Manhattan's Turtle Bay: Story of a Midtown Neighborhood

The mid-20th century ushered in a new era for the East Midtown neighborhood of Turtle Bay. The United Nations moved into its headquarters on the East River, and the Third Avenue El—last of Manhattan's elevated rail lines—was dismantled, making way for one of New York City's biggest building booms. The site of large farms in colonial times, Turtle Bay grew into a neighborhood of elegant brownstones in the mid 1800s, only to deteriorate with the arrival of factories and slaughterhouses later ...