Before the arrival of Europeans, the mouths of streams that eroded gullies in the East River bluffs are conjectured to have been the sites of fishing camps used by the Lenape, whose controlled burns once a generation of so kept the dense canopy of oak-hickory forest open at ground level.

In the 19th century the farmland and market garden district of what was to be the Upper East Side was still traversed by the Boston Post Road and, from 1837, the New York and Harlem Railroad, which brought straggling commercial development around its one station in the neighborhood, at 86th Street, which became the heart of German Yorkville. The area was defined by the attractions of the bluff overlooking the East River, which ran without interruption from James William Beekman's "Mount Pleasant", north of the marshy squalor of Turtle Bay, to Gracie Mansion, north of which the land sloped steeply to the wetlands that separated this area from the suburban village of Harlem.By the mid-19th century the farmland had largely been subdivided, with the exception of the 150 acres (0.61 km²) of Jones' Wood, stretching from 66th to 76th Streets, from the Old Post Road (Third Avenue) to the river and the farmland inherited by James Lenox, who divided it into blocks of houselots in the 1870s and built his Lenox Library on a Fifth Avenue lot, and donated a full square block for the Presbyterian Hospital, between 70th and 71st Streets, and Madison and Park Avenues.

The fashionable future of the narrow strip between Central Park and the railroad cut was established at the outset by the nature of its entrance, in the southwest corner, north of the Vanderbilt family's favored stretch of Fifth Avenue in the 50s A row of handsome townhouses were built on speculation by Mary Mason Jones, who owned the entire block bounded by 57th and 58th Streets and Fifth and Madison.

LOCAL PARKS & ENTERTAINMENT

Central Park 5th Ave to Central Park West, 59th Street to 110th Street

Carl Schurz Park 157 E End Avenue

El Museo del Bario 1230 5th Avenue

Frick Colection 1 East 70th Street

Solomon R Gugenheim Museum 1071 5th Avenue

Howard S. Rose Galery 3 East 65th Street

Jewish Museum 1109 5th Ave

Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 5th Avenue

National Academy of Design Museum 1083 5th Avenue

Society of Illustrators and Annual Exhibition 128 East 63rd Street

Whitney Museum of American Art 945 Madison Ave

92nd Stret Y Tours 1395 Lexington Ave

Restaurants

Amaranth 21 East 62nd Street [ between 5th & Madison Avenue ]

Bravo Giani 230 E. 63rd Street [ between 2nd & 3rd Avenue ]

Cabana 1022 Third Avenue [ between 60th & 61st Streets

Circus 132 E. 61st Street between Lexington & Park Avenues

Buzina Pop 1022A Lexington Avenue and 73rd Street

Cilantro 1321 First Avenue and 71st Street

Gobo 1426 Third Avenue and 81st Street

Persepolis 1407 Second Avenue [ between & 74th Street ]

Pongal 1154 First Avenue [ between 63rd & 64th Street ]

Saucy 1409 York Avenue and 75th Street

Local Health Clubs

New York Sports Club

151 East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue

1637 Third Avenue and 91st Street

502 Park Avenue and 59th Street

349 East 76th Street and 1st Avenue

Equinox 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue

85th Street and 3rd Avenue

Crunch 1109 2nd Avenue

New York Health and Racquet Club

1433 York Avenue

David Barton Gym

30 East 85th Street and Madison Avenue

Shoping

Blomingdale’s 1000 Third Avenue

[ between 59th & 60th Streets ]

Ann Taylor 645 Madison Avenue

Bacarat 625 Madison Avenue

Baly of Switzerland 628 Madison Avenue

Barney’s New York 660 Madison Avenue

Botega Veneta 635 Madison Avenue

Calvin Klein 654 Madison Avenue

Christofle 680 Madison Avenue

Coach 710 Madison Avenue

Crate & Barel 650 Madison Avenue

DKNY 655 Madison Avenue

Dolce & Gabana 825 Madison Avenue

Emanuel Ungaro 792 Madison Avenue

Erica Wilson 717 Madison Avenue

FAO Schwarz 767 Fifth Avenue

Fred Leighton 773 Madison Avenue

Georg Jensen 683 Madison Avenue

Giani Versace 815 Madison Avenue

Giorgio Armani 760 Madison Avenue

Joan & David 816 Madison Avenue

Krizia 769 Madison Avenue

La Perla 777 Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. Books 833 Madison Avenue

