Federal Hall National Memorial - 1703 - Overshadowed today by its towering neighbors, the Greek Revival temple stands on what the New Yorker's Eric Homberger called "sacred ground for the making of the American republic" —where George Washington was inaugurated, where the first Congress convened, and where the flesh, including what would become the Bill of Rights, was placed on the bare bones of the Constitution (a forty-five-hundred-word document that never mentions the word "democracy") —during the 531 days when New York City was the nation's first capital. Even before that, it was the site of John Peter Zenger's trial, which provided the foundation for press freedoms; the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, where a formal coalition of the colonies was first suggested; and the Congress of the Confederation, from 1785 to 1789.The building would first be repurposed as a customs house, which, as New York dominated the nation's maritime trade, would generate most of the federal government's revenue by the mid-nineteenth century. Then the building would be transformed into a fortified branch of the United States Treasury, whose impregnable vaults would guard the largest repository of gold in the world.Its triple service-in the names of democracy, commerce, and capitalism-elevate Federal Hall to an unrivaled role in shaping the city's heritage. It symbolizes, the New York Times said, "Americas turbulent political babyhood and financial manhood. Decades after the new president and the first Congress reached one agreement after another on the enduring structure of the federal government, the diarist and former New York City mayor Philip Hone delivered a toast to the old Federal Hall that evoked the site's synonymy with the grand bargain: "It witnessed the greatest contract ever made in Wall Street." The national government's decision to decamp from Philadelphia and Trenton to New York, at least for the time being, was enthusiastically welcomed by the city's Common Council, which generously agreed to accommodate the out-of-towners by remodeling City Hall at Wall and Broad Streets. (The site was aptly named: Wall Street was the northern perimeter of where the Dutch stockade stood until the end of the seventeenth century; Broad Street was wider than most because it originally accommodated a canal that connected to the East River). 

African Burial Ground National Monument - 2007 - An African Burial Ground was established in 1690, eventually containing 15000 graves of free and enslaved Africans; it was rediscovered in 1991 when construction was beginning on the Federal Building.Historians estimate there may have been as many as 10,000–20,000 burials in what was called the "Negroes Burial Ground" in the 1700s. In 1794 2nd African Burial Ground replaced the first African Burial Ground after original ground was decommissioned by the Common Council. In 2010 African Burial Ground National Monument Rodney Leon's winning competition entry design was dedicated as the African Burial Ground National Monument.The current site of the African Burial Ground consists of the outdoor monument, adjacent to the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway, which holds an interpretive center on the first floor for the burial ground. The center features 5 public artworks commissioned and funded by the General Services Administration. "Unearthed" by Frank Bender, sculptor and forensic artist, is a bronze sculpture inspired by three of the individuals removed from the burial ground. "America Song" by Clyde Lynds is a sculpture composed of granite, concrete and fiber optics, and features an Indian headdress and feathers. At night, the sculpture is illuminated by the fiber optics.

Ellis Island - 1630 - Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey.[4] The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island.

Castle Clinton National Monument - 1811 - Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton, previously known as Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort located in Battery Park, in Manhattan, New York City. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating Ellis Island, where more than 8 million people arrived in the United States from 1855 to 1890.

Wall Street Historic District - The Wall Street Historic District in New York City covers parts of Wall Street and surrounding areas in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Spanning 63 acres, it features 65 contributing buildings and a unique street layout from the colonial era. This layout, influenced by medieval European town patterns, contrasts with the typical Manhattan grid. The area's towering skyscrapers and narrow streets create the famous "canyons" that define Wall Street's architectural character.