 Starting in the late 19th century, New York residents built summer homes on the shoreline, and even back then there were some who moved to Stamford permanently and started commuting to Manhattan by train, although the practice became more popular later.The densely settled portion of Stamford incorporated as a borough in 1830, and later as a city in 1893.The city consolidated with the rest of the non-city portions of the town of Stamford in 1949 to become the present city of Stamford.