Afterlives of San Juan Hill: a Profile of the Residents 1
S t i l l s fr o m t h e fi l m , L i n c o l n C e n t e r : Th e L e g e n d I s B o r n , a p u b l i c r e l a t i o n s t o o l c r e a t e d b y L i n c o l n C e n t e r fo r t h e P e r fo r m i n g A r t s , 1 9 5 9. © L i n c o l n C e n t e r fo r t h e P e r fo r m i n g A r t s .
In 1958, an emerging Puerto Rican community was displaced from New York City’s Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill neighborhoods to make way for the construction of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Fordham University. Infamously called a “Puerto Rican Slum” and “the worst slum in New York” by the architect of New York’s Urban Renewal Process, Robert Moses, Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill were home to approximately 2,000 Puerto Rican families. Utilizing never-before-seen archival documents made available to CENTRO by the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and other archival materials from that time period, this exhibit delves into the larger history of the Lincoln Square Urban Renewal project and traces the process through which these families were disrupted and displaced. These records invite us to engage in a necessary reframing of the scripts that bolstered dispossession in the name of development across New York City in the mid-20th century. By delving into the lived experiences of the community’s residents, AF TERLIVES OF SAN JUAN HILL highlights the individual stories of Lincoln Square residents during this pivotal time. Afterlives of San Juan Hill: a Profile of the Residents 3
C o u r t e s y o f L i n c o l n C e n t e r fo r t h e P e r fo r m i n g A r t s A r c h i v e s . 4 Who were the Residents of San Juan Hill?
D I S P L AC E M E N T Personally identifiable information has been redacted to protect individual privacy in accordance with the guidelines of the Society of American Archivists. Race information was not originally gathered or was obscured at an unknown date by unknown parties. Afterlives of San Juan Hill: a Profile of the Residents 5
Porter & Wheelock (BPW), a real estate company, was hired to serve as property managers and relocation agents for both the Lincoln Center and the Fordham University sites. BPW was responsible for supervising management and maintenance of all buildings on the relocation sites. They were also responsible for interviewing families and businesses that would be relocated from the site. CENTRO was granted access to never-before-seen records from those interviews by the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts Archives. For over a year, members of CENTRO’s Data Hub analyzed a total of 2,130 site occupation records belonging to families in the Lincoln Center site. Information tabulated and processed for analysis includes: • family composition • housing condition • relocation 6 Records of Displacement
C o u r t e s y o f L i n c o l n C e n t e r fo r t h e P e r fo r m i n g A r t s A r c h i v e s . 7 Afterlives of San Juan Hill: a Profile of the Residents
Records of Displacement Braislin, Porter & Wheelock site occupation record for 151 West 64th Street, 1958 (back). C o u r t e s y o f L i n c o l n C e n t e r fo r t h e P e r fo r m i n g A r t s A r c h i v e s .
information collected by BPW in these records was inconsistent across the board. This yielded a volume of missing data that hindered the team’s capacity to provide a full panel of the conditions tenants of the Lincoln Center were living in. Because of this, extra steps were taken to ensure maximum information could be obtained, particularly of the Puerto Rican population. Missing For the most part, this exhibit references the “Puerto Rican Household” when addressing Puerto Ricans. This distinction is made to encapsulate households where at least one member was born in Puerto Rico or where tenants indicated their race to be Puerto Rican. The data contained throughout the exhibit highlights the abrasiveness of the displacement and dispossession of the families living in the area while also providing a snapshot of a growing Puerto Rican community. Afterlives of San Juan Hill: a Profile of the Residents 9
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