San Juan Hill, Manhattan

San Juan Hill was mostly erased due to 20th century sweep of "urban renewal" to create Lincoln Center, displacing thousands of families, and leaving a number of people never to know the neighborhood existed. In the early 20th century African Americans started to move from San Juan Hill to Harlem. The black population decreased while the Puerto Rican population grew. More Puerto Rican families started moving there in the 1950s coinciding with a massive influx of Puerto Rican migration after World War II. In the 1940s the neighborhood of San Juan Hill was designated as a slum and called "the worst slum district of New York City" by the New York City Housing Authority.

In 1947, the City of New York made San Juan Hill an area for redevelopment. Parts of San Juan Hill, from 61st to 64th Streets along Amsterdam to West End Avenues were demolished in 1947, and the Amsterdam Houses were completed in 1948. More than 1,100 families, mostly black and Puerto Rican, were evicted to build the Amsterdam Houses. During this time, the displacement of more than 7,000 lower-class families and 800 businesses happened, mainly being due to the price increase regarding the renewal process of clearing up the slums. Although 4,400 new housing units were intended for future residents. The rent of rooms after the urban renewal project took place would range from $40-$50 a room, which was too high for the original residents. However, few tenement houses still stand today, one exception being Phipps Houses on 63rd Street. The buildings make up the oldest affordable housing units that led to the move of the working class and quality of life that was rare for the people of color during this time. Moreover, Roseanna Weston, a resident of San Juan Hill who lived in this housing said that she remembered that before living in Phipps houses, her family lived in a run-down tenement.[8] Known as the ideal tenement, it was one of the last tenement buildings left standing after the demolition of San Juan Hill.[9]

Declaring the area of San Juan Hill a slum later became the first step in a city redevelopment project in the name of urban renewal. Robert Moses, a developer and chairmen of Committee on Slum Clearance and leader of such destructive urban renewal projects throughout most of the 1950s and 1960s, used a federal program to claim the land in the area of San Juan Hill under eminent domain. This law was Title I of the 1949 Housing Act, giving federal backing for urban renewal projects. These projects created middle-class housing while displacing lower-income families, and made room to create Lincoln Center. This post-WWII transformation of San Juan Hill neighborhood is said to have been an early example of urban gentrification.[10][9]

In the 1950s, the neighborhood was almost completely torn down and Lincoln Center was built. The land was obtained by Moses using eminent domain turned a multi-ethnic community into an elite cultural venue, unaffordable to the families he displaced. By 1955, Robert Moses struck a deal with the Met Opera to develop the neighborhood north of Columbus Circle into a home for the arts. Other organizations such as Fordham University, the New York Philharmonic, and the Juilliard School of Music soon followed suit moved their headquarters and campuses to the center.[11] The area had been the home of over 17,000 residents.[12][5][13] Construction on the development project started in 1959.[9][10][14]