History of New York City (1784–1854) as the financial and mercantile capital of the western hemisphere. The Great New York City Fire of 1845 destroyed 345 wooden buildings in the Financial District. The Hudson River Railroad (which grew into the New York Central) opened October 3, 1851; it extended the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, the first railroad built in the state, south to New York City. The city and its nearby suburbs grew rapidly for several reasons. The natural harbor at the base of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the New Jersey ports at Newark and Elizabeth provided almost unlimited capacity for trading ships and protection from storms.
New York City English York City short-"a" pattern has diffused to many "r"-pronouncing communities in northern New Jersey like Rutherford (Labov's birthplace) and North Plainfield. However, in these communities, the function word constraint is lost and the open syllable constraint is variable. The following is a list of notable lifelong native speakers of the rhotic New York City English of northeastern New Jersey: And these are non-rhotic speakers from New Jersey. New York City English New York City English, or Metropolitan New York English, is a regional dialect of American English spoken by many people in New York City and much of its surrounding