In 1867, Joseph Seligman was advised that all land north of Sixtieth Street and west of Broadway (in New York City) – up to 121st Street, and including most of what is now West End Avenue and Riverside Drive – was for sale. The price for the tract was $450,000 – more than 3 square miles of Manhattan for a fraction of what a city block would cost now. It was perhaps the best bargain since Peter Minuit’s original purchase of the land from the Indians. Joseph had the money but said no. “It is a bad investment”…
