1.   A century ago, farmers on the island voted decisively to join the newly consolidated city, then almost immediately began regretting their decision.

2.   Next week, New York officially begins a yearlong celebration of its centennial as a consolidated city.

3.   Tammany Democrats feared that Republicans in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island would overwhelm Manhattan, and upstate Republicans feared the large consolidated city would overwhelm the state.

4.   Hester was responsible for merging several local governments, which had been plagued with waste and corruption, into a consolidated city government.