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Four Columbians Who Helped Build a Healthier City
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, improvements to the infrastructure of New York City greatly enhanced residents’ quality of life. Columbians played major roles in laying this foundation.
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• Gouverneur Morris (1768 King’s College) chaired the 1811 commission that designed Manhattan’s 12-avenue, 155-street grid system above Houston Street.
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• A founder, dean, and professor of Columbia’s School of Mines, president of the New York Metropolitan Board of Health from 1873 to 1883, and inventor of the flush toilet, Charles Frederick Chandler improved quality and safety standards for water, milk, and meat, and promoted compulsory smallpox vaccinations for children.
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• Named chief engineer of the New York Rapid Transit Commission in 1894, William Barclay Parsons (1879CC 1882 Mines) designed the original plan for the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), the City’s first subway system, which debuted in 1904 at a nickel a ride.
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• From the 1930s through the ’60s, the aggressive—and still controversial—development spearheaded by New York City Parks Commissioner and Triborough Bridge Authority head Robert Moses (’14GSAS ’52HON) added parks, playgrounds, beaches, bridges, and highways to the City.
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