New York lawyer, he was forced into exile after the Revolution as a loyalist. In England, Lindley wrote 11 school textbooks which had their greatest success in the new United States, partly because no international copyright existed and the books could be reprinted without royalties. Some 16 million copies of Murray's books were sold in America. His English Reader utterly dominated the American market for readers from 1815 into the 1840s
DAR plaque on 37th Street at Park Avenue in Manhattan
Mary Lindley Murray is credited with delaying William Howe and his army during General Washington's retreat from New York in 1776. As the story goes, Mrs. Robert Murray, the mother of Lindley and John, invited the group to tea at her mansion in Inclenberg (now Murray Hill), and, through feminine wiles, succeeded in delaying the British troops for a period sufficient to allow a successful American retreat.She is said by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage to have saved American independence by detaining Lord Howe long enough to permit Israel Putnam to cross the lower end of Manhattan Island and join the forces of George Washington, before Howe was able to overtake him. This detention and the stories told by the fair friend saved 4,000 men, who otherwise would have been cut off and captured.
James Thacher, M.D., a gossipy surgeon with the Continental Army, kept a journal that is one of the prime sources of information about the military happenings of the times. In an entry for Sept. 20, Thacher tells the story as follows:The British generals...repaired to the house of a Mr. Robert Murray, a Quaker and friend of our cause; Mrs. Murray treated them with cake and wine, and they were induced to tarry two hours or more, Governor Tryon frequently joking her about her American friends. By this happy incident general Putnam, by continuing his march, escaped...It has since become almost a common saying among our officers, that Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army.
LOCAL PARKS & ENTERTAINMENT
Gramercy Park Irving Place at 19th Street
[ between East 20th and 21st Street ]
MadisonSquarePark East 23rd to 26th Street, Broadway to Madison
StuyvesantPark2nd Avenue and 16th Street [ between 15th and 17th Streets ]
AsserLevyRecreationCenter,
Pool, and Playground Asser Levy Place and East 24 and 25th Street
BelevueSouthPark East 26th and 28th Street
[ between 1st and 2nd Avevue ]
UnionSquarePark East 14th to 17th Street, Broadway to 4th Avenue
Flatiron Building 175 Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street
SalmagundiMuseum of American Art 47 Fifth Avenue
[ between 11th and 12th Street ]
The RoseBar and The Jade Bar,
Gramercy Park Hotel 2 Lexington Avenue
Theodore Roosevelt ’s Birthplace 28 East 20th Street
[ between Park and Broadway ]
PoliceAcademyMuseum235 East 20th Street [ between 2nd and 3rd Avenue ]
RESTAURANTS
Abigael’s 1407 Broadway [ between 38th and 39th Street ]
40/40 Club 6 West 25th Street
SCHOOLS
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Friends Seminary 222 East 16th Street
Jack & Jil Schol 208 East 16th Street
P.S. 226 345 East 15th Street
P.S. 40 Augustus St. Gaudens 319 East 19th Street
P.S. JHS 47 - Schol for the Deaf 225 East 23rd Street
United Nations International 25-50 FDR Drive
HIGH SCHOOLS
Baruch Colege High Schol 17 Lexington Avenue
Mabel Dean Bacon Vocational High Schol 127 East 22nd Street
United Nations International 25-50 FDR Drive
Washington Irving High 40 Irving Place
POLICE
13th Precinct 230 East 21st Street [ Tel. 212. 477.7411 ]
Tiaheem Byrd Lic Associate Broker at Compass is committed to the Fair Housing Act under the New York State Human Rights Law. To learn more about it, please click here.
