December 14, 1894: The New York State Board of Canvassers releases the official tally of the referendums on creating "The City of Greater New York." Most of the constituencies approved it.
Up to this point, the City of New York consisted of Manhattan Island and part of what became known as The Bronx. But Brooklyn was a separate city, and there were other separate cities around both, which is why the westernmost neighborhood in Queens is called Long Island City.
Queens County then consisted of Long Island City, and the Towns of Elmhurst, Flushing and Jamaica, and what are now called "The Rockaways," then part of the Town of Hempstead. Richmond County, making up the entirety of Staten Island, consisted of the Towns of Castleton, Middletown, Northfield, Southfield and Westfield.
The building of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, and the idea of building other bridges and a subway system connecting the two cities, replacing the old ferry boat system, helped put forward the idea of a single city that would be home to about 4 million people.
But Brooklyn, in particular, didn't want to do it: They liked their independence, and didn't want Manhattan telling them what to do. They'd already endured the heavy-handed control of the Manhattan-based Tammany Hall political machine dominating the State legislature, not to mention professional baseball teams calling themselves "New York" while playing at Brooklyn facilities such as the Union Grounds in Williamsburg and the Capitoline Grounds in Bedford-Stuyvesant. (Both had since been demolished.)
Nevertheless, the vote was taken, with a "Yes" vote meaning "For Consolidation," and a "No" vote meaning "Against Consolidation." Here were the results:
* Richmond County (Staten Island): 78.61 percent Yes. Over time, Staten Island would become the Borough the least satisfied with the setup, and has voted at least once to secede from the City, but this has not been permitted by the State government.
* Town of Pelham (in Bronx County): 62.13 percent Yes.
* Queens County: 61.93 percent Yes.
* New York County (Manhattan): 61.78 percent Yes.
* Town of East Chester (in Bronx County): 58.99 percent Yes. Eastchester (usually written as one word since then) has always been part of Bronx County, never Westchester County.
* Kings County (Brooklyn): 50.11 percent Yes. The winning margin was just 277 votes.
* Town of Westchester (in Westchester County): 50.04 percent No. The margin of victory was, literally, one single vote, 621 to 620.
* City of Mount Vernon (in Westchester County): 64.74 percent No. They remained separate, not joining Bronx County.
And so, on January 1, 1898, the Counties of New York, Bronx, Queens, Kings and Richmond became, respectively, the Boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island; and, collectively, the City of New York. Westchester and Mount Vernon remained separate, and Mount Vernon became the seat of the new version of Westchester County.
The term "City of Greater New York" was never a legal or official designation; both the original Charter of 1898 and the newer one of 1938 use the name "City of New York." It is used today only to refer to the time period when the consolidation took place.
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December 14, 1894 was a Friday. There were no scores on this historic day: Baseball was out of season, college football's regular season was over with only 4 postseason games (not yet called "bowl games") remaining to be played, hockey was all-amateur, and basketball was a new invention.
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