A new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York celebrates the Commissioner’s Plan of 1811, the original plan for Manhattan’s street grid, which has shaped life in the borough for 200 years.

The exhibit will continue through April 15, 2012. The Museum of the City of New York is at the intersection of 103rd Street and Fifth Avenue, which, when the grid was designed, was likely open field. A description of the show by the Museum:

“The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s famous street grid. Featuring an original hand-drawn map of New York’s planned streets and avenues prepared by the Commission in 1811, as well as other rare historic maps, photographs and prints of the evolution of the city’s streets, and original manuscripts and publications that document the city’s physical growth, the exhibition examines the grid’s initial design, implementation, and evolution. The Greatest Grid traces the enduring influence of the 1811 plan as the grid has become a defining feature of the city, shaping its institutions and public life.”