Why do Americans go 'downtown' whilst people in the UK go 'up town'?

Solution 1:

Citing Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880-1950 by Robert M. Fogelson, Wikipedia says:

The term is thought to have been coined in New York City, where it was in use by the 1830s to refer to the original town at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. As the town of New York grew into a city, the only direction it could grow on the island was toward the north, proceeding upriver from the original settlement (the "up" and "down" terminology in turn came from the customary map design in which up was north and down was south). Thus, anything north of the original town became known as "uptown" (Upper Manhattan), while the original town (which was also New York's only major center of business at the time) became known as "downtown" (Lower Manhattan).

During the late 19th century, the term was gradually adopted by cities across the United States and Canada to refer to the historical core of the city (which was most often the same as the commercial heart of the city). Notably, it was not included in dictionaries as late as the 1880s. But by the early 1900s, downtown was clearly established as the proper term in American English for a city's central business district.

Solution 2:

It would seem to me, from reading the responses, and from thinking further, that the history of the development of New York City played a big part in the notion of 'Downtown'. It is a word that generally-speaking sounds foreign to British ears, but which is employed by the travel industry in the UK for the benefit of tourists.

'Downtown', as I understand it, has two important senses. 'Downtown Minneapolis' is what in Britain we would call the 'City Centre of Minneapolis'.

Where Americans say they are 'going down town', we (especially Londoners) will say we are going 'up town'. In other British cities people may say 'I'm going into town', or 'I'm going in to the City Centre'. But usage across Britain is highly peculiar to local circumstances, and varies greatly from place to place. Also the whole question of what is a city and what is a town, and in what circumstance we refer to Birmingham as a city and in what circumstances we say 'going into town (meaning Birmingham centre) ' is highly nuanced and particular to places.

I would also be interested to learn exactly what is meant by the American term 'Central Business District'. In the case of London, I am never sure if this would mean the City of London, where the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, and the whole panoply of financial institutions are housed, or the shopping area around Oxford Street.

Solution 3:

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Solution 4:

I'd guess probably because the city center was either located South of their present location, or because the location was actually physically low in elevation. A good example of this is when the dense part of the city "the down town part", is located in a valley, while most of the housing is on the foothills.