9. Bowling Green Was Nicknamed ‘Nobs Row’

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Bowling Green print from 1826. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Throughout the 1820s, some of New York’s wealthiest families had congregated around the Battery and its surrounding area. As one of the oldest settled areas, Bowling Green would eventually come to adopt the nickname “Nobs Row,” especially as revolution townhouses began to populate the surrounding neighborhood. Interestingly enough, Scientific American refers to Bowling Green as “an early example of gentrification.” In its early history, the immediate vicinity around it served as home to prominent folks like the Van Cortlandts, Livingstons, Delanceys and Bayards.