Why is New York call the Big Apple?

Answer 1

In 1803 or 1804 a French woman named Evelyn Claudine de Saint-Évremond moved to New York. She is said to have been beautiful and quite respected among elite New York society. She was even supposed to marry John Hamilton, the son of famous lawyer and Revolutionary Alexander Hamilton. For some reason the marriage was called off, and Evelyn went into business. The women who worked for her, who were known for their elegance and beauty, were paid to entertain wealthy men. When New Yorkers shortened Evelyn's name to Eve (like Eve in the bible who ate the infamous apple), she started calling the women who worked for her "my irresistible apples." Soon, Eve's male customers started calling her employees "Eve's apples," and the phrase began to stick. A reference to New York women as apples was used publicly in an 1870 New York City "gentleman's directory," and again in a speech by lawyer William Jennings Bryan in 1892. Bryan called New York a "rotten apple," referring to the city's corruption. The phrase "big apple," or "the apple," was used again in a 1907 guidebook in a phrase "some may think the apple is losing some of its sap."
John J. Fitz Gerald popularized the term Big Apple in the racing form that printed his column, and Barry Popik has no explanation as to the origin of where the stable hands got this term from, so this is the story I’m gonna go with.

Answer 2

It comes from various sources including jazz and horseracing circles. Its popularity since the 1970s is due to a promotional campaign by the New York Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

Its earlier origins are, in part, the result of the name jazz musicians gave in the 1940's to the section of 52nd Street between 5th and 7th Avenues, which they called the Apple. If a jazz musician had reached the big time, he played in clubs on the Apple or Swing Street.

Another explanation, cited by the New-York Historical Society and others is that it was first popularized by John Fitz Gerald, who first used it in his horse racing column in the New York Morning Telegraph in 1921, then further explaining its origins in his February 18, 1924 column. Fitz Gerald credited African-American stable-hands working at horseracing tracks in New Orleans:

"The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York."

Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the "cooling rings" of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.

"Where y'all goin' from here?" queried one.
"From here we're headin' for The Big Apple", proudly replied the other.
"Well, you'd better fatten up them skinners or all you'll get from the apple will be the core", was the quick rejoinder.

In the 1920s the New York race tracks were the cream of the crop, so going to the New York races was a big treat, the prize, allegorically a Big Apple.

In 1997, as part of an official designation of "Big Apple Corner" in Manhattan, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani summarizes the rest of the story:

A decade later many jazz musicians began calling the City "The Big Apple" to refer to New York City (especially Harlem) as the jazz capital of the world. Soon the nickname became synonymous with New York City and its cultural diversity. In the early 1970s the name played an important role in reviving New York's tourist economy through a campaign led by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau. Today the nickname "The Big Apple," which replaced "Fun City," is the international description of the city and is synonymous with the cultural and tourist attractions of New York City.

Therefore, it is only fitting that the southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway, the corner on which John J. Fitz Gerald resided from 1934 to 1963, be designated "Big Apple Corner."
According to PBS's Broadway: The American Musical miniseries, Walter Winchell used the term "Big Apple" to refer to the New York cultural scene, especially Harlem and Broadway, helping to spread the use of this nickname.

A documented earlier use comes from the 1909 book The Wayfarer in New York by Edward S. Martin. He wrote (regarding New York) that the rest of the United States "inclines to think the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap."

Etymologists have been unable to trace any influence that this use had on the nickname's popularity.

Answer 3

I once researched it a long while ago, because I was curious and I came up with the same jazz and horse racing thing. I won't repeat it, just support it.

Answer 4

it was reportedly built on the site of an orchard