From Dutch settlement to Bohemian Mecca, Greenwich Village in New York City has a long and rich history of seeking the American ideals of liberty and equality.

Originally settled by the Dutch in the 17th century, then held by the British until America seized control during the Revolutionary War. The Village was used as farm land, a potter's field, and a public gallows before those fleeing a yellow fever epidemic permanently settled in the area around the early 1800's.

Washington Square Park, a center of the community, is adorned with the Washington Arch commemorating the inauguration of George Washington.

Newly arrived immigrants flooded the streets of New York along with cultural immigrants the bohemians seeking an unconventional lifestyle in Greenwich Village.

Bohemian ideals attracted artists, writers, and musicians to the neighborhood which started to boast an abundance of theaters, galleries, bars and clubs for those nonconformists.

Musicians Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix played the clubs such as the Cafe Wha?, while writers such as Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac found refuge and inspiration in literary haunts such as the White Horse Tavern.

Greenwich Village boasts a rich history of equal rights activism. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, killed over 140 women, and prompted a labor rights movement that spread throughout the country.

The beginnings of the national Gay Rights Movement also started in the neighborhood after a riot at the Stonewall Inn in 1969.

Until 6th and 7th avenues were extended in the 20th century, no major north/south route traveled the Village, unintentionally protecting Greenwich Village as a unique community.

Efforts to preserve its historic structures, including many theaters and churches, began in the early 1940's. Historic district designation strengthened Greenwich Village sustainablity efforts that continue today with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.