Harlem

Harlem
Neighborhood
Apartment buildings next to Morningside Park in Harlem
Nickname(s):  "Heaven", "Black mecca"
Location of Harlem in New York City
Coordinates: 40°48′32″N 73°56′54″W / 40.80889°N 73.94833°W / 40.80889; -73.94833
Country	United States
State	New York
City	New York City
Borough	Manhattan
Community District	Manhattan 10[1]
Founded	1660[2]
Founded by	Peter Stuyvesant
Named for	Haarlem, Netherlands
Area [1]
• Total	1.400 sq mi (3.63 km2)
Population [3]: 2
• Total	197,052
Economics [4]
• Median income	$52,708
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	10026, 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037, 10039
Area code	212, 332, 646, and 917

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658,^[5] it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.^[6] Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly.^[7] In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify.

The area is served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes. It contains several public elementary, middle, and high schools, and is close to several colleges, including Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, and the City College of New York. Central Harlem is part of Manhattan Community District 10.^[1] It is patrolled by the 28th and 32nd Precincts of the New York City Police Department. The greater Harlem area also includes Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 11 and several police precincts, while fire services are provided by four New York City Fire Department companies.