Lower Manhattan, New York City

Aerial photo of the Financial District, Southern Manhattan seen from East River, showing the old Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, completed in 1973 and destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001. Source: Independence Plaza North (informational brochure), 1974, article Olde New Yorke Gets A New Look by Edmund F. Wagner: "The historical significance of Lower Manhattan's streets, buildings and shoreline may be somewhat obscured by the pulsing rhythm of its daily life. The pace of business and educational activity, punctuated by the tidal waves of incoming and outgoing traffic, makes the entire area one of the most dynamic in the world between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. weekdays. Historians know that it was not always this way. Lower Manhattan, the birthplace of New York City, was originally a residential and commercial community where Dutch farmers and English tradesmen lived, worked, raised their families and passed on a legacy of industriousness, the tenets of which we still live by today"...