Where did the names of the most famous streets of New York come from?

The streets of New York City are famous all over the world. Even if you are a tourist here, you probably met these names in many books, films and TV shows. Have you thought about where the names of New York streets come from? About the origin of the most popular resource told NYC Go, New York's Official Guide.

Wall Street

Wall Street and Broadway are perhaps the most famous arteries of the city of New York. The name "Wall Street" is often used to refer to the entire financial industry. The street, stretching across 8 quarters along Lower Manhattan, was first called de Waal Straat. This is how the first Dutch settlers christened it. The most common explanation for the origin of the name is supposedly from the wall created by the last Governor-General of New Amsterdam, Pieter Stuyvesant, along the northern border of the Dutch colony - to contain competitors, the English colonialists. (Stuyvesant is also named after a small street in Manhattan's East Village, an avenue in Brooklyn, and many institutions throughout the city.) Another theory is that Wall Street was named after the 30 Walloon families who were among the first European colonizers of the island.

Фото: Depositphotos

Broadway

Broadway is one of the main arteries of Manhattan, running from north to south, and one of the oldest. It may seem that the origin of the name is obvious: Broadway = wide road in English. This is true, but with a slight amendment: the name comes from the Dutch phrase Breedeweg, the same “broad road”. What's interesting: Broadway runs through all of Manhattan, then through the Bronx and another 18 miles outside the city, and to Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Bowery

The name "Bowery" is the English version of the Dutch word. bouwerij What does a farm mean? This street connected farms on the then outskirts of the city to the Wall Street district. Until 1807, it was called Bowery Lane, but today only the word Bowery is left in the title, without the addition of "street", "boulevard" or "Avenue". That's great.

Houston Street (Houston Street)

If you are a tourist in New York or you live here recently, then the surest way to “burn” is to pronounce the name of this street as the name of a city in Texas, that is, “Houston Street”. But in New York, it is pronounced “Houston”, since the street was named after William Houston, a delegate from the state of Georgia in Continental Congress in 1784-1786. Rich landowner Nicholas Bayard III, Houston's father-in-law, named it after his daughter’s husband, as the street passed through his domain.

Canal Street

Today, Canal Street is one of the main arteries of Lower Manhattan, running east to west. The street got its name from a canal dug at the beginning of 1800's to divert the waters of Lake Collect to the Hudson River. In 1700, Lake Kollekt was located between the place where the New York City Hall is now located and modern White Street. Then it was a popular place for picnics, and in winter - for skating. At first it was also a source of drinking water for a growing city, but at the beginning of the 19 of the 20th century it became very polluted. In 1811, the lake was filled up, and Canal Street was built along the drainage system.

Avenue of America

Avenue of America is the official name of Sixth Avenue since 1945, when the city council decided to rename the street under the pressure of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. However, New Yorkers almost never use the name Avenue of America, saying Sixth Avenue instead. The renaming was intended to add credibility to a run-down street, naming it in honor of the Organization of American States, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico, and is headquartered in the city of Washington.

Madison Avenue, Park и Lexington

There is nothing mysterious about the names of these avenues on the east side. The name Madison Avenue is derived from the name Madison Square, its southern border, named after President James Madison.

Lexington Avenue (New Yorkers often cut and say Lex) is named after the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, during the American Revolutionary War. Interesting fact: Lexington Avenue was not on the streets plan of 1811. It was built between Third and Fourth Avenue and 14 and 30 streets by order of lawyer and builder Samuel Ruggles. In this way, he hoped to raise the value of the land belonging to him in the area.

Park Avenue was originally called Fourth Avenue. Its story did not start very encouragingly: in the 19 century, the company’s railway tracks ran along this street New York and Harlem Railroad. Subsequently, due to the discontent of the locals, the rails between 34 and 40 streets were covered with grating and grass. This part of the road was called Park Avenue, and later the name passed to the rest of the street. Today Park Avenue is distinguished by beautiful greenery on a wide dividing strip of the road.

Maiden—lane

Two blocks north of Wall Street is the street with the beautiful name Maiden Lane (maiden - English girl). It comes from the Dutch name "girls' path" (Maadge paatje), which arose due to the fact that in the days of the early Dutch colonization of these territories, Dutch girls loved to walk along a streamlet on this road. There is another version - that in that stream, young women and girls washed clothes.

Christopher street

This street in West Village got its name from Charles Christopher Amos, heir to the British admiral Sir Peter Warren in 1799. At that time, she was passing along the southern edge of the Warren possessions. Even 2 streets in this part of the city were named after Amos: Charles Street still has its name, and Amos Street later became West 10 Street.

Steinway street

Steinway Street is the largest boulevard in Astoria, Queens, running from north to south. It owes its name to the genus Steinvee, who in the second half of the 19 century created a piano empire in Astoria. Interestingly, William Steinway (1835-1896), one of the founders of the company, also owned a transportation business and played an important role in digging tunnels for the subway between Queens and Manhattan (excavated land poured into the East River, where the island of U Tant) He was also the founder of the resort area in the east of Astoria, on the site of which La Guardia Airport was later built.

Utopia—parkway

In the 1905 year Utopia Land Company bought 50 acres of agricultural land between the then towns of Jamaica and Flushing. The company planned to build a community for Jewish families who wanted to leave the Manhattan Lower East Side, which was at that time a predominantly Jewish district. The company failed to do this, but the district retained the optimistic name inherited by this boulevard.

Love lane

Love Lane is a street on the 2 quarter in Brooklyn Heights, with brick houses lined up on either side. In ancient times, life here was more bucolic. In the article New York Times for 1894 year it is said that "the oldest residents still remember the times when summer evenings are on the shady and cool" path of lovers "(Lover's lane) chubby pink-cheeked Dutch girls walked with their lovers.

Fruit streets Brooklyn—Heights

In Brooklyn Heights you can find a whole bunch of streets with fruit names: Pineapple (pineapple), Orange (orange), Cranberry (cranberry) and others. There is no exact explanation for the origin of these names. However, there is a legend that in the middle of the 19 century, a certain Miss Middag was angry that famous families called the streets after themselves, tore away all the signs from the houses and hung fruit names instead. At the same time, Miss left a sign with the name in honor of her family, Middag Street, untouched. It is not known for sure whether it is true or fiction, but this “tasty” story is still being told.

Victory Boulevard

Victory Boulevard on Staten Island runs along the old Richmond Highway (Richmond Turnpike). Once this highway was considered the fastest road from New York to Philadelphia. The boulevard received its modern name after the Allied victory in the First World War.

Moshul—parkway

The roots of the name of this street in the Bronx go back to the history of Native Americans. In Algonquian, "moshul" means "smooth stones" or "small stones."

Arthur Avenue

The main street of one of the brightest communities in New York, Italian, is named after the not known son of Italy, but 21 of US President, Chester A. Arthur. One of the local residents of the time, who was a fan of Arthur, asked that the street be named after him, when at the end of 19 century the city reached the area.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Walk through New York: the luxury of the city

Walking Around New York: Battery Park

Walking Around New York: Upper West Side

Walk Around New York: West Village

New York - the city of lonely hearts

Upper West Side Falls and Ups

Amazing New York Apartments

An island of ill fame, between Manhattan and Queens

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.