AFS

The Greek Community of New York City
Early Years to 1910

Michael Contopoulos

Aristide D. Caratzas, Publisher
New Rochelle, New York

1992

Contents

Foreword
Preface
1. Prolegomena
2. The Newcomers
3. The Merchants
4. The Provincial Influx
5. Immigrant Society
6. Economic Foundations
7. The Involvement of New York Greeks in the Greek-Turkish War of 1897
8. Fraternal Associations
9. The Immigrant Church
10. The Immigrant Press
11. Conclusion
Bibliography

Tables
1. Number of Persons Born in Greece, Residing in the United States, in New York State and in New York City: 1850-1910.
2. Population of Foreign Birth or Parentage from Greece and Turkey in New York City and its Boroughs in 1900 and 1910.
3. Greek Members of the Board of Managers of the New York Cotton Exchange: 1870-1888.
4. Greek Members of the Finance Committee of the New York Cotton Exchange: 1874-1898.
5. Immigration to the United States from the Kingdom of Greece and Turkey-in-Europe: 1890-1899.

Appendices
1. I.H. Hill to Christodules Evangelides, Athens, 8 July 1843.
2. Christodules Evangelides to Gulian G. Verplanck, New York, June 19th, 1854.
3. William Cull en Bryant to Moses Grinnell, New York, May 31, 1869.
4. Letter to the Editor of The New York Times, published on April 29, 1896.
5. Letter to the Editor of The Evening Post, March 12, 1897.
6. Extract from Report for the Year 1903 on the Trade and Commerce of the Morea, and Province of Aetolia and Acarnania.
7. Principal Occupations of Alien Immigrants from Greece: 1875-1890.
8. The Number of Parish Organizations of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States, New York State and New York City, 1890-1916.
9. The Number of Members or Communicants in the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States, New York State, New York City: 1890-1916.

Preface
The history of the evolution of the Greek immigrant community transcends local interest because it includes national and international aspects of Eastern European, Near Eastern and American history. The development of immigrant communities demonstrates an important aspect of the urbanization and acculturation of diverse social groups in the United States. The National aspirations and traditions of the Greeks provide a key to the appreciation of their motives, actions and goals in their migration to America and settlement in New York. The New York community had a distant effect on Greek affairs in the Old World. Moreover, Pan-hellenic nationalism, as manifested by the Great Idea, influenced the New York community.
A study of the Greek immigrant community in New York City can be divided into four periods: (1) from the independence of the small Greek state in 1830 to 1910, (2) from 1910 to the proceedings of the Convention of Lausanne in 1923 and the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1924, (3) from 1924 to the World War II and, finally, (4) from the end of the war in 1945 to present times. I have chosen to study the primary period of immigration and settlement in the city, 1830 to 1910. The period covers the development of the basic immigrant institutions: church, fraternal associations and newspapers. The Greek Orthodox churches in the state were protected from the aggressive influence of the Russian Orthodox hierarchy by 1909. The decade ending in 1910 saw the greatest Greek immigration to the United States. The year 1910 also closed a period of political vacillation and instability in Greece.

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