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Colleges and universities

University education includes Yeshiva University and Boricua College. The medical campus of Columbia University hosts the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the biomedical programs of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which offer Masters and Doctorate degrees in several fields. These schools are among the departments that comprise the Columbia University Medical Center.

Despite its name, CUNY in the Heights, the uptown campus of the City University of New York, is not in the Heights, but in Inwood.The CUNY XPress Center, however, is in the Fort George neighborhood of Washington Heights, but it is not a campus. Instead, its purpose is to assist immigrants and to help students enroll in one of the CUNY schools.

Primary and secondary schools

Private primary and secondary schools include Mother Cabrini High School, The School of The Incarnation, Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, and the City College Academy of the Arts, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Other private schools include the Herbert G. Birch School for Exceptional Children, Medical Center Nursery School and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy.

Public primary and secondary schools are assigned to schools in the New York City Department of Education. High Schools include: George Washington High School.

Cultural Attractions

The best known cultural site and tourist attraction in Washington Heights is The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park at the northern end of the neighborhood, with spectacular views across the Hudson to the New Jersey Palisades. This branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is devoted to Medieval art and culture, and is located in a medieval-style building, portions of which were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled.

Audubon Terrace, a cluster of five distinguished Beaux Arts institutional buildings, is home to another major, though little-visited museum, The Hispanic Society of America. The Society has the largest collection of works by El Greco and Goya outside of the Museo del Prado, including one of Goya's famous paintings of Cayetana, Duchess of Alba. In September 2007, it commenced a three-year collaboration with the Dia Art Foundation. The campus on Broadway at West 156th Street also houses The American Academy of Arts and Letters, which holds twice yearly, month-long public exhibitions, and Boricua College.

Manhattan's oldest remaining house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, is located in the landmarked Jumel Terrace Historic District, between West 160th and West 162nd Street, just east of St. Nicholas Avenue. An AAM-accredited historic house museum, the Mansion interprets the colonial era, the period when General George Washington occupied it during the American Revolutionary War, and the early 19th century in New York.

The Paul Robeson Home, located at 555 Edgecombe Avenue on the corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street, is a National Historic Landmark building. The building is now known for its famous African American residents including actor Paul Robeson, musician Count Basie, and boxer Joe Louis.

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom, on Broadway at West 165th Street. The interior of the building was demolished, but the Broadway facade remains, incorporated into one of Columbia's Audubon Center buildings. It is now the home of the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Educational Center.Several shops, restaurants and a bookstore occupy the first floor.

At the Hudson's shore, in Fort Washington Park stands the Little Red Lighthouse, a small lighthouse located at the tip of Jeffrey's Hook at the base of the eastern pier of the George Washington Bridge. It was made famous by a 1942 children's book and is the site of a namesake festival in the late summer. A 5.85-mile recreational swim finishes there in early autumn. It's also a popular place to watch for peregrine falcons.

Notable current and former residents of Washington Heights

Pedro Alvarez (1987-), baseball player who was drafted second overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft
Alex Arias (1967-), Dominican-American former Major League Baseball player
Maria Callas (1923-1977), opera singer, was raised in Washington Heights until she was 14. Her school certificate hangs in the hallways of P.S. 132
Rod Carew (1945-), former professional baseball player
Frances Conroy (1953-), actress
Nelson Antonio Denis (1954-), New York State Assemblyman
Don Dinero - Cuban-American Hip-Hop/Reggaeton artist
David Dinkins, Mayor of New York City 1990-1994.
Jim Dwyer (1957-), columnist and reporter at The New York Times
Laurence Fishburne (1961-), African-American, Academy Award nominated actor
Luis Flores (1981-), Dominican former NBA point guard
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941), German-American professional baseball player for the New York Yankees
Elias Goldberg (1886-1978), New York painter, most of his city paintings focus on the area of Washington Heights. Mr. Goldberg exhibited at the legendary Charles Egan Gallery
Alan Greenspan (1926-), 13th Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
Hex Hector (1965-), Grammy Award winning remixer and producer
Jacob K. Javits (1904-1986), United States Senator
Henry Kissinger (1923-), former National Security Advisor and United States Secretary of State
Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008), geneticist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in bacterial genetics, was born in Montclair
Stan Lee (1922-), Creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk
Daniel D. McCracken, early computer pioneer and author
Knox Martin (1923-), American painter, sculptor, muralist
Mims (1981-), Jamaican-American Rapper
Lin-Manuel Miranda (1980-), actor, and Tony Award-winning composer, and lyricist, best known for writing and acting in the Broadway musical In the Heights
Theodore McCarrick (1930 - ) Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, D.C. (2001-2006)
Don Omar (1978-), Puerto Rican hip-hop/merengue/Reggaeton artist
Karina Pasian (1991-), Recording R&B Singer from Def Jam Records
Manny Perez - Dominican Actor, who has appeared in Third Watch
Freddie Prinze (1954-1977), Puerto Rican and Hungarian descent Stand-up comedian, best known for his 1970s TV series Chico and the Man co-starring Jack Albertson
Manny Ramírez (1972-), Dominican Baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Alex Rodriguez (1975-), Dominican-American Baseball player for the New York Yankees
James R. Russell, scholar and Harvard University professor
Merlin Santana (1976-2002), Dominican-American actor also Tupac's brother-in-law
Vin Scully (1927-), Sportscaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers
TAKI 183 - one of the originators of New York graffiti
Ruth Westheimer (1928-), "Dr. Ruth", sex educator and sex counselor
Jerry Wexler (1917-2008), music producer who coined the term "Rhythm and blues"
Rafael Yglesias (1954-), novelist/screenwriter

