Audubon Park
the neighborhood Manhattan forgot...
AP
Images Courtesy of:
The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
This detail from the Dripps 1867 map of Northern Manhattan provides myriad clues to life in Audubon Park.  Grinnell, Knapp, Clapp, Benedict, Wheelock, and Kerner are all names associated with Audubon Park's first two decades.  The map appears to be a composite.  Boulevard Lafayette (Public Drive) which stretches across the north eastern border of Audubon Park are a later addition to this map, as it was not constructed until the early 1870s, nor did Broadway bissect Trinity Cemetery in 1867. 
G. B. (George Blake) Grinnell's large piece of property in the center of Audubon Park will, in only a few years more than double.

Note the contrast in development on the eastern and western sides of Eleventh Avenue (Broadway).  The grid is absent in Audubon Park where houses face various directions while across Eleventh Avenue, gird-style blocks are lotted with houses facing (and sitting near) the cross streets.  Between 152nd and 156th Streets is Carmansville, named for Richard Carman, a real estate developer whose large land holdings had included the green swath that became Trinity Cemetery. 

Three churches in Carmansville served the residents of Audubon Park.  The Audubons were among the original founders of the Church of the Intercession (Episcopal) at 154th Street and 10th Avenue (Amsterdam).  In 1873, the Grinnells were instrumental in selecting the second location for the  church, at Broadway and 158th Street.  W. A. (William) Wheelock, who owned property in Audubon Park as well as north of 158th Street, was an active member of the Washington Heights Presbyterian Church at the corner of 155th Streeet and 10th Avenue (Its current location is on 155th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam).  In 1868, Wheelock donated an organ to the church, as well as funds to expand the rear of the pulpit to contain it.  His mansion north of 158th Street stood until the early 1930s.

At the lower left is the Depot Hotel, adjacent to the 152nd Street stop on the Hudson River Railroad.  The stop's proximity to Audubon Park and the relatively short ride to lower Manhattan encouraged businessmen like Clapp, Benedict, and Grinnell to move  their families this far from the center of the city.
Detail from Dripps Map 1867