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After the War of 1812, New York was open for business again after seven years of embargo, war, and threatened invasion. In shipping, wealth, and population, the city shot far ahead of every rival. New York quickly became one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Commissioners ambitiously projected the street grid to reach Manhattan's northern tip. The explosive transformation of New York is evident in these two contrasting views of New York.

A Swedish visitor captured the harmonious mix of pedestrian and vehicle traffic along Broadway in 1818. The stately new city hall presides. Everything is in its proper place. 'View of Broadway, looking North from Ann Street, New York, as it appeared in 1819,' by Carl Frederick Akrell, after Axel Leonhard Klinckowstrom, published 1824, New-York Historical Society.

Half a mile away and a decade later, artist George Catlin created the first ever view of New York as a teeming jumble of humanity. Catlin represented the notorious Five Points intersection as a wild mix of public and private, work and pleasure, commerce and violence, upper class and low life. Black New Yorkers, with exaggerated facial features, prominently contribute to the mayhem. As the city exploded with growth and change, black New Yorkers faced new threats. George Catlin, Five Points, ca. 1827.From Valentine's Manual, 1855. New-York Historical Society.