Currier & Ives' Bird’s-Eye view of New York City and Brooklyn a decade before the consolidation of the Five Boroughs into greater New York City. Visible are the first skyscrapers; Equitable, Tribune, and Western Union Buildings, New York Harbor; the bluff of Brooklyn Heights; church spires lining Broadway; City Hall, Post Office, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Over the next quarter-century the city would drastically transform, with the construction of skyscrapers Downtown, bridges along the East River, elevated train lines crisscrossing the grid, and expanded public benefits from museums to train stations and libraries.