The City That Died, and the City That Never Sleeps

Williamsburg, Virginia founded: 1632. New York City founded: 1624.

Both these cities were founded at roughly the same time. Both these cities served as early colonial/state capitals and important events of early American History occurred in both these cites. But something very interesting happened when both ceased to be the capital city of their given territory.

(1797 Albany becomes New York’s Capital and in 1780 Richmond became Virginia’s Capital)  

New York remained important for two reasons, as the site of the United States capital (Until it was officially moved to Washington DC) and as an economic power in its own right. While it may have ceased to be a political capital, due to its size and ease of access for trade it remained the an important economic hub of the country. New York was a city that kept growing and kept reinventing itself every generation.   

This was not the case with Williamsburg. Without the capital, the city began to dwindle. Richmond was not too far away, and most who had investment in the government moved to Richmond.  Also hurting Williamsburg was that while it was not too far from both the York River and the James River, Richmond was built on the James River and thus river access was much easier. The city slowly died.

The city dwindled from capital, to “sleepy little town.”

This led to something interesting. Many of the old colonial era buildings in the city were not destroyed or replaced. Many were nearly derelict, but they were still there.

It was a city, for the most part, paused in time. The greatest example of a city paused in time is of course Pompeii, a city that died in an instant.  New York City never paused, it was a city always moving forward, reinventing itself and constantly becoming new again.

In the 1920s and 1930s a partnership was made in Williamsburg between community leaders, particularly the Reverend Dr. Goodwin, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. They worked to buy and restore historic buildings, demolished or move non-period buildings, and rebuilt other structures on their historic sites. They turned the historic city center into an outdoor living history museum and it has since become one of Virginia’s top tourist destinations.  

For an interesting history of how the town was transformed check out Williamsburg Before and After:The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital.

Because Williamsburg is a city that died, it ceased to change, and thus its colonial heritage was still present and the city itself has turned that into its most lucrative selling point.

New York knocked down buildings, and then built them bigger, then knocked down those buildings and again built them bigger.

Here is an incredible video of New York City in 1911:

While some of the things seen in this video are still there, much of what is in this video has long since been replaced by something bigger newer and “better.”  This is not a condemnation, it is simply a major part of New York’s identity, which is an a focus on “The Now.”  I think this video does a good job of also showing how those in 1911 New York City felt they were living in “The Now.”

Perhaps a excellent recent example of this is Yankee Stadium. The original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923. That stadium was home to some of the greatest events in the history of baseball. It had the nickname “The House the Ruth Built” and “The Cathedral of Baseball.”

In its heyday it was considered the greatest baseball stadium in the world. It was even modeled to evoke the image of the Colosseum, possibly the most famous stadium in history.

Yet in the end, though it had so much history, the stadium was considered old and from a previous era.  The Yankees played their last game in the stadium in 2008 and it was destroyed in 2010. It was replaced by a new stadium which opened in 2009, which was touted to be the greatest, most modern stadium in baseball.

New Yankee Stadium is a beautiful modern ballpark, but it is modern at the expense of moving on from its history.

I am amazed that so many do not realize the George Washington’s entire presidency and most of that of John Adams took place in New York City. New York has an incredible history, but because it is a city that never stops, many of the buildings its history took place in no longer exist, often having been replaced with bigger and more modern versions of themselves.   

For a great book on the early history of New York City, check out Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898  

Both Williamsburg and New York City have these deep and important histories. Yet, that history is so much clearer to see in Williamsburg, because the city died and that history was later brought to the forefront and emphasized. New York has never paused and while its history is long and convoluted it is also oddly much harder to see.