Lower East Side

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The area that is today known as the East Village was originally occupied by the Lenape Native people, who relocated during different seasons—moving toward the shore to fish during summers, and moving inland to hunt and grow crops during fall and winter. Manhattan was purchased in 1626 by the Dutch West India Company's Peter Minuit. Most New Amsterdam colonists lived below present-day Fulton Street, while north of it were farms called bouwerij. Around these farms were enclaves of free or 'half-free' Africans, serving as a buffer between the Dutch and Native Americans. One of the largest was located along the modern Bowery between Prince Street and Astor Place. Peter Stuyvesant, director-general of New Netherland, owned bowery no. 1 and bought bowery no. 2 in 1656 for his farm; his manor, near what is now 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues, burned down in the 1770s. The Stuyvesant family held onto the land for over seven generations until a descendant began selling parcels in the early 19th century. By the late 18th or early 19th century, many farms had become wealthy country estates, with the Stuyvesant, DeLancey, and Rutgers families owning most of the land on the Lower East Side. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 established the current street grid north of Houston Street, but contrary to popular belief, the grid was implemented gradually over many decades—north–south avenues were not finished in the 1810s, nor were west–east streets completed in the 1820s; many streets took years or even decades longer to be fully laid out and built. For a short period, the portion of the Lower East Side that is now the East Village was one of the wealthiest residential neighborhoods in the city. Bond Street between the Bowery and Broadway was considered the most upscale street address by the 1830s, with structures such as the Greek Revival-style Colonnade Row and Federal-style rowhouses. By the middle of the 19th century, many wealthy moved further northward to the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, though some remained. Immigrants from modern-day Ireland, Germany, and Austria moved into the rowhouses and manors. The population of Manhattan's 17th ward—which includes the western part of the East Village and Lower East Side—grew from 18,000 in 1840 to over 43,000 by 1850 and to 73,000 persons in 1860, becoming the city's most highly populated ward. Brand-new 'ten

In Their Own Story

By the late 1960s, many artists, musicians, students and hippies began to move into the area, and the East Village gained its own identity. Since at least the 2000s, gentrification has changed the character of the neighborhood. The East Village is part of Manhattan Community District 3, and its primary ZIP Codes are 10003 and 10009. It is patrolled by the 9th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Unlike the West Village, the East Village is not located within Greenwich Village.

Reader's Guide

The East Village contains three subsections: Alphabet City, in reference to the single-letter-named avenues east of First Avenue; Little Ukraine, near Second Avenue and 6th and 7th Streets; and the Bowery, located around the street of the same name. Key historical sites include St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, where people enslaved by Stuyvesant were to be buried in a cemetery plot according to an 1803 deed. Tompkins Square Park, located between 7th and 10th Streets from Avenue A to Avenue B, was designated in 1833. Notable streets include Stuyvesant Street, which formed the border between former boweries 1 and 2 and runs compass west–east, contrasting with the grid system offset by 28.9 degrees clockwise under the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. St. Mark's Place, on 8th Street between Second and Third Avenues, is one of the few remaining terrace names in the East Village. Two marble cemeteries were built: the New York City Marble Cemetery, built in 1831 on 2nd Street between First and Second Avenues, and the New York Marble Cemetery, built in 1830 within the backlots of the block to the west.

Did You Know?

• The East Village was originally occupied by the Lenape Native people, who relocated seasonally—fishing at the shore in summers and hunting inland in fall and winter.
• Peter Stuyvesant's manor, called Bowery, was near what is now 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues and burned down in the 1770s.
• Bond Street between the Bowery and Broadway was considered the most upscale street address in the city by the 1830s.
• The population of Manhattan's 17th ward grew from 18,000 in 1840 to over 73,000 by 1860, becoming the city's most highly populated ward.
• Because most new immigrants were German speakers, the East Village and Lower East Side collectively became known as 'Little Germany.'