Washington Heights - Geography

Washington Heights is on the high ridge in Upper Manhattan that rises steeply north of the narrow valley that carries 125th Street to the former ferry landing on the Hudson River. Though the neighborhood was once considered to run as far south as 125th Street, modern usage defines the neighborhood as running north from Harlem (Hamilton Heights) at 155th Street to Inwood, topping out just below Dyckman Street.

The wooded slopes of Washington Heights seen from a sandy cove on the Hudson as they were about 1845 are illustrated in a canvas by John James Audubon's son, Victor Clifford Audubon, conserved by the Museum of the History of New York.

Manhattan's highest point

Ten blocks from the northern end of Washington Heights, in its Hudson Heights neighborhood near Pinehurst Avenue and 183rd Street in Bennett Park, is a plaque marking Manhattan's highest natural elevation, 265 ft (80.8 m) above sea level, at what was the location of Fort Washington, the Revolutionary War camp of General George Washington and his troops, from whom Washington Heights takes its name.

Manhattan's highest fixed elevation point is the top of the Yeshiva University Sy Syms School of Business building at 184 St. & Amsterdam Ave.

Neighborhood

Neighborhood in northern Manhattan, bounded to the north by Dyckman Street, to the East by the Harlem River, to the south by 155th Street, and to the west by the Hudson River; two ridges run north and south through it.

Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War at the highest point on Manhattan island to defend the area from the British forces. Washington Heights is on the high ridge in Upper Manhattan that rises steeply north of the narrow valley that carries 125th Street to the former ferry landing on the Hudson River.

Washington Heights is connected to Fort Lee, New Jersey via the George Washington Bridge.

George Washington Bridge

The Trans-Manhattan Expressway, a portion of Interstate 95, proceeds from the George Washington Bridge in a trench between 178th and 179th Streets. To the east, the Highway leads to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge across the Harlem River to the Bronx and the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The Washington Bridge crosses the Harlem River just north of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. High Bridge is the oldest Harlem River span still in existence, crossing the river just south of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge.

The total length of the bridge, including approaches, is 2,375 feet (724 m). The parallel main spans of the steel arch bridge stretch 555 feet (169 m) long over the Harlem River and provide 103 ft (31 m) of vertical clearance at the center and 366 ft (112 m) of horizontal clearance.

Another major museum is The Hispanic Society of America, which has the largest collection of works from El Greco and Goya outside of the Museo del Prado.

Manhanttan's oldest remaining house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, is located in the landmarked Jumel Terrace Historic District, located between West 160th and West 162nd Street, just east of St. Nicholas Avenue. The Mansion interprets the colonial era, the period when General George Washington occupied it during the American Revolutionary War, and the early 19th century in New York.

The father of our country, George Washington, not only gave the area its name - Washington Heights - but also slept here (and headquartered) in what is now Morris-Jumel Mansion.

Manhattan's oldest surviving house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, is a monument to colonial grandeur. Built about 1765 as a summer retreat for British colonel Roger Morris and his wife, Mary Philipse, its distinctive style was very advanced for its time.

Gentrification has been continuing in recent years. It brought a Starbucks to 181st Street, and other upscale stores, spas, gourmet markets, and restaurants.

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Fort George - Fort George is the name given to the area south of Dyckman St. and north of 188th Street. Sights include the Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's stunning Medieval collection is housed in the Cloisters.

Hudson Heights - Hudson Heights is a Manhattan neighborhood located within the larger area known as Washington Heights in New York City. It is bounded to the north by Fort Tryon Park at 191st Street, to the west by the Hudson River, to the south by 181st Street and to the east by Broadway. The neighborhood is mostly residential, but it also has strips of commercial activity along 187th streets and 181st.

Inwood - Inwood includes the area between the Harlem River and Dyckman St. It is the northernmost neighborhood in Manhattan. During the late 19th century Inwood was a popular area for the rich to build estates. Inwood Hill Park, which contains the only remaining primeval forest in Manhattan, is located in this neighborhood.

Marble Hill - Marble Hill is the northernmost section of Manhattan in New York City. Marble Hill is notable in that it is legally a part of Manhattan although it is now geographically a part of the Bronx. In 1895, the construction of the Harlem River Ship Channel rendered the area an island bounded by the canal to the south and the original course of the Harlem River to the north. In 1914, the old river was filled in, physically connecting Marble Hill to the borough of The Bronx and the rest of the North American mainland. Marble Hill residents remain part of a political district that includes the northernmost areas of Manhattan (Washington Heights and Inwood), but receive services from the Bronx, most likely due to reasons of convenience and safety. Up the hill, several thousand feet to the north and west of the area, is the suburban area of Riverdale, which is the most affluent section of the Bronx. Broadway is the area's primary thoroughfare. In the last decade, national retailers have opened outlets in the neighborhood.

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