Event Summary

In June of 1832, cholera had made its way to ports in Canada and traveled down from St. Laurence and the Hudson River to lower Manhattan, where it grew into an epidemic. Many wealthy Manhattan residents, aware of its approach, moved away to the country side to avoid infection. However, the poor who inhabited lower Manhattan had no choice but to stay and face the disease. With no effective method of treatment, 3,500 people, mostly poor immigrants, died during the course of the plague.