How These Lower Manhattan Streets Got Their Names

There are two things you might notice about Lower Manhattan’s streets when compared with the rest of Manhattan: Unlike most of the other streets in the borough, downtown’s aren’t on a grid, and they aren’t numbered. In fact, both of these quirks share the same cause. Lower Manhattan’s streets are some of the oldest in the city, predating by centuries the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 that set the vast grid of numbered streets that covers much of the city today. Lower Manhattan’s street names are steeped in history, offering us a window into what life was like in New Amsterdam during the 17th century. Here are seven of our favorites:

Stone Street

As New York City’s oldest paved street, Stone Street has seen many changes since it was first built by Dutch settlers almost 400 years ago. Originally two separate streets, its first names were Breuers Straet (an Old Dutch translation of “Brewers Street,” for the many breweries lining the thoroughfare) between Whitehall and Broad streets, and Hoogh Straet (“High Street,” a traditional name for an area with lots of stores) from Broad Street to Hanover Square. After seizing the city in 1664, the British renamed both sections to Stony and Duke streets respectively. In 1794, both parts were combined and named Stone Street, for the street’s cobbled paving.

Pearl Street

Pearl Street is a direct translation of its Old Dutch name, Paerlstraet. That name comes from the Lenape shell middens (piles of oyster shells) often found along the street’s path. The street once followed the East River’s natural shoreline before artificial reclamation extended the river further eastward. Pearl Street wasn’t always named after pearls — it was briefly named “Great Queen Street” during British rule, with Cedar Street taking the name “Little Queen Street.”

Bridge Street

It’s hard to believe that a canal once carried boats from the East River to what is now the Stock Exchange. However, one of the few remnants we have to remind us of this former downtown waterway is in the name of Bridge Street. The canal, which followed present-day Broad Street (originally named Heere Gracht or “Gentleman’s Canal”), was spanned by three bridges. One of these was named the Fish Bridge and located at Brug Straet, which was later anglicized to Bridge Street.

Beaver Street

A second canal named Bever Graft (“Beaver Canal”) once followed present-day Beaver Street. The street was briefly named Princes Street during British rule, until later being renamed Beaver Street, an anglicized version of its original Old Dutch name. Its name refers to beaver pelts, which were economically important to New Amsterdam. 

Maiden Lane

Maiden Lane’s current name can be traced back to Maagde Paatje, its 17th-century Old Dutch name, meaning “a footpath used by lovers along a rippling brook.” While the origins are unclear, there was indeed a rippling brook that followed present-day Maiden Lane from Nassau Street to the East River, in which wives and daughters would wash linen.

Wall Street

Wall Street is an anglicized and simplified version of its Old Dutch name, Het Cingel ofte Stadt Wall (“the Belt or the City Wall”). Though originally named after the legendary wooden rampart that protected New Amsterdam during the 17th century, the street’s etymology has since been dwarfed by its present-day role as an epicenter of commerce, making “Wall Street” synonymous with the global economy. A lesser-known aspect of the street’s history, however, is its role in the slave trade during the 18th century, when a municipal slave market operated from 1711 to 1762 at the intersection of Wall Street and the East River (now Pearl Street).

Albany Street

Built in the late 18th century, Albany Street was initially a small westward extension of Thames Street to West Street, which was then the Hudson River shoreline. The street is named after a ferry service that once connected New York City with Albany via the Hudson, terminating at a dock at the end of the street. In the 1850s, Albany Street was the subject of a heated debate between the Municipal Corporation of New York and the Religious Corporation of Trinity Church amid a proposal to extend the street to Broadway through the Trinity Church yard. During the 1980s, Albany Street (along with Manhattan’s shoreline) was extended westward as part of the construction of Battery Park City.