Moschino 803 Madison Avenue

Peres 739 Madison Avenue

Peter Fox 806 Madison Avenue

Piere Deux 625 Madison Avenue

Polo 867 Madison Avenue

Polo Sport 888 Madison Avenue

Prada 841 Madison Avenue

Pratesi 829 Madison Avenue

Shery Lehman 679 Madison Avenue

Suzane 700 Madison Avenue

Timberland 709 Madison Avenue

Valentino 747 Madison Avenue

Yves St. Laurent 855 Madison Avenue

Bergdorf Goodman 754 Fifth Avenue

Bergdorf Men’s 745 5th Avenue

Broks Brothers 666 5th Avenue

Bulgari 730 Fifth Avenue

Cartier 653 Fifth Avenue

Disney Store 711 Fifth Ave.

FAO Schwarz 767 Fifth Avenue [ 58th Street ]

Fendi 720 Fifth Avenue

Feragamo Women’s 661 Fifth Avenue

Fortunoff 681 Fifth Avenue

Guci 685 Fifth Avenue

H. Stern 645 Fifth Avenue

Hary Winston 718 Fifth Avenue

Henri Bendel 712 Fifth Avenue

Keneth Cole 610 Fifth Avenue

Louis Vuiton 1 E. 57th Street

NBA Store 666 Fifth Avenue

Prada 724 Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue 611 Fifth Avenue

Sephora 636 Fifth Avenue

Takashimaya 693 Fifth Avenue

Tifany & Co. 727 Fifth Avenue

Trump Tower 725 Fifth Avenue

Van Clef & Arpels 744 Fifth Avenue

Versace 647 Fifth Avenue

Betsey Johnson 1060 Madison Ave. near 80th St

E.A.T. Gifts 1062 Madison Ave., near 80th St

Scop 1275 Third Avenue [ between 73rd and 74th Street ]

TSE 827 Madison Avenue, near 69th Street

Zitomer 969 Madison Avenue near 76th Street

Roberto Cavali 711 Madison Ave

Bergdorf Goodman 754 5th Ave

Barneys New York 660 Madison Ave

Vera Wang 991 Madison Avenue

BIS Designer Resale 1134 Madison Avenue

Corner Bookstore 1313 Madison Avenue

Zitomer Department Store 969 Madison Avenue

SCHOOLS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Allen Stevenson Schol 132 East 78th Street

Birch Wathen Lenox Schol 210 East 77th Street

Brearley Schol 610 East 83rd Street

Browning Schol 52 East 62nd Street

Buckley Schol 113 East 73rd Street

Chapin Schol 100 East End Ave

Convent of Sacred Heart Schol 1 East 91st Street

Dalton Schol 108 East 89th Street

PS 158 Bayard Taylor Schol 1458 York Ave

PS 169M Robert F Kenedy Schol 110 East 88th Street

PS 183 Robert L Stevenson Schol419 East 66th Street

PS 290 Manhattan New Schol 311 East 82nd Street

Lyce Francais De NY Schol 505 East 75th Street

Manhattan Country Schol 7 East 96th Street

Nightingale Bamford Schol 20 E 92nd Street

Ramaz Lower Schol 125 East 85th Street

Rudolf Steiner Schol 15 East 79th Street

St Bernard’s Schol 4 East 98th Street

HIGH SCHOOLS

Allen Stevenson Schol 132 East 78th Street

Birch Wathen Lenox Schol 210 East 77th Street

Brearley Schol 610 East 83rd Street

Browning Schol 52 East 62nd Street

Buckley Schol 113 East 73rd Street

Caedmon Schol 416 East 80th Street

Convent of Sacred Heart Schol 1 East 91st Street

Dalton Schol 108 East 89th Street

Geneva Schol of Manhattan 583 Park Avenue

Hewit Upper Schol 45 East 75th Street

Loyola Schol 980 Park Avenue

Lyce Francais De NY Schol 505 East 75th Street

Marymount Schol of New York 1026 5th Avenue

Nightingale Bamford Schol 20 East 92nd Street

Ramaz High Schol 60 East 78th Street

Regis High Schol 55 East 84th Street

Rudolf Steiner Schol 15 East 79th Street

St David’s Schol 12 East 89th Street

St Bernard’s Schol 4 East 98th Street

Talent Unlimited Schol 317 East 67th Street

COLLEGE

Hunter Colege Campus Schols 71 East 94th Street

Marymount Manhattan Colege 221 East 71st Street

POLICE

23 Precinct 162 East 102nd Street [ Tel. 212.860.6411 ]

19 Precinct 153 East 67th Street