[5][6][7][8] The nearest Native American settlements were Rechewanis and Konaande Kongh in present-day Central Park, to the southeast of modern Morningside Heights.

[5] On September 16, 1776, the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought in the area, with the most intense fighting occurring in a sloping wheat field that is now the location of Barnard College.

[20][21] The Society for New York Hospital had started buying lots between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues north of 113th Street in 1816, and opened the Bloomingdale Asylum in 1821.

[51] When construction started on Columbia University, Teachers College, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and St. Luke's Hospital in the mid-1890s, no single name was commonly used for the neighborhood.

[54] Speculative developers, hoping to cater to Morningside Heights' institutions and Manhattan's increasing population, started erecting the first row houses in the area in 1892–1893.

These early buildings were designed in the Colonial, Georgian, or Renaissance Revival styles, in contrast to the architecture of the older row houses in nearby neighborhoods.

[98] Other institutions of higher education on Morningside Heights were developed in the early 20th century, the first of which was the new campus of the Union Theological Seminary between Broadway and Claremont Avenue from 120th to 122nd Streets.

[111][112] To fit these new regulations, the architects of the different developments drew up several general plans to maximize the amount of floor space in each building, while also ensuring every residential unit had windows that faced either a courtyard or the street.

These buildings contained features that were considered innovative at the time, such as electric lighting, soundproofed and parquet floors, tiled bathrooms with porcelain fixtures, and long-distance telephone lines.

[111] The subway opened in October 1904 with stations at 110th, 116th, and 125th Streets, providing a direct connection to Lower Manhattan, the city's economic center at the time.

[117] A Real Estate Record and Guide article published in August 1906 described Morningside Heights as New York City's "most distinctive high-class apartment house quarter".

[123][124] According to Andrew Dolkart, architectural historian at Columbia University, more than half of the early apartment housing in Morningside Heights was developed by one of three firms: George Pelham, Neville & Bagge, or Schwartz & Gross.

[135] In 1947, fourteen major institutions in the neighborhood formed Morningside Heights Inc, an urban renewal organization that aimed to reduce poverty and segregation by erecting new housing.

[136] Morningside Gardens drew some opposition, as it replaced an eclectic group of low- and mid-rise housing that was occupied by about 6,000 people, mostly African Americans.

[143] These were the Interchurch Center, opened in 1960;[143][144] the Bank Street College of Education, which announced its intention to move to the area in 1964;[145][146] and St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School, which relocated from Manhattan Valley and Morningside Heights in 1967.

[145][147] Columbia assisted with the latter two additions, since it was interested in making Morningside Heights into a desirable place for its faculty to send their children to primary school.

[145] Within the existing campuses of neighborhood institutions, two St. Luke's Hospital pavilions were demolished and replaced in the 1950s and 1960s,[143] and a new office wing at Riverside Church opened in 1959.

[143] The newer buildings had architecture that was described as bland, as contrasted to the simultaneous expansions of other communities with Ivy League universities, which were constructing structures with more distinctive designs.

[143][150][c] Through the 1960s, Columbia University, Barnard College, and other institutions purchased several dozen buildings in Morningside Heights, leading to accusations of forced eviction and gentrification.

[135] Likewise, while apartment buildings were rent-regulated, many units were subject to "affiliation clauses" that extended tenancy only to members of the academic institutions within Morningside Heights.

[171] Despite its redevelopment, the neighborhood still retained some of its working-class character, mostly because of Columbia's affiliation-clause policy, leading the Times to say in 1993 that Morningside Heights "has practically escaped yuppification".

[175][176][177] One critic called the SoHa name "insulting and another sign of gentrification run amok",[178] while another said that "the rebranding not only places their neighborhood's rich history under erasure but also appears to be intent on attracting new tenants, including students from nearby Columbia University.

This prompted residents to create a task force, the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, to rezone certain blocks to require affordable housing in certain types of developments.

[138][202] The six-building Morningside Gardens co-op is located directly southwest of the Grant Houses superblocks and is bounded by 123rd and LaSalle Streets, Broadway, and Amsterdam Avenue.

[232] The West End Bar served especially as a meeting place for writers of the Beat Generation in the 1940s and 1950s,[233] as well as for student activists in the years surrounding the Columbia University protests of 1968.

[234][235] The Hungarian Pastry Shop has long served as a regular place of visitation for students and professors at Columbia University, writers, and other residents of Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side.

[251][252] The building was erected in 1891 by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, a prolific builder of New York City firehouses in the late 19th century, and was one of the first major structures in Morningside Heights.

[190]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Community District 9 is 0.008 milligrams per cubic metre (8.0×10−9 oz/cu ft), more than the city average.

[281][283] NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies is also located in the neighborhood, directly above Tom's Restaurant in a building owned by Columbia University.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York on Amsterdam Avenue, is an unfinished building that ranks among the largest churches in the world.