James W. Beekman became a successful real estate developer, with his hand in the development of various parts of Manhattan. In 1868, as the real estate market was picking up after the Civil War, Gerard Beekman compiled a bound inventory of his father’s property. Gerard listed 201 properties, most on the East Side near the family’s estate on 50th Street and in the vicinity of Lexington Avenue and 60th Street. The inventory also lists property in Greenwich Village and Harlem as well as other small parcels dispersed across the island. The inventory converts land into numbers: the left page locates each property with a set of coordinates, and the right page values each property in dollars. For example, the first line above describes lot number 99, 20 by 100 feet in area, located on Third Avenue between 64th and 65th Streets, and earning $150 a year. AR