Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village is a large, post-
World War II private residential development, on the east side of the
New York City borough of
Manhattan. Stuyvesant Town, known to its residents as "
Stuy Town", was named after
Peter Stuyvesant, the last director-general of the Dutch colony of
New Amsterdam, whose
farm occupied the site in the 17th century. Peter Cooper Village is named after the 19th century industrialist, inventor and philanthropist
Peter Cooper, who founded
Cooper Union. The complex, which was planned beginning in 1942 and opened its first building in 1947, replaced the
Gas House district of
gas storage tanks.