March uptown

Beginning with New Amsterdam at the island's southern tip, European colonial and later American settlement under the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 expanded continually in a common direction.

Former agricultural hamlets such as Harsenville, Carmansville, and Harlem became successively industrial exurbs, residential suburbs, and urban districts, the former farmland between them being filled in.

Different economic and social aspects took different trajectories, such as business and retail and entertainment[4] shift from Lower Manhattan to Midtown Manhattan,[5][6][7][8][9] and the path of the Four Hundred and social elites of other eras was closely followed, often ahead of business and other residential settlement;[10] several New York City ethnic enclaves took their own route, most notably African American neighborhoods from the Five Points through several intermediate stages of community displacement to Harlem.

[12] Broadway theatre during the 19th century marched from Lower Manhattan via the Bowery and up Broadway, finally alighting around Longacre Square, soon to be renamed Times Square and displacing the horse trade.

The trend reversed itself to some extent in the 21st century, in the period after the September 11 attacks.