Washington Heights

Residential and commercial district of upper Manhattan, New York City, running south along high ground from 193rd Street and Fort Tryon Park to 155th Street. First settled in the 18th century, it is now a predominantly Hispanic neighbourhood, with many residents originating from the Dominican Republic.

Among the many mansions and farms that originally stood on Washington Heights was ‘Minniesland’, home of the naturalist John James Audubon; he is buried in Trinity Cemetery here. The Morris-Jumel Mansion (1765) served as George Washington's headquarters in 1776. Notable modern structures in the area include Yeshiva University, the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Centre, and the George Washington Bridge (crossing the Hudson River to New Jersey). The Audubon Ballroom, where Black civil rights campaigner Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965, occupied a building next to Columbia Presbyterian, and has been partially preserved. Many groups of immigrants have passed through Washington Heights; the area was dominated by the Irish in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in the 1930s became home to many Jewish refugees from Europe. Broadway is its commercial spine, while the Henry Hudson Parkway, in Riverside/Fort Washington Park, forms its western boundary. The area south to West 125th Street is sometimes included in Washington Heights, but is generally known as Hamilton Heights.